Reality with the King is hosted by me, Carlos King.

I'm an executive producer who have produced some of your favorite shows from the Real Housewives in Atlanta, New Jersey and my own creation, The Love and Marriage Franchise and Bell Collective.

Every episode, we recap reality television from the Real Housewives Franchise to The Bachelor or Selling Sunset, in addition to celebrity guests, whether in the unscripted space or scripted as well.

Hey, rain drops.

On today's episode of Reality with the King, we have to break down the season sixth premiere of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

All right, so before I get started with my I have no idea why I'm laughing, but I feel like I'm about to piss some people off and that wasn't my attention.

However, I gotta be honest, So before I get into my recap, let me start by saying this, I Carlos King.

The first I am a huge fan of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

I even said how this show is probably the best, tied with OC when it comes to the best housewives.

I thought last season was excellent.

I thought this season before that was even more excellent.

Hey, Monica Garcia, I love the additional Bronway.

I even love Britney.

I think Brittany's fantastic.

And you all know I love all the girls.

Hey, Angie and Mary, I like Whitney and Lisa.

I like all the girls.

Okay, with that being said, and Meredith, I can't take it, I do love all the girls.

So again, with that being said, what I will say is I love this show because I always felt like Salt Lake City has its own specialness.

The way the ladies sort of behave to me is comedy.

I thought Salt Lake City was a big comedy show.

I think they're funny when they're mad at each other.

Their arguments seem funny to me.

I'm never like, oh shit, it's about to go down basement.

I'm always like, Okay, these girls know how to be themselves in a way that, yes, it's confrontational, but it's also funny.

Okay, I love the show.

Last season I said this show may be tied with The Royal House Wassports County.

Because I listen, I think OC is like the best of the best.

I really do.

It's just amazing.

So when I was getting ready to watch the premier of season six.

Of course, I'm like, yes, I get to see Mary and g Brown, Win, Heather, Meredith, Lisa Whitney, and Brittany and listen.

I could be the minority in this situation, and trust me, that's fine.

I did not enjoy this premiere at all.

I'm gonna break it down.

So I want to start by saying I did not enjoy this premiere.

Okay, So this is one episode out of let's just say seventeen.

They'll probably get seventeen episodes this season, not including the reunion, So look, I have sixteen more episodes to go.

So before you guys see me the hate tweets and Carlos the hater.

He doesn't know what he's talking about, all the mean things y'all love to say when I don't agree with a popular opinion, let me break it down.

Okay.

The episode starts with ANGIEK pulling up in an RV and she's picking up Mary and she's taking the girls in the girls trip.

One thing Sulaic City does.

Unlike the other housewives most premier episodes of reality shows, especially housewives, you start by diving into like the women's personal stories in terms of like, Okay, where are they now based on where we left them?

Right, So, for example, you sometimes settle into their homes and see what they're doing.

You sometimes settle in their jobs.

You sometimes get a sense of like what's happening in their personal lives before you get them around the other girls, because we all know once you get them around the girls, it's gonna be mayhem.

So before the mayhem, you want to begin with story that didn't happen.

So I was like, Oh, that's interesting.

So the first thing we're going to get is the ladies all together.

I thought that was a very interesting take.

Not mad at it, not mad at the attention of doing something different.

So I was like, oh, we're not gonna be at Angie's home seeing her husband, her beautiful daughter, seeing what Angie's up to.

We're not going to be with Mary updating us and I was going on with her son and the church.

We're not going to you know, settle to see what's going on with Heather and her daughters.

Okay, fine, we're going to go right into Angie k pulling up a an RV that we did not know she owned for the past three years, that her husband bought her and we're gonna get set on the Girl's Trip.

Okay, fine, all good.

So that happened, and then we then see the other girls being picked up and I'm like, all right, let's see what's happening.

Well, we saw.

The first major thing was the fact that Lisa Barlow was not coming on the trip.

Now, if you have been on social media for the past year while this show was filming its season, rumor had it that Lisa Barlow did not film for the first couple of weeks of the new season because allegedly she was in contract negotiations.

Okay, Lisa Barlow, who is a fantastic addition to the show.

I think all of the women are stars.

Lisa obviously is a star.

Lisa allegedly felt that she, you know, wanted more money based on her being the main story.

So because of that, she went on stripe.

And this happens a lot of times in the beginning of a new season, not just some housewives, but on a lot of reality shows where if the women are in negotiations, one move that they're told by their lawyers, their publicists, or their agent or all three is don't show up.

Don't show up.

Because you want your presence, your lack of presence to be felt.

What I will say is this, I felt Lisa's lack of presence.

The beauty of Salt Lake City is the fact that it's a great ensemble cast.

I don't think one person is the show.

I think they all bring something special in this gumbo of awesomeness.

It doesn't help the producer's case in terms of Lisa possibly renegotiating again next season because Lisa was the main topic of conversation this episode and she wasn't even there.

When you are the main topic of a conversation and you're not even there, that goes to show you the star power that you do have, and it also just goes to show you some real shit, the main storyline magnificence that you have.

