In honor of Season 11 of the hit Bravo reality television series, “Vanderpump Rules,” I am highlighting my favorite episodes of all time. As a Bravo junkie myself, “Vanderpump Rules” has always been my favorite series from any of the Bravo franchises.
Over the past eleven years, the cast has grown up, gotten married, divorced, had children, and advanced in their careers; however, the amount of drama has never changed. The premise of the show started with a group of friends and co-workers in their early 20s in Los Angeles. They all worked at reality star and businesswoman Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurants. This dysfunctional group of friends has led to reality television gold. The drama consists of heartwarming moments, friendship drama, relationship drama, and cheating; a lot of cheating. So here are the biggest cheating scandals from season 1 up until now.
Jax Taylor and Vegas Girl
All the way back in Season 1, the major storyline of the season was that Taylor cheated on his then-girlfriend and fellow longtime cast member, Stassi Schroeder, with a girl in Las Vegas. This was the first of Jax Taylor’s many cheating scandals throughout the show’s history. He spent the entire season saying that it never happened and denying all the allegations coming his way. Up until the season finale, when he finally came clean that he did indeed cheat on Schroeder in Vegas and got the woman pregnant. This solidified that the show would have no shortage of drama, especially when it comes to cheating scandals.
The Kristen and Jax Cheating Scandal
During Season 2, most of the season revolved around one of the biggest scandals in “Vanderpump” history. During this time, Kristen Doute and Tom Sandoval had been in a committed relationship, as did Jax Taylor and Stassi Schroeder. Rumors have circulated early on in the season about Kristen and Jax sleeping together. Throughout the season, both of them repeatedly denied all of the claims that either of them cheated on their partners. Schroeder and Sandoval believed their partners and defended them against the allegations from the rest of the cast. This resulted in rifts being formed in the friend group for the majority of the season. This was until another dramatic series finale where Doute and Taylor finally did come clean that they did have sex multiple times while lying to everyone about it. This dramatic finale included Schroeder slapping Doute in the face in front of everyone and Doute saying that she was going to sue Schroeder. During this same episode, Sandoval punched Taylor in the face over the cheating scandal, which prompted a full-on fight. This was by far one of the most action-packed finales of “Vanderpump Rules” history.
Jax Cheating on Brittany
Fast forward to the next major cheating scandal, which happened in Season six. This cheating scandal, once again, involves Jax Taylor. Taylor and his girlfriend, Brittany Cartwright, have been dating since Season 4. It had really seemed like Taylor had turned a corner and was remaining faithful to his fan-favorite girlfriend. However, this quickly came to a halt when former cast member Faith Stowers came forward mid-season at a party saying that Taylor cheated on Cartwright with her. She had also said how she had not gotten her period, hinting towards possibly being pregnant with his child. Taylor flat-out denied the claims, saying that he was a changed man and would never cheat on Cartwright. After hearing the news, Cartwright and the rest of the female cast members freaked out, and Cartwright said that if she found out the allegation was true, she would leave him and move back to her home state of Kentucky. In the following episodes, Taylor admitted that the cheating allegation was true. Cartwright was obviously heartbroken; however, she wanted to make it work because she still loved him. This was around the time that they had bought their first house together, and shortly after Taylor admitted to cheating, they decided to still throw a housewarming party. During this party, two other cast members received a recording of Taylor and Stowers after they had been intimate. This recording was played to Cartwright, and she freaked out once again and said that she was leaving him. This was until she changed her mind and decided to still stay in the relationship and try to work things out. Luckily, this was the last of Taylor’s cheating scandals on the show, and he and Cartwright are now married with a son, Cruz.
“Scandoval”
This is, without a doubt, the most monumental scandal to ever hit reality television. Cast members Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix started their relationship on the show during the Season 2 reunion. Viewers had followed their relationship for a total of nine years. Although they had some bumps in the road over those nine years, their relationship still seemed to be going strong. It was not until the season 10 finale that the news broke about their months-long affair. Before the finale, off camera, Madix had found a video recording of Sandoval’s phone, which included a sexual video between him and fellow cast member Raquel Leviss on his phone. To add some much-needed context, Leviss had been a very close friend of Madix and Sandoval for years. This news all unraveled during the season finale, where Madix and Sandoval had a talk, and Madix stated that she would never talk to him again. This led to an extremely intense three-part reunion that was nonstop talked about all over the media. Needless to say, this was the biggest cheating scandal in the show’s history.