Heavy/Getty Lisa Vanderpump.
Lisa Vanderpump has enjoyed a long career on reality TV, but there are a few moments she’d like to forget.
In June 2023, the former “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star was part of a reality TV roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter and she was asked to name the most awkward thing that has ever happened to her on camera that made it on air. Vanderpump, who has starred on RHOBH, “Vanderpump Rules,” “Overserved With Lisa Vanderpump,” “Vanderpump Dogs,” and more, pointed to a reality TV competition she competed in a decade ago.
“Fainting on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ wasn’t a good look,” the Bravo veteran said.
Lisa Vanderpump’s DWTS Fall Was Controversial
In 2013, Vanderpump was a contestant on the 16th season of “Dancing With the Stars.” She was partnered with pro dancer Gleb Savchenko on the ABC celebrity ballroom competition. While rehearsing a cha cha in Week 4 of the competition, Vanderpump suddenly collapsed and fell to the ground. A stunned Savchenko helped her wake up and she then waved for the cameraman to stop filming her. The rehearsal footage aired on the show.
In a post for her DWTS blog for People, Vanderpump told fans she had been feeling run down after a stressful week that included flights back and forth from New York City. “By the time Thursday rehearsals rolled around – let’s just say I was exhausted, and everything felt off. Gleb and I were rehearsing our cha cha and suddenly I just blacked out,” she wrote.
Vanderpump added that her doctor informed her she had a viral infection with a fever and swollen glands. “Between trying to fight that and all of the stress on my body from running around, I ended up with low blood pressure and a rapid heart rate, which is why I fainted,” she wrote. “I was in shock when I woke up.”
While she vowed to give it her all, Vanderpump was eliminated from “Dancing With the Stars” after performing her cha cha routine that week.
After Vanderpump’s RHOBH co-stars saw the DWTS episode, some of them speculated that she faked the fainting spell so she would get voted off. “There was a bit of controversy in the car over about whether you fainted for real or not,” co-star Brandi Glanville told Vanderpump on camera.
Vanderpump later confronted her co-stars over the fake fainting accusations and in a confessional she said, “You’d think maybe your friends would be supportive or would that be too much to ask?”
Lisa Vanderpump Dreaded Some Other Things During Her Reality TV Career
Nicole Weingart/BravoAriana Madix and Lisa Vanderpump in “Vanderpump Rules” season 10.
While her disastrous DWTS dance made the top of her list of awkward moments, Vanderpump told THR’s roundtable that she also dreaded going on camera after the “Vanderpump Rules” cheating scandal in March 2023, despite the fact that was a producer on the show and knew the aftermath had to be documented.
“For the cameras to suddenly be picked up to capture the moment was essential, but it was really difficult to process,” she said. “As the executive producer, I wanted it. In front of the camera, I could have done without it.”
She also admitted that looking back at old clips of herself on reality TV is never fun. “Looking at things on TV that you’ve done is like looking through those old packs of photographs. … You’ve got to let a lot of it go,” Vanderpump said. “When they flash back to 10 years ago and you’re like, ‘Whoa, hold on a second. I looked like that? What the hell?’ That’s not easy.”
READ NEXT: Andy Cohen Shuts Down Real Housewives Rumor