How ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Season 11 Will Address Scandoval, Surprise Returns & More

Damian Holbrook January 2, 2024, 9:35 am

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Tom Sandoval, Lisa Vanderpump, and Ariana Madix for 'Vanderpump Rules' Season 11 — Gizelle Hernandez/Bravo

Ready for another round? Because the drinks and the drama are flowing in Vanderpump Rules’ 11th season, which already has fans feeling dizzy due to the breakup heard ’round the Bravoverse known simply as #Scandoval.

Originally, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills spinoff focused on Brit restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump and the sexy, screamy staffers at her swanky 90210 eateries SUR and Pump. A decade in, it’s morphed into a reality TV Melrose Place, with most of the aging cast stepping away from the server life for their own business endeavors, ill-advised music careers, and bad romances — none more notable than the instantly hashtagged fling between aspiring singer and bar-restaurant owner Tom Sandoval and SUR waitress Rachel “Raquel” Leviss.

When the dalliance was exposed in March 2023, four episodes into Season 10, Sandoval was living with his girlfriend of nine years, ex-SUR bartender Ariana Madix, and Leviss (previously engaged to castmate James Kennedy) had been spotted canoodling with Sandoval’s BFF and business partner, Tom Schwartz.

Ally Lewber and James Kennedy enjoying time at the beach in Los Angeles, California during Vanderpump Rules - Season 11

Ally Lewber and James Kennedy (Credit: Casey Durkin/Bravo)

In a soapy twist befitting Bravo’s unscripted hit, Madix found a racy FaceTime video between Leviss and Sandoval on his iPhone. She called Leviss — who was in New York for an appearance on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live — and got confirmation of their affair. Two days later, the story broke, social media went bonkers and Team Ariana started bullying insta-villains Leviss and Sandoval. By May’s postseason reunion, public interest in seeing these train wrecks collide again was driving ratings through the roof. Part 1 of the three-episode event scored 4.6 million viewers across all platforms, which is almost the number of insults Kennedy and cohort Lala Kent hurled at #Scandoval’s star cheaters.

Leviss left the show and checked herself into a mental-health facility for two months following the backlash, but the rest of the gang is returning, and things are just as juicy. “I wouldn’t say that the wounds have healed,” says executive producer Alex Baskin. “[Tom and Ariana] have not gotten to the other side of what happened.” In fact, even though the season picks up with the pair still cohabitating, they did not film together.

“That’s an oddity we cover in all of its fascination,” says Baskin. “They’re living together but have vastly different faiths and fortunes. In the same house in which Ariana has all sorts of gifts that have been sent to her by sponsors and admirers, Tom has to walk past them every day.” He left town soon after to shoot Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.

Madix on Dancing with the Stars (Credit: Christopher Willard/ABC via Getty Images)

Madix wasn’t thrilled to be stuck with her ex either. “I knew it was going to be difficult. I knew it was going to be weird,” she admitted at the show’s November BravoCon panel in Las Vegas. “But ultimately, the last year has shown me that I can do hard things.” The jolt to her career surely helped. Amid the messiness, the charming Madix costarred in October’s Lifetime flick Buying Back My Daughter, shot cheeky Sandoval-shading ads for Duracell and T-Mobile, and joined this past fall’s Dancing With the Stars on ABC.

“I’m so proud of Ariana — and I think the audience will be too — for turning it around and living her best life,” Vanderpump raved at the same BravoCon panel. Still, the doyenne of Beverly Hills baristas, who continues to operate as a den mother-slash-mentor to her former employees, realizes things are not the same. “We can’t in any way, shape or form think that this season is about jumping back into filming.… It wasn’t that at all,” she says. “Vanderpump Rules has always been so accurate in telling the true story, and I think that’s why the fans felt so betrayed.”

'Vanderpump Rules' Sets Season 11 Premiere as Rachel Leviss Exits Show

They weren’t the only ones. Given the chronic enmeshment of the VPR posse, Baskin hints at a seismic shift within the group dynamic due to the “deep hurt” caused by last season’s events. That said, there is a lot of fun to come, including jaunts to Lake Tahoe and San Francisco, a possible reconciliation for Sandoval and Schwartz, and even a visit from former cast member Jax Taylor “at his smug best,” jokes Baskin. “Jax is very insistent that he has found the maturity Sandoval needs to discover.” Through it all, Baskin adds, “some unexpected new friendships are formed, and also forgiveness is given.”

Vanderpump Rules, Season 11 Premiere, Tuesday, January 30 on Bravo and Wednesday, January 31, Peacock.

This is an abbreviated version of TV Insider’s January 2024 cover story. For more in-depth, reported coverage on Vanderpump Rules, The Sopranos‘ Anniversary, and more streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the issue, currently on newsstands, or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.