On last week’s wild The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City preview, we knew that things would get ugly.
In it, Lisa Barlow called Meredith Marks a “whore” who had boned half of New York.
Despite being an impressive feat if true, it was not meant as a compliment. Lisa was furious — but why?
Finally, we got to see the unbelievable scene in fully glory … and Meredith has already given her public response.
Sunday night’s episode was already filled with, well, a lot, and that dinner was no exception.
It was Cinco de Mayo, marking an event in which Mexican forces prevented the French military from aiding the Confederate States of America.
The Housewives, however, were less focused upon history of even Mexican culture than they were upon mutual dislike.
Mary Cosby was being downright nasty at that dinner table, and getting worse every step of the way.
It’s no secret to viewers that she is not a good person.
But to see her be so openly and repulsively hostile with no provocation … well, there’s a lot of that going around.
For just one example? Mary accused Lisa Barlow of being “fake” and not really caring about her family (what?).
Why? Because Lisa … eats Taco Bell.
Eating Taco Bell just means that you enjoy eating delicious food, but Mary is unhinged and hostile and an alleged cult leader so we don’t know what we expected from her.
Mary’s unrepentant vileness was challenged by some of her castmates.
Whitney Rose continued to implore her, in a very Whitney sort of way, to understand why this was so shocking to her.
This was not the behavior that Whitney expected from a woman who has her own church, but Mary saw no contradiction.
There was more, of course, including Whitney’s exchange with Meredith — which did not go well for Whitney.
First, however, Lisa felt extremely disrespected by how Meredith continued to refuse to call out Mary’s bad behavior and to defend her.
In Lisa’s mind, this had reached a breaking point, and without explanation, she got up from the table and stormed off.
People get up and leave in a huff on reality TV all of the time, often thinking very little of it.
That same night, Mary had gotten up to retrieve a jacket because she felt cold at dinner, refusing to bring a blanket for Whitney when asked.
But while Lisa left in relative silence, her rage was reaching a boiling point.
There was clearly more going on than Meredith being a better friend to Mary than to Lisa.
But viewers couldn’t guess what it was, because Lisa did not explain it.
Instead, she stormed into a room, muttering to herself … which turned into ranting and screaming.
Thankfully, Lisa was still equipped with her mic, which caught every last word of her tirade.
“Meredith can go f–k herself, I’m done with her,” she declared.
Lisa continued: “‘Cause I’m not a f–king whore and I don’t cheat on my husband.”
“Her and her dumb f–king family that poses,” Lisa spat.
“Why don’t you own a house? Wait, you can’t,” she ranted.
Lisa accused: “‘Cause your husband changes jobs every five minutes?”
“Fake Meredith is a piece of s–t,” Lisa griped.
“‘I have your back,’ I’m offended by that. F–k you!” she yelled behind the door.
Lisa went on: “That f–king piece of s–t garbage whore. I f–king hate her!”
“She’s a whore. She’s f–ked half of New York!” Lisa claimed. “She can go f–k herself.”
Perhaps the most outlandish moment of all came next, when Lisa opened the door, only half-dressed.
She threw the microphone at a producer, announcing: “Here, you can have your mic back!”
That was the jarring end to the episode, and of course it was filmed many months ago.
Specifically, it was filmed in May of last year, which means that Lisa has had a long time to think about what was going to air.
Perhaps that is why she apologized to Meredith, who revealed it on Watch What Happens Live.
“I’m trying to still decipher that,” Meredith admitted to Andy as she struggled to explain Lisa’s outburst.
“When Lisa apologized to me later on, she told me that somebody told her that I said her house was ugly,” she described.
“And,” Meredith continued, “that’s why she felt that that tirade was justified. I don’t really understand that, that seems quite vapid to me.”
Meredith admitted that there were “certain clues” that Lisa harbored these kinds of resentments.
“But this level of hate is far beyond anything I could have ever imagined,” she admitted.
Meredith continued: “The lies that she’s spewing, it’s just incomprehensible.”
So, has Meredith wracked up an impressive body count characterized as “half of New York?” No.
“Maybe it’s projecting,” Meredith shaded. “Seth and I have been very honest, we’ve had moments where we dated other people.”
“We have not dated a lot of other people,” she clarified. “I’ve could not even have 10 boyfriends because I’ve never slept with 10 people in my life.”
As for Seth’s work, she noted that the nature of Seth’s work means that he often switches jobs.
“He’s never been fired from any job he’s ever been at,” Meredith affirmed.
She also noted that, as millions of Americans are painfully aware but powerless to act upon, renting is more expensive than buying.
Meredith explained that she and Seth are renting because they’re not sure what house they want to get.
Right now, they have an “empty nest” for the first time, so they don’t want to rush into a house that isn’t right for them.
“I don’t discuss anyone else’s money,” Meredith added. “I was raised that that’s in very poor taste and I find it kind of repulsive that she’s going there with me.”
