Scandoval may have been a nightmare for Tom Sandoval and Rachel Leviss but it was a dream come true for Vanderpump Rules. The Bravo series celebrated 10 years on the air this year, making it one of the most successful spin-offs to come from the network. However, after a decade, the show was starting to show its age. Executive producer Alex Baskin told Deadline in August 2023 that Vanderpump Rules was on the verge of ending before the cheating scandal.
Alex’s confession begs the question, Did Sandoval and Rachel’s affair save Vanderpump Rules? We certainly think so. Here’s why.
It Introduced New Viewers to the Show
Scandoval wasn’t just a topic of discussion among Bravo lovers. It broke through to the mainstream, with everyone from The View to the New York Times covering the story. The coverage of the scandal piqued the interest of the public, and many new viewers hopped onboard the Vanderpump Rules train.
The ratings for Season 10 of VPR were impressive. According to Deadline, the season reached “over 11.4 million total viewers,” and Part I of the reunion broke a record for being “the most-watched Bravo episode of any series in over nine years.” Wow, that is quite a feat.
It Brought Back Old Viewers
When I first discovered Vanderpump Rules in college, I was obsessed. I probably averaged about three episodes per day and sought out other VPR-obsessed fans to share my thoughts on every problematic cast member. But as the series progressed and the cast matured, I started to become less interested in the Bravo series. There were fewer wild, booze-filled trips to Vegas and more storylines about the cast buying property and starting families. Other fans seemed to be feeling this as well because interest in the series started to wane in the last couple of years.
Alex Baskin told Deadline that the show was in need of a revival moment when news of Sandoval and Rachel’s love affair broke.
“The timing of [Scandoval] happened to have been perfect. It was insane and proof that there can still be a monoculture. The story of Vanderpump is one of survival more than anything. We were coming off a really tough ninth season and we had the cast firings before the season and there was a low energy season during the pandemic. To the network’s credit, they gave us another run at it and we had a resurgence anyway.”
Scandoval reminded fans why they love VPR. We fell in love with the mess, the bad behavior, and the cast’s head-scratching decisions that often landed them in trouble. While it’s awful the resurgence cost fan-favorite Ariana Madix a broken heart, it might have been just what the show needed to continue.
It Guaranteed the Show Another Season
Alex mentioned in his interview that the show was on rocky ground following a less-than-stellar Season 9. However, Scandoval changed all of that. Now, the series is more popular than ever, with new and old viewers waiting with bated breath for Season 11. The messiness of the scandal gave Vanderpump Rules a chance to save their show.
Will the Show Be Able to Sustain the Success?
VPR has been given another shot but whether they can sustain the momentum is still a mystery. The cast has changed a lot in the last 10 years. They are no longer 20-somethings partying their worries away with no concern for the future. They own homes and businesses, and some of them are literal parents.
Even after Scandoval, the show is missing some of the chaos that drew fans to the series in the first place. I think to sustain the show, they need to add new cast members. I know it wasn’t successful the last time they tried to do this, but it is worth another shot. We can’t watch Sandoval and Tom Schwartz get blackout drunk for ANOTHER 10 years. Come on, let’s be reasonable.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK VPR WILL BE ABLE TO CONTINUE THE MOMENTUM AFTER SCANDOVAL, OR WILL THE SERIES FALL FLAT?
