Frances Berwick is one of the most influential decision makers in reality TV. As the chairman of Bravo and Peacock Unscripted, she oversees every unscripted hit the network produces, from Vanderpump Rules to Top Chef to every city in the Real Housewives universe.
When she speaks about what’s working and why, she’s speaking from inside the control room — the place where strategy, casting, story decisions, and franchise direction all come together.
So when she opened up in a recent Variety interview about why The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is outpacing the other franchises in fan reaction and momentum, it felt like a rare moment of clarity from the top.
The interviewer asked what makes RHOSLC ride so high, noting that the women received some of the loudest applause of BravoCon weekend. Berwick pointed straight to the cast’s substance.
“They have really interesting stories to tell. They all have incredibly different types of backgrounds, and different types of experience. You think about Bronwyn’s life story compared to Heather’s backstory — completely different, although both were Mormons, and both have experienced different elements of that. You think about Lisa’s background, building her businesses, and the success of doing that, and living a different type of lifestyle.
They are all prepared to be vulnerable, and to show their lives. And they all have great senses of humor as well.”
But she didn’t stop at storytelling. For her, the real secret to the franchise’s success is how the Salt Lake women handle conflict. Plenty of Housewives know how to fight. Not all of them know how to move past it.
“I do think that’s a key ingredient. The thing that we say to all our talent when they first start is, ‘You’re gonna have to be really thick-skinned: Don’t go down the internet rabbit hole.’”
Then she explained what makes this cast different.
“I’m not saying that these women don’t, but I do think that they’re self-possessed enough, and they have enough of their own identity, that they are able to be very forceful in the way they express their opinions, and they feel strongly.”
That mix — honesty, humor, strong identities, and the ability to recover after a blowup — is what Berwick believes gives RHOSLC its edge. It’s not chaos for chaos’ sake. It’s women who are willing to show every side of their lives, then keep going.
And right now, that’s landing with Bravo fans louder than anything else in the franchise.
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