Lala Kent is glad some of her “Vanderpump Rules” co-stars were blindsided at the season 11 reunion.
The Bravo star has been open about her frustrations with some of her castmates during season 11. She felt Ariana Madix didn’t give it her all during filming after her ex, Tom Sandoval’s headline-making cheating scandal.
In a June 2024 interview on the “Two Ts in a Pod” podcast, Kent admitted she was happy that producers opted to withhold the last few minutes of footage from the season 11 finale so the cast could watch it all together in real time.
“I knew 100% that was airing,” Kent told hosts Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge. “We get the episodes early. And when I saw they were keeping that I was like— and maybe I’m a sicko for this— I’m like, ‘Thank God I’m going to get something. I’m going to get an honest, pure reaction. No one gets to think, no one gets to figure out what I’m going to say about why I said that.’”
Lala Kent Said Ariana Madix Has Been ‘Gray Rocking’ For Years
@bravotv After a year of highs and lows, everyone’s speaking their mind. Stream the #PumpRules finale now on @peacock. #LalaKent #ArianaMadix #VanderpumpRules
The season 11 finale episode, titled “Plot Twist,” ended with Madix walking out of a group event in San Francisco after her ex, Tom Sandoval, tried to have an on-camera conversation with her.
After Madix walked out, Kent ranted about her walking away from the cameras and not doing her job. “I have never in my life experienced someone who gets cheated on and suddenly becomes God!” Kent screamed.
During the “Vanderpump Rules” reunion, the cast watched the final moments of the season 11 finale together for the first time. Madix became visibly upset when she saw some of the things Kent and others said about her. She called her co-stars’ comments “hurtful.”
On “Two Ts,” Kent noted that Madix has long planned out her “Vanderpump Rules’ interactions, but that for season 11, she admitted to “gray rocking” around Sandoval. According to CNN, “gray rocking” is when one gives little interaction to narcissists so that they “lose interest” in talking to them.
“They both for many years planned how they’re going to go into a season,” Kent said of Madix and Sandoval. “Ariana said this season she was gray rocking. I’m like, ‘You’ve been gray rocking from the jump, babe. There’s no change here except this year we actually need you to do something.’”
“And I know that sounds not nice and I’m not meaning for to come across that way. But it was for many, many seasons before this happened it was like it was okay for her to kind of be in the background,” Kent continued. “It was fine, it worked well. But now you’re the main story, babe. I’m going to need a little bit of something.”
Kent also claimed that Madix’s post-scandal success gave her a big head.
“I was not mad at the opportunity she was getting outside of this show,” Kent said in reference to Madix’s stints on “Dancing With the Stars” and Broadway. “What I started getting upset about is now we’re bringing a little bit of diva-ness to my place of work that I’ve been doing for eight years. And I have a hard time when people think they are bigger than the show.”
The Give Them Lala Beauty founder went on to say that “the goal” for all of the cast is to entertain viewers and that everyone should do their jobs.
Scheana Shay Said ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Producers Told the Cast to Bring More or The Show Would End
BravoVANDERPUMP RULES — Season:11 — Pictured: (l-r) Katie Maloney, Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval, Lisa Vanderpump, James Kennedy, Lala Kent, Tom Schwartz, Scheana Shay
Kent’s close friend Scheana Shay made similar statements. On a June 2024 episode of her “Scheananigans” podcast, Shay claimed executive producer Alex Baskin warned the cast that the show could be in jeopardy.
“I know Alex Baskin has said that midseason, the show was not in a good place,” Shay said. “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,’” she claimed the producer told the cast.
Shay noted that Baskin’s warning put “a lot of pressure” on her and Kent to deliver during season 11. Shay felt obligated to save the show for everyone, including the 100 crew members who rely on the paycheck.
“We don’t want the show to get canceled,” Shay explained. “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.’”
“And so, when someone does just walk away, they don’t care if the show ends,” she added.
Baskin denied Shay’s story while speaking with Variety. “I think that was a pretty dramatic, heightened account of what happened,” he told the outlet.
“We did get the entire cast together,” the “Vanderpump Rules” showrunner added. “And we thought we had hit a point in the season where I actually think that they were impacted by what was happening on social media. We basically were telling them to drown out the noise. And to make the show that they had made over the previous 10 seasons. And that didn’t mean we asked them to manufacture anything. It didn’t mean that we gave them any specific talking points.”