Lisa Barlow was aware of my opinion that these conversations about, you know, these alleged loss suits that she has was going to be something that the girls were going to talk about.

So because of that, she wanted to obviously showcase her worth by displaying to not only the network, the production company and the ladies that y'all gonna have to pay me in order for me to really talk about this in great detail, because she knew she had the main storyline and she decided to back out.

Now, what we do know is she is a part of the show.

She's a part of the main titles.

So eventually she does come back.

But the question remains if Lisa Barlow did in fact get a raise based on what I saw in the first episode, I he deserves something.

I don't know if she deserves an extra you know, leg seat outside of seventeen F nineteen F.

I don't know if she deserves more craft services.

I don't know she deserves more tequila to be shown on the show.

I don't know.

What I do know is she has bargained herself to be a force multiplier.

Because ninety percent of this episode was about Lisa, and that is sort of a dangerous game to play when you are trying to figure out whether or not you know this woman has staying power.

Well, see what happens.

We have, like I said, almost sixteen episodes to go.

However, Lisa has emerged as a force multiplier and this episode proved that.

So as we get into the Ladies going on this R and B, all of a sudden, we see a Swat Team up here, and this is when I knew we were doomed for the rest of the episode.

I'm all about a joke.

I'm all about a little something something, you know, when it comes to like giving a moment, I gotta be honest with you.

It takes me out of the reality of the show when I feel like there's performative actions that is hyper produced.

Now I'm not saying it's hyper produced the production.

It could be higher produced by the talent, as we saw the Swat Team.

Of course, anybody who watches Salt Lake City know that when Jen Shaw, the OG of the show, was exposed as to having this scheme that she was doing, the Swat Team showed up while the ladies were in a sprinter and everybody's freaking out.

Jin looked scared.

All of the things happened in real time, and that, to me is what made Saltlake City special because it was a very different way of telling a story that happened in real time.

So that happened though like four years ago.

I don't know who decided that this would be fun to watch, that a SWAT team was going to appear, because we all knew it wasn't serious.

Whitney Rose, who I love, is not a great actress.

If you watch her on this show, you know that when she reads, she laughs, and she just has this uncomfortable ness when it comes to being herself on the show.

If you really watch the show, Whitney laughs when she's confronted with something.

She's not a great actress when it comes to even reading.

And we'll get to her and Britney's read off, but Whitney smiling, she's laughing.

Who are they here for?

The guy says I'm here for Whitney Rose, and she's like, oh my gosh, what's going on?

All of that to me was just stupid.

I enjoyed this one bit.

It's it took away from me enjoying the show.

I love OC because OC they're themselves.

Whether you guys like them or nice people who gives a shit, they are themselves.

Whether you like the Jersey girls or not, a lot of them are themselves.

Atlanta, same thing, and I called the Atlanta When Shami and porschamid with Dennis and not Dannis child si Aportion met with Wrath Drew's husband and they were like, oh, we just so happened to like have this no that was performative.

This scene with the SWAT Team was the worst decision that could have made because it reaked a performance and I did not like it one bit.

I just I just thought it took away from the reality of us getting into like, what's new with these women, what's different this season?

What do they have going on?

Was fresh in their lives, So to make fun of something that happened four years ago, you guys should be trying to make us forget about Jenshaw but not remember her, and to have these guy be strippers, to me was sort of like a bad move from a Lifetime movie of the Week.

I thought it was lazy.

I thought it was It just wasn't entertaining to me.

I didn't like it one bit.

It was just two on the nose.

I don't think any audience member really thought like, oh my gosh, what did we need to do the SWAT teams hit for her.

I think we all was like, oh God, this is stupid, and no one's pail for it.

That was the moment I knew like this episode was going to be a doozy and it was in the worst way possible.

Moving on from that, they start talking about the elephant in the room, which is Lisa Barlow aka the force multiplier, who isn't there, and Brittany is defending her, saying, we're good friends.

Look, I'm with Heather on this one, which is rare for me to be on heavyside, But I am with Heather on this one when it comes to since when our Brittany and Lisa good friends?

But I digress.

Even the exchange between Brittany and Whitney fell flat to me because it just seemed like they had to give each other a moment, and I felt like these girls were on the island of survivor and because they have I think what seven how S wives this season, plus Brittany as a friend to the show, that they were all fighting for position, and it just wreaked up desperation, It waked up let me have a moment, Let me have a moment that could solidify my position on the show.

That exchange between Britney and Whitney was stupid.

It was dumb.

It made no sense to me.

They're arguing about a woman who's not even there to defend herself, and then you know, Brittany's like, well, Whitney.

You know, how can you talk about someone's business when you do bad business?

It's all over TikTok and they show that Whitney, you know, is being talked about on TikTok for allegedly having these m l M schemes.

And then Whitney's comeback as she was laughing through her read I'm not making this up.

Watch the show, rewatch it if you have to.

She smirks.

Watch when the swat team comes, she's smirking, which I'll give her past the fact because she was in on the joke, so I'll give her past there.

But watch her as she and bringing are reading each other, She's smirking the whole time.

Well, you know, you make business my sucking D.

