As a premiere of what is to come in 2013, TLC is unveiling a new reality show that features a behind-the-scenes look at the everyday lives of five preachers’ wives from Atlanta, Georgia, whose lifestyles are much different from what they portray in church.
“If you pull back the curtain and see us for who we truly are, you’d be shocked,” states Ivy Couch, whose husband Mark leads Emanuel Tabernacle Church.
The Sisterhood is set to begin airing on January 1st on the popular Learning Channel, which often features reality shows of various types. The broadcast follows five women that are married to preachers in one of the largest cities in the Bible Belt, who often dress provocatively, giggle about sexual matters with their friends and husbands, and live on the edge in a variety of ways.
“She’s fit and fabulous and her wardrobe leaves little to the imagination,” reads the bio for Tara Lewis, a certified fitness instructor who recently moved to Atlanta from Los Angeles after her husband took a job at a church in the area.
“Tell the devil he’s a liar!” Lewis announces in the preview, while wearing skin-tight shorts and a t-shirt that she pulled up to expose her midriff.
“Did you get breast implants, too?” asks Christina Murray over dinner with the women, whose husband Anthony leads Oasis Family Life Church.
“Christina often makes it known that she’s a sassy Latina who you don’t want to mess with,” her bio reads. “Christina and Anthony … have to wrangle their two challenging teenage daughters who are just as sassy as their mother.”
Another scene shows Ivy Couch laughing as she opens a gift bag from her husband to find that he had given her handcuffs to use in the bedroom.
“You better watch yo’ self, girl!” her husband jokes.
“People don’t expect a preacher and his wife to have a good sex life,” Couch tells the cameras.
“It’s very difficult to be a ‘first lady.’ Very difficult,” she declares in another scene.
In one episode, Dominique Scott, who ran Good Life International Church with her husband until it recently closed, points to the house where she smoked her first crack pipe as she rides through town with the women.
“Preachers’ wives can run from very conservative to very radical,” states DeLana Rutherford, whose husband Myles leads Worship With Wonder Church in Kennesaw, Georgia. DeLana, a singer, and her husband are quoted as having a “strong mantle of a proceeding and prophetic word.”
“One look at DeLana singing on stage in her leather pants and spiked heels and you’ll definitely think she’s a rock star,” writes Access Atlanta about Rutherford.
The women are often seen from episode to episode pushing the envelope in both behavior and attire, at times wearing outfits that expose cleavage or the thigh area, or arguing amongst each other about relational matters.
Eight episodes have been shot for the first season, of which one news outlet asks, “Will this be heaven sent or a devil’s wish?”
The Sisterhood will air at prime time on Tuesday nights on TLC.