The Fatal Flaw of Vanderpump Rules Season 11

They bet on the wrong horse.

This week Vanderpump Rules Season 11 came to a close as we watched the final reunion episode. In what we thought was going to be a girl power season, concluded with more confusion, anger, and misogyny than we bargained for.

The internet, myself included, has a lot of thoughts on what happened this season and just how wrong the producers & network got it. We’ve been discussing it for months on social media, on Reddit forms, and in real life because it’s so maddening.

I kicked off the season with a lot of posts on why Alex Baskin and Bravo decided a Tom Sandoval redemption arc is what we needed, and as the season ticked by, I found myself growing more angry with every episode. I was confused by Lala’s behavior on screen to Ariana’s face and then in confessionals. I didn’t understand why Scheana was forcing Tom to apologize to Ariana and as things got more clear, I couldn’t fathom why anyone thought Ariana’s anger was unwarranted only 3-4 months post Scandoval.

Why was Lala gaslighting us about the house? Why was the audience forced to get over the betrayal so quickly? None of it made sense.

As the reunion began and we realized Ariana didn’t watch the show, things started to feel very icky. When you put it into perspective, producers probably knew Ariana didn’t watch the show so the fact that they withheld the last few minutes from everyone, forcing them to watch it in a room together, felt like psychological torture.

I hated seeing Ariana find out in real time that the people she had called family mere minutes before were jealous snakes. I hated seeing her cry when Tom Sandoval turned on her again. It felt very unfair, it felt cruel and mean. At a time where Bravo’s reputation is hanging in the balance, it seemed like a risk to purposefully pull a fast one on a scorned woman who delivered the best ratings in years.

Everyone was so hell bent on getting Ariana to talk to Tom face to face, so they decided to lock her in a room and pile on the emotions, basically forcing a very uncomfortable conversation to happen.

Because of this, we didn’t even get Andy asking Tom about his Robert Durst hot mic moment. We barely got the cast reacting to what was the jaw dropping moment; hardly anyone cared about Lala’s misplaced anger at Ariana that wasn’t shocking to the audience because we have seen it play out in the press for the past 2 months.

We left the reunion feeling deflated, feeling sad that we were bamboozled and frustrated that Lala took self-producing to a level even Lisa Rinna couldn’t imagine. The audience loves a fourth wall break but we don’t want our reality stars to be so focused on the show getting renewed that they fail to be authentic.

Lala was not authentic this season; she was playing the part of producer puppet and too focused on getting Ariana to crack and then move on. She was playing the game of yesteryear and pandered to the audience she thought would follow.

Vanderpump Rules missed the mark this season in a huge way. They had their 2012 caps on instead of waking up to the smell the 2024 feminism. Women aren’t as inclined to roll over and forgive men anymore.

We don’t want a male redemption arc, especially not so soon after news broke of something as horrible as the 7 month affair.* We don’t care to see a broken woman backed into a corner and be forced to sit alongside the man she thought she loved, who ended up destroying her life (and no, it doesn’t matter how much money she made off of it). It’s hard to watch because we see ourselves in Ariana and instead of going with that narrative, the producers bet on the wrong horse.

They thought the audience would go along with their plan but they don’t have the skilled cast they once did; the audience is too smart for their games now. We see through everything and we don’t want to be pandered too.

Vanderpump Rules could’ve had the season Summer House is having, and it would’ve been glorious. On the East Coast we have women who have hated Lindsay for years, rallying around her anyway because they recognize that she’s going through a hard time (pre break-up) but we couldn’t even get a few scenes of Lala and Scheana going to bat for Ariana, a friend they’ve had for over a decade? Why? Because they were both mistresses and when their relationships fell apart on TV, no one cared?

No one cared because both Lala and Scheana were the Raquel’s of their situation. They were eventually wronged, and yes, it was sad but no one lifted them up the way of Ariana because they have failed time and time again to take any accountability for their actions.

Vanderpump Rules is over as we know it, because the audience has washed their hands clean of this misogynistic, outdated mess.

*We were quick to forgive Jax and Kristen because they were young and stupid, and it was a quick hook up. Tom and Raquel deceived the audience just as much as they deceived Ariana and the rest of the cast.