The third part of the Season 11 Vanderpump Rules reunion was incredibly emotional. During the season finale, Ariana Madix and her boyfriend, Daniel Wai, left after Tom Sandoval tried to speak with her. While Ariana was outside, Sandoval and Lala Kent torched her for leaving and refusing to film with him.
Unbeknownst to the Pump Rules cast, they were going to watch the end of the finale together. So, viewers watched the cast react, via split screen, to the footage. Of course, Ariana was the most shell-shocked because she had no idea what everyone was saying after she left. And that surprise left Katie Maloney and Ariana feeling salty.
Katie believes that showing the footage at reunion targeted Ariana
Ariana and Katie discussed the reunion during Katie and Dayna Kathan’s podcast, Disrespectfully. “I hated the ending of it all. I hated that they waited to show us that five minutes because I was like, ‘This feels mean and it’s just mean towards Ariana.’ That wasn’t for any of us,” Katie explained. “There was nothing shocking in it for any of us. It was only mean toward one person.”
Ariana wasn’t pleased with the producer’s decision. “You see me mouth [during the third part of the reunion] like, ‘What the f*ck?’ … Which was literally like, ‘Oh, so this is what they’re doing,'” Ariana stated. “Because even when they emailed the episodes, they’re like, ‘You’ll notice that you don’t have [the end of the episode].’ But then they didn’t really say why.”
And Ariana felt like she was targeted. She explained, “It felt, ‘Well, we have her trapped in this room now. We didn’t get what we wanted to get [during the finale]. We didn’t get to break her down in real life in the moment. So we’re gonna retaliate by doing that right now in a place where she’s contractually obligated to be here and try to force this moment now.'”
Ariana added, “Great, I cried. Are you guys happy now?” It was brutal watching Ariana’s emotions on the split screen as she reacted in real-time.
Ariana gave Pump Rules a great ending
“It just felt mean,” Katie stated. “It didn’t affect anyone else in the way that it was gonna affect her.” And Ariana explained why her leaving at the finale benefited the show.
“Here’s the thing that’s so stupid. I gave them the best f*cking ending to what that season could have had in that moment by leaving. It was real and it was exciting to watch,” she said. “Sorry, if you literally are only looking at it from a perspective of like good reality TV, I gave you good reality TV.”
Ariana also shared that she did show her actual life. “As far as real-life stuff, that’s always been real and authentic for me. I can’t fake that,” Ariana remarked.
It is a good thing that VPR is taking a breather and not filming this summer. The group is broken, and who knows if they will ever repair their friendships? Plus, fans don’t want to see a repeat of the same arguments again. Hopefully, a break will benefit everyone.
Vanderpump Rules is streaming on Peacock.
TELL US – DID THE PRODUCERS TRAP ARIANA? WAS SHOWING THE FOOTAGE AT THE REUNION UNFAIR TO THE CAST?
