For Season 11, ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Had to Find a Way Forward Post-Scandoval (2024)

The best unscripted series on television returns January 30 with the Season 11 premiere of Bravo‘s “Vanderpump Rules,” and anticipation was high for both longtime viewers of the series and those who only recently got sucked in by the cultural phenomenon that was “Sandoval.” When Tom Sandoval blew up his relationship with longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix by sleeping with her friend Raquel, he inadvertently created the most irresistibly compelling onscreen drama of 2023. Season 10 ended with Tom estranged from the friends he had known for a decade and raised some very real questions about where the show — which has always revolved around the interconnectedness of that group — could possibly go from there.

The first thing to say about the Season 11 premiere is that it was worth the wait, but not for the reasons one might think. There’s nothing sensationalistic or hyped-up about the show’s return; knowing that the inherent tension in the situations — such as the fact that Tom and Ariana remain separated but living in the same house — is strong enough on its own, the filmmakers have the confidence not to force it but to continue doing what they’ve always done best: allowing the cast’s lives to unfold naturally before the cameras without the contrivances and manipulative rhythms that plague so many other unscripted series. Staying true to the show’s guiding principles was trickier than usual, given the massive attention that Scandoval brought to the series, as showrunner Alex Baskin acknowledged.

“The scandal definitely impacted us,” Baskin told IndieWire, noting that it was challenging to know how to address the scandal without becoming self-referential. “We had to be open to referencing the scandal and the public response to it because if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be telling the true story. This wasn’t a mere cheating scandal within a group of friends, it was something that mushroomed into an international news story of proportions that I still don’t completely understand. So we had to cover that, but we didn’t want to become engulfed by it. Shows become uninteresting when they’re just about the show itself and they’re not about the real relationships between everybody.”

For Baskin and his collaborators, a key to producing Season 11 was staying focused and shutting out distractions, whether they be the distractions of an increased number of fans and paparazzi or the pressure of living up to the increased scrutiny on the series. “Coming into this season, we were aware that we were definitely under a microscope and there was more attention on us than ever before,” Baskin said. “There’s always the concern that people are going to think the show fell back to earth after it had this outside scandal that generated a ton of attention. I would love to say we never feel the pressure, but we always feel the pressure. But the network has always encouraged us to stay true to the core principle, which is just the authenticity of what’s going on in these people’s lives.”

That authenticity yields plenty of fascinating moments on the Season 11 premiere, as we watch the characters deal with the fallout of Scandoval in ways that are refreshingly lacking in melodrama — it’s an episode of modest gestures and unsteady steps forward as the cast figures out what the aftermath means to their friendships and their own romantic relationships. There are also scintillating hints of what is to come in Tom and Ariana’s odd living situation, in which neither wants to give up the house they purchased together even if it means living under the same roof and avoiding each other. While some viewers might long for an explosion between the two, Baskin says there was no attempt to construct that kind of showdown.

“If Tom and Ariana aren’t talking, they’re not talking, and we can’t produce that into being,” Baskin said. “First of all, they wouldn’t listen to us, so there’s nothing we can do. We just have to tell the real story as it is and trust that that is interesting enough. What are the mechanics of Tom and Ariana still living in a house together? To me, that’s much more compelling than seeing them get together in a group and grinning and bearing it just because they’re in a show together.” That said, letting the story play out in a straightforward manner is easier said than done when the cast has become so scrutinized in both the press and on social media. “The public paying so much attention to what was going on in the group was a challenge,” Baskin said, pointing to a photo a fan posted with Sandoval and Scheana Shay while the show was shooting in Lake Tahoe.

“There was an extreme reaction on social media because the followers were thinking, well, this means that they must have made up, and there were people calling Scheana disloyal,” Baskin said. “That wouldn’t have happened in the past. That’s where the public response becomes a part of the story, but you sometimes wish that it weren’t, because it isn’t just about the scandal being public, it’s about the public reaction to what we’re shooting before the public has seen it.” Of course, for viewers, teasing out the clues on social media and anticipating what’s coming on the show is part of the fun, even if it creates an extra degree of difficulty for Baskin and his team in saving reveals for the show and living up to expectations.

“It’s a different kind of season,” Baskin said. “At its core, the show is fundamentally about the same thing that it’s always been, which is the relationships between these people. But the shifts in mood make this almost like a few seasons in one, and seeing that play out has been interesting.” The thing that makes “Vanderpump Rules” so pleasurable for its audience, which is the unpredictability of its relationships, also keeps Baskin on his toes — the fact that he’s always unsure of where the series is going undoubtedly is part of why it remains fresh for the audience. “I went into this not knowing whether it would be our final season, but we have more life left in us,” the showrunner concluded. “I didn’t know that that would be the case.”