And I'm just like, oh my gosh, why is it only ten minutes into the show and I don't know anything new happening in your lives, and you're accusing a woman of sucking D as her business.

I'm off of Goree, I'm off a good argument, I'm off of good shade.

Unfortunately, that exchange was none of those three things.

It was just like, we're gonna argue because we have to argue, and my argument, and that is when I see an argument or read session, I like it to be rooted in realness.

Okay, I don't like a rehearse read.

I don't like a fake read.

I like it when it's something rooted in reality.

So the fact that we started off with this performative read, I'm like, this is boring and I'm over it.

I was over it, but of course I'm like, let me watch the show and see if it gets better.

It didn't.

So then the girls talk about how Lisa has all of these alleged lawsuits.

Gramas like, look, I've been reading things.

The Salt Lake Tribune said that Lisa owed four hundred thousand dollars in unpaid loans, and they started arguing about that, and I'm like, oh my gosh, another argument about a woman who's not even freaking there.

Lisa.

I hope you got paid more, because listen, I'm all about everybody having, you know, equal when it comes to do the same job.

But you guys are making a good case.

This entire show was about a woman who wasn't there.

I think wress.

Okay, So they're arguing about that and Brahmin feels like, look, this is what Lisa does.

Lisa's allowed to talk about us, but we can't talk about her, and that's a whole big issue.

And the ladies are just sitting there.

You haven't had their emeritive looking at these girls like, yeah, y'all go fight because our job here is safe at least for today.

So y'all fight and figure things out because y'all need it.

That's what it game to me.

That's why they were disengaged, and that's why they weren't you know, you know, you know, that's why they just weren't engaging in the conversation.

They all just mad.

These typical reaction shots of the faces of like ooh, shade and read and I'm just like, what has this show will come?

This is not why I like this show.

An entire premiere episode where they argued every ten minutes.

I thought I was watching the Zoos Network.

This was Baddie's Salt Lake City.

I was looking for Josh Lee her dand this and Natalie None.

I thought Tom and Lee's gonna come out.

I'm just saying it gave zeus, Okay, I'm the lie.

So then they get to like this campsite and again there are I'm not making this up.

They argue again over Lisa Barlow.

I'm just like, I hope Lisa Barlow got ten cents on the dollar of every time her name was mentioned.

This was it got them the point mob like this, this can't be the premiere PSOE of Salt Lake City, Like this can't be it.

But I'm gonna rock with it.

I'm gonna see what those happens.

Britney stands up and she announced that she got engaged, and we're like, yeah, you got engaged.

We love this, only to say that they we engaged only lasted for two weeks.

Now identify that to be funny and listen again.

This may be an unpopular opinion.

I do find Britney hysterical.

I actually think Britney is great television.

I think she's a whack of dude.

I think she's super funny.

I think she's in on the joke.

She's trying to apologize to Whitney because she knew that this beaf was fake and performative and was not rooted in a real place, so she tried to hug her, and Whitney's like, I'm not ready for a hug after Whitney, which I thought was a great moment after Whitney talked about the fact that her businesses did fail, that she wasn't involved in those scandals.

She just had a failed business.

And I thought, like, that's the type of stuff I want to see.

And I would have preferred Whitney to say that on the RV when her and Brittany had a moment, because to me, that would have been unpredictable, Like, yes, Britney's trying to shade you, But I think Whitney should have used that moment to say, instead of me shading you back, how about I inform everybody that I'm vulnerable and in a bad place because my business did fail.

And seeing her cry about it, and in a perfect world seeing the ladies rally around her, that would have been unpredictable.

That would have been a great moment to watch instead of a rehearse feed.

So as the episode progresses, more arguments happened over Lisa Barlow, and then a super trailer came on.

I'm like, what did I just watch?

What did I just watch?

This premiere?

I will give a two out of a ten.

I didn't think it was great at all.

It's to me, it's the worst season premiere of any Raal Housewives this year.

The best premiere this year to me, I'll give that to Atlanta.

Atlanta Season sixteen was a ten out of a ten because it was nice to get to know what Porsche was up to me, it was up to we got to see what Drew was up to, you know, we got to meet Kelly and Brin these new ladies and get a chance to get to know them.

And then at the end, you know, Porsche gave Drew a piece of her mind.

Like it was a balanced episode of personal story, real moments, comedy and shade.

And I felt like even OC another great premiere where they were able to talk to Katie about things she did last year, but they presented in a way where they were able to talk about it and it wasn't a screaming match.

It was sort of like, I feel this way about you, Dad, and they talked about it.

This one right here was disappointing.

But what I will say is this it's the first episode out of many to come, so obviously I'm looking forward to seeing more to come.

But Salt Lake City, we have a problem.

And what I hope we don't get into is these ladies feel like they have to be caricatures of themselves in order to be interesting and entertaining, and I hope that they give back to knowing that the reason why we all fell in love with this show is yes, it's different, it's unique, but at the end of the day, they came across real and for me, this was nothing but an AI version of the show.

Reality with the King is executive produced by me Carlos King, produced by Lizzie Nimitz, and a partnership with The Lack Effect Network.

You can also find us on my YouTube channel at the Carlos King Underscore