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Alex Baskin, the executive producer behind “Vanderpump Rules,” has spilled on the impact of Scandoval on the franchise and shared that it revived a show that was suffering heading into its 10th season.
As fans know, the scandal involving Tom Sandoval and Rachel Leviss’ affair during Sandoval’s relationship with Ariana Madix broke after season 10 was already filmed, but producers resumed filming to capture the fallout. An extra episode was added at the end of season 10 to cover the scandal and the three-part reunion that followed was filmed just weeks after Madix — and the rest of the world — found out about the affair.
“The timing of [Scandoval] happened to have been perfect,” Baskin spilled in an interview with Deadline. “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.”
Baskin said the landscape of reality TV is changing, especially where franchises are concerned. “Your goal can’t just be to have a franchise,” he said. “There was a period where everyone thought if you could just come up with a title with a colon in then you were ok. But it’s more difficult than that. The lesson from any of these shows is that if you pull in the right personalities that are interesting, in the right context, you can really pull in viewers and not just over the course of the season, but over the course of many.”
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Alex Baskin Said the 11th Season of ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Is a ‘Worthy Follow-Up’ to the Explosive 10th Season
While speaking with Deadline, Baskin addressed the ongoing filming of season 11, which he described as a “worthy follow-up to last season.” The producer said the cast has been really interested in telling “the real story” and has been very cooperative about the roughly 12-week filming schedule.
However, Baskin confirmed that they’re still considering options regarding Leviss’ future on the show despite how advanced in the season they are. “There’s one that we’re still figuring out even this deep into production,” he revealed. “Otherwise, we’ve been filming with the others and it was a situation that involved the entire group so the aftermath was felt by everyone.”
The returning stars include longtime cast members Sandoval, Madix, James Kennedy, Lala Kent, Tom Schwartz, Scheana Shay, Katie Maloney and, of course, Lisa Vanderpump.
The 10th Season of ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Saw the Series Reach All-Time High Views
The 10th season of “Vanderpump Rules” has reached an average of 11.4 million viewers to date, Variety reported in June 2023.
The staggering number includes the first of the three reunion episodes, which aired May 24. That episode reached 4.6 million viewers across all platforms and made it the most-watched VPR episode of all time as well as the most-watched Bravo episode in over nine years in all series.
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