Heavy/Bravo Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright.
Jax Taylor says his upcoming Bravo spinoff, “The Valley” will have more drama than “Vanderpump Rules.” Nearly one year after the Scandoval cheating scandal put the latter reality show on everyone’s radar, Taylor claimed his spinoff about “adulting” got very heated.
Speaking on the “When Reality Hits” podcast with his wife Brittany Cartwright, Taylor spilled a teaser about “The Valley” spinoff. “Honestly, when I started this show, [I said], ‘It’s going to be a little less drama,'” he shared. “I almost think it is more drama than there was on ‘Vanderpump.’ It’s almost like we didn’t skip a beat. And Kristen [Doute] sure as hell didn’t skip a beat,” he added. “So much has happened since we started filming. I can’t believe the cameras aren’t still going to be honest because there’s a lot going on. They are probably going to have to have some security there [at the reunion taping].”
Cartwright agreed, adding that “The Valley” will be “filled with drama.” She also said Doute “just goes crazy” on the show. The couple also shared that they are still filming confessionals for the Bravo spinoff.
“The Valley” will focus on a friend group of five couples, including Taylor and Cartwright and Doute and her boyfriend Luke Broderick. Newcomers Jesse and Michelle Lally, Danny and Nia Booko and Jason and Janet Caperna will round out the cast. The couples, several of whom have children, will “navigate businesses, families and adulthood in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley,” per a synopsis posted by The Hollywood Reporter.
‘The Valley’ Features a Real-Life Friend Group, Which is Why Stassi Schroeder Didn’t Join The Cast
In an interview on Lala Kent’s podcast, “Give Them Lala,” “The Valley” executive producer Alex Baskin said the show will launch via a “Vanderpump Rules” crossover in which Taylor attends a boys’ night with Tom Schwartz, Tom Sandoval, and James Kennedy.
“Jax has a few choice words for Sandoval…and then we see Jax drive over the hill and go into ‘The Valley,’” he said.
“‘The Valley’ is very different,” Baskin added. “It’s a different phase in life and the idea is adulting. And it’s also that this is a group that is trying to raise families or figure out what’s next. But they don’t have anything figured out. … Jax is still Jax. He preaches and proclaims that he is grown up and everyone needs to find the maturity that he has, and we see by the end of the first episode that that’s dubious.”
Baskin did admit that “The Valley” cast is comprised of friends from Taylor’s real inner circle. That explains why his ex and former “Vanderpump Rules” co-star Stassi Schroeder won’t be there.
In a January 2024 interview on Sirius XM’s “Jeff Lewis Live,” Schroeder said she’s “not friends with any” of “The Valley” cast. “It’s just not my group of friends,” the mom of two added. “I’m not in this group. I don’t have time to just be in this group of friends that go out all the time and get to do whatever they want. Because I know what they do on a regular basis and that’s not what I do.”
Alex Baskin Said There’s a ‘Ton’ of Story on ‘The Valley’
Baskin said there’s no fear that “The Valley” won’t have great content. “I think it is really strong,” he said on the “Scheananagins With Scheana Shay” podcast. “I would be concerned if we didn’t capture a lot when we were shooting it. But we have a ton of story. We were able to do more episodes than we initially had ordered. For a first-season show? That’s remarkable.”
“I think people are going to be into it because I think that they think that we’re just trying to pull back former ‘Vanderpump’ cast and just put them in this setting and I think it’s so much more than that,’ he said. “And I think they’re going to be pulled into it.”
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