Bravo Lala Kent and Lisa Vanderpump
Lala Kent revealed that editors on “Vanderpump Rules” have been busy ever since Tom Sandoval’s shocking cheating scandal with Raquel Leviss broke, but it’s not because they “staged” scenes.
During the May 10, 2023 episode of her “Give Them Lala” podcast, the Bravo star revealed that as the season aired, previous footage that initially didn’t make the cut was added in to tell the story leading up to the scandal. And it turns out that producers – including executive producer, Lisa Vanderpump — had quite a bit to work with.
Here’s what you need to know:
Lala Kent Said the 10th Season of ‘Vanderpump Rules” Was Not Staged
When the Scandoval news first broke in March 2023, Kent said the “Vanderpump Rules” episodes were not edited.
“People are talking about how editors of VPR probably went back through and tweaked things to kind of, like, align with what happened. Not true,” she said in an Instagram story, per Page Six. She added that while “nothing was re-edited,” fans would just view the episodes “very differently now” given their newfound knowledge about Sandoval and Leviss’ relationship.
While speaking on her podcast two months later, Kent maintained that the only new scenes that were filmed were the cast’s affair fallout conversations that took place in the days right after the scandal. She explained that everything else was filmed months earlier, including a scene of her telling James Kennedy that Leviss spent the night at Sandoval’s house while his girlfriend, Ariana Madix, was out of town for her grandmother’s funeral.
“That all happened before Scandoval,” Kent said. “What was added in after Scandoval is they had me narrate what had happened.”
She noted that after she told producers that she suspected something was going on with Sandoval and Leviss at a Labor Day party at a mutual friend’s house—another event that Madix skipped–they wanted more footage.
“I explained to producers about this Labor Day thing … but it wasn’t like mind-blowing,” she said. “Sandoval stayed at a party. It was more about like you know you don’t really show up for your girlfriend that much. … I was like, ‘This is strange.’ I watched them, no cameras, no Ariana around, and then it became something after Scandoval happened.”
Kent said when producers decided to add in the story of Scandoval and Leviss at the party together, they reached out to cast member Scheana Shay for footage because she had vlogged the party. “So they got that footage from her to add into the scene,” she said.
She also revealed that confessional interviews were shot after the scandal broke so the cast members could react to the cheating storyline. “Now we are starting to have interviews that were done after Scandoval,” Kent said. “We’re starting to have scenes that may not have made it that was absolutely filmed pre-Scandoval that maybe were like insignificant at the time that became very significant.”
The “Vanderpump Rules” star pointed to an added-in scene of Sandoval tripping up while telling Kennedy that Leviss stayed over at his house after a night of partying, an incident that even Madix didn’t question because Leviss was such a close friend of hers and was seemingly pursuing Tom Schwartz at the time.
“So when people say that this is staged, this it’s not staged,” she said. “This is not a staged thing. Ariana didn’t sit with a producer and go ‘Yeah I’m okay with my life blowing up for ratings.’ None of it is staged, but you also can’t just drop you know at the very end this bomb like, ‘Ooh and by the way Tom and Raquel were [f***ing]. … You have to fit it into the story somehow and there were, like y’all say, Easter eggs the whole time that may have been insignificant at the time that are actually very pertinent to this case.”
Lala Kent Admitted Lisa Vanderpump May Have Been Behind Ken Todd’s Bombshell Scene
One scene that caught viewers’ attention featured Lisa Vanderpump’s husband, Ken Todd strolling into the kitchen at their Villa Rosa estate and dropping the bombshell that Sandoval invited Leviss over to his house when Madix was out of town.
“I can’t believe Tom Sandoval had Raquel over when Ariana was away,” Todd said. “In the jacuzzi as well. And she stayed all night.”
“I know, I know,” Vanderpump replied as Katie Maloney’s ears perked up.
On social media, many fans felt Todd’s impromptu line was staged. On her podcast, Kent offered her take on the scene.
“Let’s talk about the scene with Ken when he walks in and drops the bomb of all bombs,” she said on her podcast. “So this is where I’m at …I’m gonna be completely transparent with you. Everyone said that seemed staged, this seems like he’s acting.”
Kent added that one of two things happened. First off, she revealed that she knows Todd well and that he is known for dropping bombs on the fly. “That dude has told me some like piping hot tea at times where he just rolls in or like I’ll see him at SUR or Pump or wherever, and he like drops something on me then I’m like ‘Oh hold on, come on back here,” she said.
But Kent added that she is leaning toward another theory.
“What I’m thinking…” she said. “Lisa loves to maintain that she is out of the drama. ‘I don’t want to be a part of it.’ She’s top dog, she doesn’t want to she’s not getting involved in the messiness of the peasants, right? So who is the sacrificial lamb? Ken!”
“Lisa is not going to come in and get her hands dirty,” Kent explained. “Which by the way, if I were in Lisa’s position I would be like I’m not getting involved in this. I don’t need to come in and drop this bomb. But Ken, you’ll do it! That’s what I think happened.”
She added that regardless of how the scene came to be, Vanderpump was the first person to find out that Leviss stayed over at Sandoval’s, because Leviss was late for her shift at SUR and explained that she overslept at the Schwartz & Sandy’s co-owner’s valley Village home.
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