Ariana Madix hasn’t revealed whether she plans to return for season 12 of Vanderpump Rules — but not all of her friends want her to.
The reality star’s close friend Brad Kearns was asked during an Instagram Q&A whether he thought Ariana, 39, should “go back” to Vanderpump Rules. In true Bravo fashion, Brad responded “No” and added a video of Tamra Judge screaming “That’s my opinion” from a past season of The Real Housewives of Orange County.
Ariana has weathered many highs and lows on Vanderpump Rules since she joined in season 2 and fans know things took their biggest turn when her longtime boyfriend, Tom Sandoval had an affair with their then-costar Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, during season 10.
The drama spilled over into season 11 where Ariana initially received support from most of her costars, including Scheana Shay, James Kennedy, Lala Kent and Katie Maloney. Some loyalties shifted as they kept filming the rest of the season. The season 11 finale — and the subsequent three-part reunion special — hinted at a fractured fiend group with multiple cast members frustrated with Ariana for not filming with Sandoval, 41.
There for her. Ariana Madix has a tight-knit inner circle that has always had her back over the years. The Vanderpump Rules star previously gushed about her loved ones, writing via Instagram in August 2022: “I never posted anything for my birthday months ago and now it’s wild to look at these photos because so […]
Ariana, for her part, stood her ground and even called out production for having the cast watch the final scene from the reunion together, seemingly in an effort to get her to talk to Sandoval.
“It felt, ‘Well, we have her trapped in this room now. We didn’t get what we wanted to get [during the finale]. We didn’t get to break her down in real life in the moment,’” Ariana explained on Katie, 37, and Dayna Kathan‘s “Disrespectfully” podcast in May. “‘So we’re gonna retaliate by doing that right now in a place where she’s contractually obligated to be here and try to force this moment now.’ Great, I cried. Are you guys happy now?”
At the time, Ariana also defended her decision to walk away at the end of the finale instead of sticking around when Sandoval ambushed her.
“Here’s the thing that’s so stupid. I gave them the best f—king ending to what that season could have had in that moment by leaving. It was real and it was exciting to watch. Sorry, if you literally are only looking at it from a perspective of like good reality TV, I gave you good reality TV,” she added. “[A conversation] would have been a boring cap to a boring ass season, to be honest.”
Ariana made it clear that she allowed cameras into her life — whether the footage was used or not.
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“As far as real life stuff, that’s always been real and authentic for me. I can’t fake that. What did I not show you? I showed you my storage unit of a f—king bedroom,” she concluded. “If you watch the season and you don’t see how low I am during the whole time, you need glasses. I showed all of that stuff. And if there’s stuff that they filmed and then decided not to air, that has nothing to do with me. But I gave it all.”
Brad Kearns and Ariana Madix. Courtesy of Brad Kearns/Instagram
Bravo has since made the decision to press pause on season 12 of Vanderpump Rules, which was originally expected to start filming this summer. Ariana doesn’t appear to be too worried as she continues to host the current season of Love Island USA.
Vanderpump Rules is currently streaming on Peacock.