Marciano Brunette made some new confessions about the timeline of his affair with Jessi Ngatikaura, revealing he was originally meant to appear on the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives reunion and more.
During the Tuesday, November 25, episode of the “Juicy Scoop” podcast, Marciano, 32, broke down the timeline of his unexpected connection with Demi Engemann and how that led to an affair with Jessi, 33.
“It is unfortunate to see everything that is going on now, because everything that happened [on Vanderpump Villa] was consensual,” Maricano claimed, referring to Demi’s allegations of sexual misconduct against him. “I will just flat-out say that the accusations she’s making against me are 100 percent false.”
Hulu viewers saw Marciano and Demi, 30, interact on season 2 of Vanderpump Villa. After the show aired, Demi, who is married to Bret Engemann, clarified that there was nothing romantic between them before accusing Marciano of unwanted contact.
“I did come out with a pretty bold and true statement against Marciano [recently], because at that point it was like, ‘You’re lying about me. Actually, you were the predator.’ So, I’m not going to stay quiet — and I stand by that statement,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in May. “There’s more happening behind the scenes with that that will come to light. I’m sure at this point it’s become a legal matter. There’s not much more I can say on it as of now because I want to preserve the fact that it’s a serious situation. But I stand behind those statements.”
Marciano, however, denied Demi’s claims before revealing he had a secret emotional affair with Jessi. The drama was addressed on season 3 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, with Jessi and Demi sharing their sides of the story.
Now, Marciano wants to clarify his point of view. Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations from his podcast appearance:
The Time He Spent With Demi on ‘Vanderpump Villa’
After meeting while filming season 2 of Vanderpump Villa, Marciano said he got close with Demi — to the point where she “said ‘I love you’ on camera” to him. They went on to have a three-hour conversation that was condensed to a few minutes on screen.
“I want to be respectful to her, and that is why it is a little tricky to say certain things,” Marciano said about the topics he and Demi discussed, including her marriage to Bret. “I think she has a right to question a lot of things she was telling me about her marriage and where it is going to go. She has a lot of questions.”
When the Accusations Initially Came Up
Viewers only caught wind of Demi’s accusations against Marciano after season 2 of Vanderpump Villa premiered in April 2025. Marciano, however, recalled getting in contact with Demi as soon as he was dismissed early from the season.
“She actually did try and say those accusations to me. She asked me, ‘Were you fired for touching me?’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’” he recalled. “But this also ends up backfiring on her, is the fact that she didn’t know why I was fired and she panics and she is with all the girls and tries to get ahead of it.”
When His Relationship With Demi Came to an End
“Once she found out about the Jessi stuff, we had a long conversation after she accused me of it and I denied it,” he shared about staying in contact with both Jessi and Demi. “In the conversation, I don’t want to say it was jealousy. But [Demi] definitely had a feeling about it where she didn’t feel good. She said she had to put up boundaries, and then we stopped talking right after that.”
The Moment Jessi Found Out He Exposed Their Affair
Demi Engemann,Marciano Brunette, Jessi Ngatikaura Disney/Hulu
The season 3 premiere of Mormon Wives showed Layla Taylor telling Jessi that Marciano shared details about their affair. Marciano clarified on the podcast that he initially didn’t plan to say they had sex but exaggerated details once he was on screen. He also claimed he spoke with Jessi about it before she filmed — meaning she was allegedly aware the affair would be discussed before she filmed her reaction with Layla.
His Version of Their Relationship Timeline
While Jessi has referred to their affair as a two-week emotional indiscretion, Marciano alleged they were in contact for longer than just 14 days.
“She has said that it was for two weeks. It was way longer than two weeks,” he claimed on Tuesday. “We were really strong for two weeks, but [the contact kept going with] phone calls, FaceTime and she was sending me pictures.”
He continued, “We kept talking. We absolutely stayed in touch all the way up until I came out about this.”
Marciano recalled things slowly fizzling out once Jessi’s husband, Jordan Ngatikaura, found out.
“We would not talk as much anymore because Jordan was so aware. We had transitioned to WhatsApp. We were going through Instagram and we were staying off the phone,” said Marciano, claiming his last conversation with Jessi was in January. “We were trying to navigate it as best as we could.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives didn’t just tackle Marciano Brunette and Demi Engemann’s alleged romantic connection — it also sparked a new revelation about an alleged affair with Jessi Ngatikaura. The drama actually started on another Hulu show — Vanderpump Villa — when Demi, Jessi, Jen Affleck, Layla Taylor and Mikayla Matthews were guests […]
Surprising Revelations About Filming ‘Mormon Wives’
Jordan Ngatikaura, Jessi Ngatikaura, and Marciano Brunette. Getty Images (3)
Marciano claimed that season 1 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives almost looked very different, saying, “It was filmed a while ago. I think they shot the pilot and they recast it. They brought Jessi and Demi on after the pilot. Then you got season 1 and they started shooting two seasons a year.”
Later in the episode, Marciano was asked whether he was meant to appear on the season 3 reunion of Mormon Wives, which was hosted by Stassi Schroeder and is set to air on December 4. “I was supposed to be and I am not,” he noted. “An hour before I was supposed to film, they asked me not to do it.”
Marciano, who didn’t appear in season 3 after Demi came out with her accusations against him, expressed gratitude that he didn’t attend the reunion because he was nervous about what he would be confronted with after being kept in the dark.
The Only Topic Marciano Wouldn’t Address
In both podcasts Marciano has done about the scandal, he refused to address the topic of money. He was asked on the “Juicy Scoop” podcast whether he was happy with the paychecks he received for seasons 2 and 3, to which he replied, “We are not going to get into that one but not as good as [the cast of the show].”
