Vanderpump Rules is one of the most talked-about reality television shows on Bravo after the Real Housewives franchise. This off-shoot series about employees of Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurants took on a life of its own with its cast that seemed made for reality television. This show is a wild ride full of a cast that do many horrible things to one another and who have had many scandals play out on the screen.
The scandals on Vanderpump Rules are particularly compelling because most of them aren’t staged. Here are some of the most shocking moments from this series so far.
10 When Stassi backhanded Kristen
If there’s one thing you can count on from this show it’s that friends will hurt each other in many unacceptable ways. The other thing you can expect is that they will usually forgive one another.
Stassi was the breakout star when the series first started, but she was undoubtedly mean. When it was revealed that Kristen had slept with Jax, Stassi reacted violently to the point of backhanding Kristen. The physical violence was out of line and quite shocking to see on television.
9 Tom Schwartz making out with other women
The other staple of this series is how often the cast all cheat on their significant others. While not everyone on the show is a cheater, a good portion of them are, especially the men.
Tom has had a few different cheating scandals over the course of the series. While he insists that he’s only ever made out with other women, he also always tells Katie he was so blackout drunk he can’t remember exactly what happened which doesn’t make for a compelling argument.
8 Kristen bringing the Miami girl to confront Tom Sandoval
After Tom and Kristen broke up and Tom started dating Ariana, Kristen just couldn’t let it go. While it’s unclear how involved Tom and Ariana were before things ended with Kristen, it would still have been in her best interests to not engage with him after the break-up.
Instead, Kristen was hell-bent on convincing Ariana that Tom had cheated on her with a girl in Miami. She went so far as to fly her in and have her confront Tom at SUR. This string of events also led to her getting fired for lashing out at her manager.
7 Frank blackmailing Stassi with a sex tape
Stassi is no saint, but her boyfriends over the years have been truly awful. Even Stassi clearly deserves much better than the jerks she dated. While she’s found a good guy in fiance Beau Clark, one of the worst things an ex-boyfriend ever did to her was blackmail her with a sex tape.
Frank, who turned out to be a true creep, tried to extort her for money using a sex video she sent him while they were dating. This was a very real moment and revealed that he had been a jerk all along.
6 The time Jax got arrested in Hawaii
While all of the cast of Vanderpump Rules has had their share of scandalous moments, the character who has had by far the most is Jax Taylor. He has done so many awful things to the people he’s dated and to his friends, but he also just does illegal things for the fun of it. He clearly has issues with kleptomania and steals even when he doesn’t need to.
This came back to bite him in the butt when he stole a pair of sunglasses in Miami. He ended up getting arrested for this and this also revealed he had a past record.
5 Lala’s relationship with Randall
During the earlier season of the show, there was a huge mystery around who Lala was dating. Rumors of her dating a married man who was buying her Range Rovers circulated, and she denied them on the show for years.
Eventually, fans learned she was dating Randall Emmett. While she is now much more open about their relationship and the nature of it, it began under seemingly scandalous circumstances and seemed quite fishy because of how she lied about it.
4 Shay, Scheana’s ex-husband, dealing with drug addiction
One of the most real issues ever portrayed on the show was Shay, Scheana’s now ex-husband, dealing with alcoholism and drug abuse. These are very heavy topics.
While many people have speculated that others on the show dabble with drugs, this was the only time the series got into that topic. One of the most troubling things about Shay’s addiction was how Scheana seemed to enable it by wanting him to still drink with her but just do so in moderation.
3 When Kristin and Jax slept together
One of the most iconic scandals of any of the seasons was when it was revealed that Jax and Kristen had slept together. This was after they had both denied it adamantly. Kristen was dating Sandoval at the time and Jax was still trying to get back with Stassi.
This was one of the biggest moments of betrayal as it involved so many relationships and friendships. It was definitely one of the lowest moments for both of them in the series. This action basically blew up the entire friend group and cemented the show as great reality tv.
2 James Kennedy’s alcoholism
While it’s probably true that many of the people in the series have at least alcoholic tendencies, James clearly struggles a lot. This has been talked about often in recent seasons, and it’s apparent that his issues with alcohol impact his life negatively. He has had an entire host of meltdowns where he’s yelled at people, called them names, and self-destructed.
Hopefully, he takes after Lala and figures out how to get help and stop drinking altogether.
1 Jax cheating on Brittany with Faith
While Jax is rather unlikable many times in the series because of how he treats other people, especially the women he dates, one of his lowest and worst moments was when he cheated on Brittany with Faith.
This was a bombshell reveal. It showed that Jax truly hadn’t changed. While none of the women he dated really deserve his poor treatment, the fact that Brittany had already put up with so much from him and that he cheated on her anyway was hard to watch.
