The future of Vanderpump Rules was called into question last month when news broke that the long-running Bravo reality series would be paused.
While Bravo shows pause for several years, Vanderpump Rules is the network’s number one show, so it won’t be gone for too long.
The recent VPR Season 11 finale took things in a different direction.
Lala Kent and Scheana Shay broke the fourth wall to complain about Ariana Madix leaving an end-of-season party because they felt she should be forced to speak to ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval.
In a new episode of Shay’s Scheananigans podcast, Shay claimed that executive producer Alex Baskin said the show could be canceled because it was “not in a good place.”
“It was, you know, ‘X, Y and Z needs to happen. Or we’re going to have a short season and the show’s going to be canceled and that’s it. Go live your lives.'”
Scheana Shay switched things up to change Vanderpump Rules
Shay said that the conversation pushed her and Kent to attempt to switch things up to keep the show going.
“Well, we don’t want the show to get canceled,'” she reasoned, adding that the show is important for their families and that it has a crew of “80 to 100 people,” who would lose their jobs.
“And I said this at the reunion — which you didn’t see — but I was like, ‘I feel like we’re doing our jobs also for all of these people. We want to keep this going.'”
Shay also opened up about Madix walking away from the party.
“And so when someone does just walk away, they don’t care if the show ends, it’s not just about us,” Shay dished.
“There’s so many more people that do rely on this, and that’s where it just got really hard because I’m like, I do understand and respect your boundaries, but it just made it really difficult.”
Vanderpump Rules Season 11 was a dud
Vanderpump Rules Season 11 production began shortly after Scandoval, with the show charting the scandal’s aftermath.
Unfortunately, by the time the show returned earlier this year, viewers were tired of the scandal, putting the show in a precarious position.
Despite a downturn in quality, the numbers remained strong, meaning that the show will eventually continue.
The big question is which cast members will return because most people leaving may not result in good ratings because fans have grown attached to their favorite cast members.
The hope is that the cast will have moved on to different stages of their lives by the time the show returns, allowing for some new storylines.
Vanderpump Rules is currently on hiatus. Seasons 1-11 are now streaming on Peacock.