‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star Explains Why She No Longer Wants to Be On ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Scheana Shay has no interest in joining “Dancing with the Stars” after years of rejection from the ABC celebrity ballroom show.

The former “Vanderpump Rules” star spoke out on the January 24 episode of her “Scheananagins With Scheana Shay” podcast and revealed that she has her eye on “The Traitors” now. “Traitors is my new ‘Dancing With the Stars,’” Shay told guests Kiki Monique and Ryan Bailey. “I genuinely don’t want to do ‘Dancing With the Stars’ anymore, I don’t.”

“I feel like that time has come and passed,” she explained. “You know, like I’ve wanted a Range Rover for so many years and now I’m like, it’s kind of come and passed.”

Shay insisted that she is not playing hard to get with DWTS producers with her new comments. “Now ‘Traitors’ is the new dream, genuinely. Yeah, like that wouldn’t even be a question. I would do ‘Traitors,’” she said.

Shay also shared that she wouldn’t care if any of her friends did “Dancing With the Stars” at this point. “I would still be there to support,” she said. “I’ve been going to that show since Ian Ziering was on it, like season three. So, I love still going and supporting. I knew [Ziering], we were friends, and he invited me, and it was him and Cheryl Burke. And that was my introduction. I had watched it already, but being there, I was like, ‘This would be so fun to be on one day.’ And now I watch ‘Traitors’ ‘and I’m like, ‘Put me in!’”

Former VPR Star Tom Sandoval is On ‘The Traitors’ But Shay Hasn’t Talked to Him

“The Traitors” is a popular Peacock reality competition series in which contestants work together trying to expose the “traitors” in the group as they compete for a cash prize. Shay’s former “Vanderpump Rules” co-star Tom Sandoval is a contestant on the third season of “The Traitors.”

On her podcast, Shay said she has not discussed the Peacock show with Sandoval at all. “No, I haven’t talked to him since I’ve been watching it. We haven’t talked in a while,” she said.

Sandoval previously said he hoped to be cast on “Dancing With the Stars.”  “During an appearance on the “Vanderpump Rules Aftershow,” he said, “It’s been a dream of mine… I actually took ballroom lessons and everything. I was working [on] getting on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ for years.”

In 2023, Sandoval’s estranged ex, Ariana Madix, was cast as a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars” season 32 shortly after Sandoval was caught in a cheating scandal with their castmate Raquel Leviss.

Scheana Shay Has Long Talked About Her Dream of Joining DWTS

Shay was initially upset over not being asked to do “Dancing With the Stars.”

In the “Vanderpump Rules” season 11 episode “Written in the Stars,” she told Lisa Vanderpump that her dream was to be on “Dancing With the Stars” and that it was a “punch to the gut” when she heard Madix was cast instead.

“This year I started taking dance class, I was preparing in case, you know, I did get it,” Shay confessed in the episode. She received some backlash from fans who felt she wasn’t supportive of Madix.

In March 2024, Shay appeared on Heather McDonald’s “Juicy Scoop” podcast and explained she had been in serious talks with DWTS producers in late 2022 and was told she was “right up there” on the list of potential contestants for season 32. Shay noted she was passed over for Madix, who became a media sensation following Scandoval.

Shay publicly supported Madix and even attended several live “Dancing With the Stars” shows. But at the time, she told McDonald she wouldn’t mind doing DWTS in 2025. “Maybe next year,” she said in early 2024. “This year I do have a full year with plans for myself, with my music. I would prefer, like, next year for my 40^th birthday would be fun,” she said of “Dancing With the Stars.”