Jo Wenberg has unlimited praise for the Vanderpump Rules crew — but not for the cast.
During the Wednesday, February 28, episode of Billie Lee‘s “Billie and the Kid” podcast, Jo was asked about filming confessionals for season 11 of the hit Bravo series.
“[My interviews for VPR] were good because I put a boundary up. I was like, ‘We are gonna talk about [these specific topics],” Jo said before Billie interrupted. “I set the boundaries up.”
Jo said she “definitely” had love for the people working behind the scenes.
“I would definitely say that the crew was the best. I loved the crew,” Jo added. “I even was fine with the producers because I set boundaries because you told me to set boundaries. So I never really had big problems with the producers or the crew.”
Jo said the “biggest thing” she had to deal with were “the people in the show.” Earlier this month, Jo made her onscreen debut. She was seen giving Tom Schwartz a haircut before Tom Sandoval joined them. The trio went on to discuss Sandoval’s rift with the Vanderpump Rules cast after his affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss.
Before season 11 premiered, Jo took to social media to hint at the filming process.
“I did film this season of Vanderpump Rules, and it was a very big, eye-opening experience,” she said via Instagram in November 2023. “I am usually behind the camera, and being in front of the camera was very hard for me. But I will say the producers were really awesome.”
Jo issued a thank you to the Vanderpump Rules stars who welcomed her, adding, “I also will say that Lala [Kent] was so nice to me. She gave me grace. I didn’t even really know her and I thought that was such a sweet thing. We don’t even follow each other on Instagram and we don’t have each other’s phone numbers. But I wanted to give a shout-out about her because she was so sweet.”
During season 10 of VPR, Jo was a major topic of conversation as Schwartz, 41, dealt with his and Katie Maloney‘s divorce. (The former couple announced their split in March 2022, months before they started filming new episodes of the show.)
Schwartz’s close bond with Jo was mentioned in multiple unaired scenes before he confirmed their connection at the reunion. He has since played off how serious the pair actually were before choosing to remain just friends.
“Jo is a human being — Jo is a light in my life,” he gushed on an episode earlier this month. “I want to clear things up. Jo was never living with me. Was she staying with me sporadically? Yes. She’s not my girlfriend, she never was. We had a whirlwind romance but we are just buds now.”
Schwartz was later asked on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen why he called his bond with Jo a “whirlwind romance.”
“There were maybe mixed signals there a little bit. We had a lightning in a bottle situation for a while there,” Schwartz explained to Andy Cohen on February 20. “I don’t know if it was sustainable given my mental state of being. I don’t know if I was equipped to be in a conventional relationship.”
Schwartz joked he “should have been committed” instead of seeking out a girlfriend, noting, “I was in a very weird place like I have never experienced in my entire life. I’ll shut up now.”
