Following the season 11 finale of Vanderpump Rules, Lala Kent had more to say about Ariana Madix not filming with Tom Sandoval.
On the Tuesday, May 7, Vanderpump Rules After Show, Lala, 33, broke down why she was “f—king offended” by Ariana‘s decision to walk away from Sandoval, 41, when cameras were rolling on the finale.
“I’m going to be real about Ariana. She coasts through every single f—king season. And we are asking you to have one conversation with Tom Sandoval — the guy you shoved down our throats for so many years,” Lala told the cameras. “That guy, who you still live with. We are asking you to have one conversation and you can’t do that?”
Lala argued that “every single person” on Vanderpump Rules has had “tough conversations” except Ariana, 38. In a separate interview, Scheana Shay attempted to come to Ariana’s defense but ultimately expressed her own frustrations.
“As her friend, I completely understood and respected what she did. But it is hard as one of those people who had a lot of those moments this season — that took a lot of convincing to get me to go back into that moment with him,” Scheana, 39, noted. “But this is what I am here to do and we are all trying to heal and move on and this is what I am here for.”
The group received backlash after Tuesday’s finale, with viewers largely siding with Ariana after she explained why she wouldn’t have a conversation with Sandoval. (Sandoval and Ariana split after he cheated with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss during season 10.)
Lala, specifically, broke the fourth wall when she started screaming about Ariana leaving an event after almost getting cornered by Sandoval.
“I am not afraid. It is a lot of breaking the fourth wall so I am going to do it now. S—t happened to her and the whole world rallied around her. She now thinks she is Beyoncé,” Lala yelled on the episode. “It is bulls—t that she can’t film with someone that she stays under the same roof. It is a lot. It is a lot that she says, ‘Don’t f—k with Tom Sandoval. But I am going to sleep down the hall from Tom Sandoval.'” I get it, he f—king cheated. He did a really f—king s—tty thing. It is weird how you looked us all in the eye and said a lot of s—t. But he didn’t kill anyone.”
Back on the Vanderpump Rules After Show, Brock Davies said he “wasn’t surprised” by Ariana’s choice after she made it clear she had no plans to speak with Sandoval again. However, Brock, 32, was still annoyed that he had to address his family drama while Ariana set a “boundary” for herself.
Tom Schwartz, meanwhile, said he couldn’t “fault” Ariana for feeling ambushed while James Kennedy discussed why he wanted to see a talk between the exes.
“Part of me wishes she would because I love the drama,” James, 32, joked. “Part of me thinks she 100 percent set her foot down and didn’t have the conversation because she knows she will hate what he has to say. He is not going to say what she wants to hear. He is going to say some egotistical bulls–t and she’s going to hate it.”
Ariana stood her ground in her own interview, saying, “I would encourage [people] to read my contract and find at any point that I am required to do anything I don’t deem real or I don’t want to do. And I would say that goes for every single cast member on this show. Everyone has the right to exercise that and they do all the time.”
While reflecting on Lala’s comments, Ariana brought up being crowned Us Weekly‘s Reality Star of the Year. “If you think I am doing a bad job as a reality star, I’m reality star of the year so maybe I know what I am doing,” she noted.
In another segment of the after show, Lala came after Ariana again for how she treated their costars.
“Ariana is not a great friend. Like if you are asking for someone to ask you how you are doing, she’s not the one,” Lala told Brittany Cartwright. “I’ve never seen someone go from the entire world being so indifferent to this person. It was like no one ever spoke about her and now what she says f—king goes.”
Scheana subsequently defended Lala going off about Ariana during the last months of the finale.
“I don’t think it was resentful and I don’t think it was jealousy at all. Lala is very f—king successful and she has built an empire since she left a bad situation,” she said. “I think Lala was at her breaking point at that moment. She had a lot of tough conversations and after she got cheated on, she still showed up.”
Scheana continued: “[Katie Maloney and Lala] both wish when they got cheated on that they got more love from the fans than hate. We all felt that way in this group where you can still be happy for that person.”
According to Lala, Ariana’s behavior didn’t just upset her. “Off camera, everyone was really pissed off about how she was maneuvering throughout the season,” she claimed. “No one wanted to talk about it. Then all of a sudden what Ariana says no one f—king questions. What?”
The first part of the Vanderpump Rules season 11 reunion airs on Bravo Tuesday, May 14, at 8 p.m. ET and is available to stream on Peacock the next day.
