By Hope Sloop
Published Oct. 27, 2026, 4:00 p.m. ET
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For The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Demi Engemann, saying yes to a show like The Mob was a no brainer, even if it required her to lean into a perception that the public is all too willing to believe.
Talking with DECIDER alongside her castmates from the new reality competition series, Engemann — who exited Secret Lives in the middle of Season 4 — explained her reasoning for joining the Hulu show alongside notable names like Dancing With the Stars judge Bruno Tonioli and Too Hot To Handle‘s Harry Jowsey.
“It was different from what I was used to and I was told it was similar to Traitors and we all know and love Traitors. And I wanted something that I felt like I could showcase a different side of me. I wanted to lean into the fashion side and more of the game aspect,” Engemann explained. And yeah, I didn’t really have that many expectations because it’s a brand new show and I think that was really exciting. Because it was brand new and I was being trusted, honestly, that was the biggest honor for me is that me alongside all of these amazing people and some who aren’t here, I was trusted to start up a brand new show. And so I didn’t really have many expectations other than I was just gonna show up, be authentic, be myself and hope for the best. And it turned out so great.”
The show, which features contestants competing in a series of challenges and voting with their fellow players to nominate “The Don,” a.k.a. the head of the household, welcomes Parker Posey as the host and comes from Studio Lambert, the production company also behind The Traitors. Each episode features one “member of the family” being “whacked” by The Don, and opportunites to pick up cash along the way.
In the first episode, it’s Real Housewives of New Jersey‘s Joe Gorga who takes the most powerful position in the game and starts handing out envelopes of money to players he wants to keep close. Engemann, who has her own ambitions of becoming The Don before the game ends, takes one of the envelopes but is sworn to secrecy by Gorga, which puts her in a situation where she has to lie to other players about receiving money.
While she says it was a calculated risk to lie to the others — who had seen Gorga pull her aside for a conversation shrouded in mystery — Engemann says she’s not sure how else she could have played it looking back, especially since she was the among the first crop of people to receive an envelope.
“Oh man, it’s so tough because I was the first person to ask that was asked to keep a secret. And so I thought that that’s just how everyone would play,” she explained. “You are up against building trust with The Don and you’re told he’s the most powerful, he or she is the most power position, and that they can whack you.”
Was it ultimately worth the risk in her overall game play? She’s still weighing the situation but says it definitely didn’t help her curry favor with the rest of the house, especially so early in the game.
“I was playing the game, but yeah, definitely some regrets are there because it put a strain on some relationships and then they questioned my integrity and I had to hurdle that, so that was tough,” Engemann told DECIDER, adding that despite early struggles in the game, she had a blast and made many lasting connections. “I can’t wait for everyone to watch it. It was such a beautiful experience… So many amazing relationships came out of it and that’s number one, the number one most important thing for me. So it was awesome.”
The first two episodes of The Mob are now streaming on Hulu. New episodes drop Mondays.
If you’re new to Hulu, the basic (with ads) price is $11.99/month. If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.
If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu. These bundles start at $12.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $32.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.