Lala Kent doesn’t believe Ariana Madix is doing her job on Vanderpump Rules.
After Ariana, 38, refused to engage in a conversation with Tom Sandoval, 41, on Tuesday’s finale episode, Lala, 33, called out her co-star for coasting through each season as Ariana signaled to her contract and her Reality Star of the Year title, which was given to her by Us Weekly in October 2023, and other cast members weighed in.
“I’m f*cking offended,” Lala began on the May 7 episode of the Vanderpump Rules: After Show. “I’m gonna be real about Ariana: She coasts through every single f*cking season and we’re asking you to have one conversation with Tom Sandoval, you know, the guy you shoved down our throats for so many years, that guy who you still live with, we’re asking you to have one conversation and you can’t do that?”
“Every single person on this show [has] the tough conversations,” she added.
But, according to Ariana, her Pump Rules contract doesn’t force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do, and the same goes for every other member of the cast.
“I would encourage that person to read my contract and find at any point in which I’m required to do anything that I don’t deem real or that I don’t want to do. And I would also say that goes for every single cast member on this show. Everyone has the right to exercise that, and they do all the time,” she noted.
“And if you think I’m doing a bad job as a reality star,” she continued, “I’m the reality star of the year, so maybe I know what I’m doing.”
Ariana also felt that her walk-off at Kyle Chan‘s finale party made for a “better television” than anything her potential chat with Sandoval would have provided.
“What makes better television, Tom Sandoval crying on television for the millionth time on Vanderpump Rules or a dramatic exit?” she asked as Katie Maloney, 37, said she was “not mad” about how the show ended.
As for Scheana Shay, 38, and Brock Davies, they both understood why Ariana chose to avoid Sandoval but also expressed frustration at the uncomfortable moments they’ve endured for the sake of creating an authentic show.
“As her friend, I completely understood and respected what she did. But it’s hard, as one of the people who had a lot of those moments this season, i.e. Tahoe and meditation, that was a lot of convincing to get me to go back into that moment with [Sandoval],” Scheana explained. “But then I’m like, ‘You know what, this is what I’m here to do, and we’re all trying to heal and move on, and this is what I’m here for.’”
Then, after James Kennedy, 32, admitted part of him wishes Ariana would film with Sandoval since he “[loves] the drama,” Brock said it would be good for Ariana to “close that door and move on” before looking back at his on-camera hardships.
“Ever since I’ve been in this group, I’ve been under scrutiny, and I had to be honest about the hardest things I’ve ever spoken about in my life … So then to have that kind of like boundary set by Ariana, I would prefer her to have that conversation or be open to it,” Brock noted.
Looking back at the snub, Sandoval confessed to feeling for Ariana.
“I sympathize with the fact that she doesn’t want to do that, and it’s probably too soon, and that’s fine,” he shared.
That said, Sandoval pointed out that they hadn’t been honest about their relationship in the past.
“We were not being open and honest, and other people were, and I found that unfair. [But] I respect the fact that she doesn’t want to speak with me, especially how things ended,” he explained, adding that season 11 was “definitely [his] hardest season by far.”
“The guilt I feel, the people around me that got hurt through the process, like [Tom Schwartz], and other people, it weighs on me a lot,” he continued. “I feel awful about it. It is what it is. It happened. I’m glad I showed up. I’m glad that I had the conversations that I had, that I faced it. It’s still gonna be a long road ahead, but I’m gonna keep showing up.”
Meanwhile, Schwartz, 40, said that while he “can’t fault” Ariana for dodging Sandoval, he felt it would be to her benefit to allow the discussion to happen.
“Completely warranted. There’s so many times I wish I could’ve just walked away … [But] you have to address the situation, which, honestly, long-term is pretty good. It’s therapeutic,” he reasoned.
The three-part Vanderpump Rules season 11 reunion begins Tuesday, May 14, at 8/7c on Bravo.