‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star Casts Doubt on Return For Season 12

Heavy/Bravo “Vanderpump Rules” star may not return for season 12.

 Ariana Madix may have filmed her last scenes for  “Vanderpump Rules.”  While greeting fans at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in April 2024, the VPR veteran played coy when asked if she would return to the Bravo reality show for season 12.  But her update was far from affirmative.

“I can’t or I won’t say [if I’m returning] but I think that ultimately, it would have to make sense for me,” she said in an interview, according to People magazine.

“Our show has always thrived, it’s always at its best when it is at its most authentic and its most real. And I have to be able to show up and be real and be authentic in order for it to make sense for me,” Madix added. “So that’s the question I would be asking myself going into it.”

Madix’s comments about being “real” came weeks after her former co-star Jax Taylor alleged that “Vanderpump Rules” is “scripted.” Taylor, who now stars in “The Valley,” claimed his former show became fake after season 6 when the cast members started making money. He later apologized for his rant.

In an April 2024 separate interview with Parade, Madix shared what she’s “most excited” about next in her career, and “Vanderpump Rules” wasn’t on her list.  “I’m really excited to open my sandwich shop with Katie Maloney in West Hollywood. We’re both excited to get that open,” she said, “Obviously, I am very excited to be hosting ‘Love Island’ and I’m hoping that that is something that continues. I think variety is the spice of life, and that’s something that I carry over into my career. I’m excited to do all kinds of different things and I’m very open-minded to what’s next.

Bravo has not yet renewed “Vanderpump Rules” for a 12^th season.

Fans Questioned Madix’s ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Status After She Announced She’s Hosting ‘Love Island USA’ This Summer

NBCUniversalAriana Madix on “Love Island.”

“Vanderpump Rules” typically shoots in the summer months.  But this summer, Madix will be busy hosting Peacock’s “Love Island USA” during that same timeframe. The bar star will replace Sarah Hyland in the coveted hosting role.

Madix made the announcement via an Instagram video in March.  “Talk about a bombshell! This summer, I’m trading rhinestone buckles for bikinis,” she said in the video. “I’m hosting the next season of Love Island USA…I can’t wait to stir up some trouble in paradise!”

Some fans questioned how Madix would be able to juggle the filming schedule for both reality shows over the summer. A rep for Madix claimed to be unaware of any filming conflicts when contacted by Heavy.

On April 15, Madix’s co-star Tom Schwartz told E! News he believes she will return to “Vanderpump Rules” next season, if just to promote her long-overdue Something About Her sandwich shop grand opening.

“I think she’ll come back,” Schwartz told the outlet of Madix. “She’s opening up the sandwich shop, Something About Her, any month now.”

Ariana Madix Hadn’t Planned to Be on Reality TV

BravoVANDERPUMP RULES Season 10 Cast: — Pictured: (l-r) Raquel Leviss, Scheana Shay, Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval, Lisa Vanderpump, Tom Schwartz, Lala Kent, James Kennedy, Katie Maloney

Madix has been booked and busy in the year since her ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval’s headline-making cheating scandal with her former close friend Raquel Leviss.

In the aftermath of the March 2023 scandal, Madix inked multiple brand deals and partnerships,  per the Los Angeles Times. She competed on “Dancing With the Stars” in the fall of 2023.  And she scored a starring role as Roxie Hart in “Chicago” on Broadway.

Scandoval spawned Madix’s recent success, but she never even planned to be on reality TV.

The Flagler College theater major told Glamour magazine that after college she became a struggling actress in New York City looking for”legitimate television credits” to boost her career.

In November 2023, Madix appeared on “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” where she talked about her unexpected career path. “I lived in New York for a little bit, and when I moved to L.A. things just weren’t [coming together]. I was in acting classes but it was tough.”

Madix took on a Beverly Hills bartending job and befriended Scheana Shay, who suggested her for “Vanderpump Rules.”

Madix told Hudson her acting coach convinced her to take the reality TV job in 2013.  “It was actually my acting teacher that was like, ‘You know, if Martin Scorsese is not banging down your door to try to cast you in a movie, you need to say yes to the opportunities that are presented to you and make what you can of it,’”  the “Vanderpump Rules” star revealed.

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