Mark Consuelos got schooled in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on Monday’s Live with Kelly and Mark.
He and Kelly Ripa were joined by series star Jessi Ngatikaura on this morning’s episode, who explained that she and her co-stars were discovered on TikTok.
“Yeah, it was TikTok. So we were, like, #MomTok. A bunch of moms making content, dancing, being Mormon,” she explained. “I think the buzz word ‘Mormon’ always gets attention.”
After a clip of the cast dancing in a TikTok appeared onscreen, Ripa admitted, “This, to me, does not conjure up, like, what in my brain, in my limited knowledge, what Mormonism is, I don’t think that.”
Ngatikaura asked Ripa what her “version” of Mormonism is. Though Ripa couldn’t find the words, Consuelos offered up, “A little more reserved, maybe.”
Ripa agreed, as Ngatikaura teased, “Like pioneers, you know. Pilgrims, yes.”
Ngatikaura continued, “I think that’s the other thing is it’s moms who were like maybe not the cookie-cutter, so I think that got attention, too. And then we had a swinging scandal which helped.”
Consuelos replied, “A what?”
Though she didn’t elaborate on Live, the scandal that Ngatikaura was referring to involved her co-star Taylor Frankie Paul, who revealed that she and her now ex-husband were “soft swinging” with fellow Mormon friends of theirs. While Ripa noted that it was “soft swinging,” she asked Ngatikaura, “Can you explain what soft swinging is?”
Ngatikaura said, “Soft swinging is, like, not going all the way.”
Ripa quipped, “That’s like your thing, right?”
Ngatikaura replied, “Yeah, Mormons love that.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Consuelos eventually chimed in, as he attempted to comprehend the concept.
Ripa joked, “Mark’s like, what’s the point?”
Consuelos asked, “Third base?”
After Ngatikaura confirmed that, she explained that the scandal “got exposed on TikTok.”
“And I think that got the attention of television, which was lucky for us. But we definitely carry that as a badge of honor. Like everyone’s like, ‘You’re the swingers!'” she exclaimed, clarifying that she “wasn’t a swinger.”
In an interview with DECIDER last year, when Paul was asked if she regretted going public with her swinging scandal or if she felt it was a blessing in disguise, she said she “would say both.”
“I think blessing in disguise, because it is like the reason we’re here today and where I’m at today in life. But also, do I wish I could have done things differently? Absolutely,” she shared. I look back at it and it was a very on-the-spot decision and then the whole world — well, not the whole world, but a lot of people watched it, you know? Like millions of people. I didn’t know that it would get to that point. So yeah, it was a lot. And if I could do things differently, I probably would have. But at the same time, it’s where we are today.”