Season 2 of The Valley not only follows former Bravo couple Brittany Cartwright and Jax Taylor’s separation, but also co-stars Jesse Lally and Michelle Saniei’s turbulent road to divorce. Earlier on in the season, Jesse insists that Michelle was unfaithful during their marriage with the man she’s now dating, while Michelle claims Jesse is seeking revenge after she made the decision to call it quits.
In Episode 3, viewers learn that Jesse made a damning accusation about his ex-wife via text message. The message was allegedly shared in a boys’ only group chat, started by Jax Taylor and sent to around 20 men, among them cast mate Danny Booko and even a Vanderpump Rules alum. But, as we know with this group: what stays in the boys’ group chat doesn’t always stay in the boys’ group chat. It wasn’t long before word got around to Michelle.
So, what do we know about the men’s group chat, and the text that had Michelle bursting into tears?
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In Season 2, Episode 3, Danny Repeats An Accusation Made By Jesse Lally About Michelle Saniei To Luke Broderick, Who Then Shares It To The Entire Group
In Episode 3 of The Valley, Danny Booko finds himself in a tough spot after revealing to Luke Broderick a private message from Jesse Lally, sent in a men’s-only group chat, accusing his ex-wife Michelle Saniei of “sleeping with a billionaire for $1,500 a night.” Luke isn’t part of the exclusive boys-only group chat, but Danny hopes that, in the spirit of not breaking bro code, he’ll keep the revelation to himself, especially from girlfriend Kristen Doute and the rest of the group.
“The No. 1 rule is what happens in boys’ chat, stays in boys’ chat,” Danny shares in a confessional.
However, Luke does not decide to keep this information to himself. He decides to not only tell Kristen, but also share Jesse’s accusation about his ex-wife with Brittany Cartwright and Zack Wickham. As the entire cast, minus Zack, heads to Dave & Buster’s for Janet Caperna’s birthday, Brittany pulls Michelle and Nia Booko aside to let them know what Jesse said. Michelle breaks down in tears and, in a confessional, shares, “Since the moment I told Jesse I wanted to file for divorce, all he wants is revenge.”
The women then pull Danny into the mix, who knows the blunder he has just found himself in. He can’t lie to them to try and protect his friend. After admitting that Jesse did send that nasty text, he rushes over to inform him that the text is now out. But, in a surprising twist, Jesse reveals that he doesn’t really believe Michelle is sleeping with billionaires. In fact, he might have just made that up to find “the mole” within their friend chat group. So far, it looks like it’s Danny.
However, on The Valley After Show, the cast revealed that there were multiple moles within this chat group. So, it really isn’t fair to call Danny “the mole.”
“Danny wasn’t even the mole,” Zack shares. “I’ve gotten the screenshot from other people that aren’t even in it. … There’s 37,000 people in that chat. They all send screenshots to everybody else. No one should think that anything in there is private.”
“There’s a lot of moles,” Luke adds. “That’s all I’m gonna say. It’s not the supertight chat like Jax [Taylor] believes it is.”
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What Is The Valley Boys’ Group Chat, And Who Is In It?
Jax Taylor Began The Chat Group
The infamous boys’ group chat was started by Jax Taylor, who revealed on The Valley After Show that it consists of about 20 men who are “married now, basically just venting about their relationships and wives.” Jesse Lally added, “It’s gone from a bunch of single guys to a bunch of memes about parenting.”
But it’s clear this group discusses more than just parenting after what viewers watched in Episode 3. In fact, Jesse admitted he was once named “rookie of the year” in the chat—a title that doesn’t exactly sound like something to brag about.
In the same After Show episode, Scheana Shay’s husband, Brock Davies, even confirmed that the chat isn’t really all about married men sending funny memes. “They send like memes about like, just being miserably married.”
The Valley Season 2 Cast | Status |
|---|---|
Brittany Cartwright and Jax Taylor | Separated |
Jesse Lally and Michelle Saniei | Separated |
Jason Caperna and Janet Caperna | Married |
Danny Booko and Nia Booko | Married |
Jasmine Goode and Melissa Marie | Engaged |
Zack Wickham and Benji Quach | Dating |
So, who are the men in this exclusive chat group? There’s Jax, who began it, Jesse, and even Vanderpump Rules alum Tom Schwartz. In The Valley After Show, Danny revealed that he had been “kicked out” of the boys’ chat group after leaking Jesse’s text. Luke is not in the group, and neither is Jason Caperna, who shared in a confessional on Episode 3 that he’s happy he isn’t part of it. In fact, VPR alum Stassi Schroeder’s husband, Beau Clark, was also part of the chat group, but she “made Beau leave the group chat,” according to Lala Kent.
“We have people who come and go and take breaks, but that thing is still active,” Jax shared.
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Michelle And Jesse Separated Before The Premiere Of The Valley Season 1
The Former Couple Wed In 2018
Michelle and Jesse came into Season 1 of The Valley as a married couple. However, by the end of the season, their marriage crumbled. In Episode 12, Michelle tells Jesse, “Did you think I would never leave you?” To which he replied, “I just thought you had such strong family values that you would do whatever it takes to fix any problem and not just abandon the problem.”
“I’m not abandoning anything. I’m trying myself. I’m being honest that I lost a lot of those feelings for you,” she admits.
In a confessional, Michelle shared, “I finally hit that point where I knew, ‘I’m done and I want to move on and I want to get divorced and start my own life. There’s no question that I made the right choice.”
Michelle had asked Jesse for a divorce in October 2023, just days after filming for Season 1 concluded. Before the season premiered in March 2024, Jesse confirmed to Us Weekly that they were no longer together.
“There’s a major storyline about our life where I try to work on myself throughout the entire summer to be the best version of myself. And if the best version of myself aligned with the best version of herself, then our marriage would make it. People evolve. If your marriage and relationship doesn’t evolve with it, it will never work, no matter how bad you want it,” he told the outlet.
The Valley Season 2 airs new episodes on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo. Stream episodes the next day on Peacock.
