Scheana Shay answered a question about whether she’s closer to Ariana Madix or Tom Sandoval on her podcast on Friday.
Following an 11th season of Vanderpump Rules, which saw Scheana, 39, torn between her loyalty to Ariana, 38, and her past closeness to Sandoval, 41, Scheana revealed where she stands with the former couple as she also dished on the future of the show, The Valley‘s second season, the reunion, and more.
“Right now, I don’t speak to either of them that much,” Scheana said of Ariana and Sandoval on the May 10 episode of Scheananigans.
While many felt Tuesday’s finale felt like the end of the series, Scheana said there’s room for the show to continue, as long as the fourth wall comes down.
“If the show could move in a direction like The Kardashians and [The D’Amelio Show] where you’re talking about the show on the show like we just did for the finale this week, I feel like there is so much room for the show to go and there is room for Tom and Ariana to stay on the same show if we’re acknowledging, ‘I’m not filming with him.’ ‘I’m not filming with her,’” she explained. “They can both be on it but the way this last season worked, it was, ‘This is an ensemble show about a group of friends.’ So if y’all aren’t filming together, then there is no show. We’ll wrap it up. The season will end early and move on with your lives, Vanderpump Rules is done. None of us were willing to do that.”
Although Pump Rules isn’t ending quite yet, production has been placed on pause ahead of season 12.
“I don’t have any inside information. We’re the last people to find out,” Scheana said of when she suspects filming will begin. “I feel like things are with The Valley right now. They needed to pick up cameras two weeks ago.”
According to Scheana, she thinks The Valley needs to film a full season before Pump Rules picks up cameras, which will allow for crossover moments on both shows.
“Maybe we cross over on it because these are our friends in real life. I could see Vanderpump pickup up maybe in the fall, after The Valley fully wraps up. Last year, [they] wrapped in [September]. Maybe we start in October,” she suggested. “I also think filming in a different time of year, a different season, Halloween party, we don’t need another Tom Sandoval f*cking birthday. We’re always filming July 7 every season. Give us some holidays in the desert. That’s another opportunity for a Valley crossover with Vanderpump. My family, Janet’s family, and Lala’s family, we do Christmas in the desert… a ski trip. That would be really cool. Let’s give it several months of the sandwich shop being open. Ariana’s going back to Broadway. Let’s all just live our lives for the next five, six months and pick up where we’re at then instead of where we left off at the reunion.”
Speaking of the reunion, Scheana said, “It was very different than last year because it wasn’t a lot of like finger-gun, screaming, and cussing at each other. It was very different but very intense.”
She then noted that after filming season 11, she had trouble trusting people.
“Since ‘Scandoval,’ I feel like my judgment with everyone is off. I feel like I can’t trust anyone like I used to and I feel that way about literally everyone in my life,” she admitted.
Looking back on the finale, Scheana revealed that one of her producers was quite upset at Ariana’s refusal to film with Sandoval, prompting him to encourage the cast to break the fourth wall.
“Jeremiah said, ‘Let it all out. Whatever you want to say, Go. Go for it.’ He was very frustrated that day, to get walked out on, it was a slap in the face to everyone,” Scheana explained, noting that she feels differently months later.
“In hindsight, I’m watching it back. I’m like, ‘I understand. That was your truth. In that moment, you were living your real, authentic life and you were not really going to talk to him,’” she reasoned. “[But] for the rest of us, it felt like in that moment, ‘F*ck all of your jobs, f*ck making the end of this show. I’m going to do what I want to do because I set my boundary. Peace out.’”
The three-part Vanderpump Rules season 11 reunion begins Tuesday, May 14, at 8/7c on Bravo.