It’s new horizons for Lisa Vanderpump and the legendary Vanderpump Rules, and she explains why on the season finale of Bravo’s Hot Mic Podcast.
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Producer-to-producer, Lisa sat with Alex Baskin about the cast shakeup audiences will see for VPR Season 12, an announcement that came in November 2024 and leaves fans waiting with bated breath. Despite an “extraordinary” 11 seasons on the air — and three impressive Emmy Award noms – Lisa admitted things just ran their course.
Alex, himself, said the show “wasn’t grounded in what it originally had been” in that focus shifted from cast members’ work lives in the restaurant to their personal relationships.
Lisa on the former Vanderpump Rules cast
Lisa and Baskin — who created the show together in 2013 — discussed the foundation of the series and what the primary cast brought to the table as servers and bartenders (a.k.a. SUR-vers) for Lisa’s West Hollywood restaurant SUR.
Original cast members who saw all 11 seasons through included Tom Sandoval, Katie Maloney, Tom Schwartz, and Scheana Shay.
“That was incredible, when we first kind of talked about creating that show, and we sat on orange boxes,” Lisa told Alex. “It was pretty much the cast I brought into you was the cast that we used, and they were extraordinary. They were extraordinary then, and they continued to be. They were very open, they were very authentic, and I think that was the most important thing that we looked for for a reality show.”
But after more than a decade together and cast members leaving SUR one by one only to find success both on and off the screen, lives had taken “a different direction.”
“I felt that we told the story, and we always said together that we didn’t want to go down on a sinking ship,” Lisa continued. “We wanted to actually acknowledge the fact that it was almost unproduceable ... or they were.”
SUR-vers came and went over the years, many of whom stayed for as long as the show took them. Lala Kent, Ariana Madix, and James Kennedy were a few, while others — like The Valley’s Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright, and Kristen Doute — graduated onto other Bravo shows.
According to Alex, “It didn’t make sense to continue.”
Why stop on such a high?
Some wondered why, especially after the cheating scandal known as “Scandoval” helped ratings skyrocket, producers opted for a cast takeover in the upcoming season 12.
Lisa became excited at the prospect of fresh faces, ergo, fresh drama.
“I think we lost that, and even though Vanderpump Rules was a wonderful show … I mean it was, and I think that was largely due to where it came from, our vision for that. But being a very authentic show, we showed as much as we could, if not everything," she continued. "But I think it changed. I don’t want to talk to people’s assistants. I still don’t have an assistant.”
Lisa Vanderpump on changing attitudes
Lisa might keep in close touch with some of the older cast members, but felt that sweeping change was necessary.
“It just changed, and I think that I still have a great relationship with some of them. But the others, their attitude changed, and it wasn’t what we set out to be,” Lisa continued in her sit-down interview. “So, I think it was time to move on.”
A date for Vanderpump Rules Season 12 has yet to be announced, but you can listen to Lisa and Alex’s entire conversation on Bravo’s Hot Mic Podcast on Bravo and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.
And read up on the cast’s “mixed” reactions to news of the VPR reboot.
Listen to Lisa Vanderpump on Bravo’s Hot Mic Podcast, available anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts. You can also watch the full video version of the podcast episode here.
