The Love Island–ification of Bravo Is Killing Vanderpump Rules

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Few reality shows have been described as having such complicated relationships as Vanderpump Rules. During its most popular years, when the cast actually worked at Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant SUR, the show became famous for its messy and ever-shifting romantic connections. Lisa Vanderpump herself used the word “incestuous” to describe the group’s tangled web of relationships, and the network adopted the term. This was even before the show’s second season revealed that Jax Taylor cheated on Stassi Schroeder with her best friend Kristen Doute, who was dating Jax’s best friend, Tom Sandoval. Bravo also labeled the situation “incestuous.” Even as the cast members matured – getting sober, married, and starting businesses – the show consistently returned to themes of infidelity within the group as its main focus.

The drama surrounding Tom Sandoval’s affair with Raquel Leviss became incredibly clear during the tenth season of Vanderpump Rules, thrusting the show into the national conversation. While the aftermath – dubbed “Scandoval” – had the potential to be compelling TV, season eleven quickly fell apart. Viewers were forced to watch a weak attempt at Sandoval redeeming himself, while Ariana Madix was unfairly criticized by her castmates for not wanting to film with him. Her decision to distance herself – symbolized by literally drawing a line in the sand during a beach outing – was a natural response to Sandoval’s betrayal. However, it clashed with what had always made Vanderpump Rules successful: not just creating conflict, but also showing how it could be resolved. In reality, these individuals likely wouldn’t have continued speaking after the show’s explosive second season, but their increasing salaries motivated them to keep working together.

Season 11 revealed that many cast members, like Ariana, who has become a popular TV personality, had moved past the show. Even those still participating, such as Scheana Shay and Lala Kent, hadn’t worked at SUR restaurant in a long time. With the new spinoff, The Valley, offering a place for the older Vanderpump Rules cast members, the original series started to feel unnecessary. Reaching a point where there wasn’t much story left, Bravo decided to move the entire original cast (except Lisa Vanderpump) aside and promised a twelfth season with a fresh group of younger, up-and-coming SUR employees.

Bravo has delivered on its promise of a new generation for Vanderpump Rules. These fresh faces seem eager for drama in a way the original cast hadn’t been for years. They’ve clearly studied the show’s early seasons and are playing into familiar roles and storylines, with producers actively encouraging a return to the franchise’s most popular era. In fact, Venus Brinkley described the new season with a pitch strikingly similar to Lisa Vanderpump’s original description over a decade ago: “Everyone is very hot, they’re all sleeping with each other, they’re absolute lunatics.” However, the new cast hasn’t quite lived up to that potential for explosive drama yet. The show tries to position Marcus Johnson and Kim Suarez as the next Jax and Stassi, but their on-again, off-again relationship isn’t very compelling. While Natalie Maguire is presented as a potential source of conflict between them, there’s no real chemistry or interest between her and Marcus. The closest the reboot gets to classic Vanderpump drama is a possible pre-show fling between Natalie and her manager Demy Selem’s boyfriend, Paulo, but the show relies on telling us about it rather than showing it unfold. Natalie admits, “I usually date people at work. It’s very incestuous.”

It’s hard to recreate the complicated relationships that made Vanderpump Rules so popular for its first ten years. Now, it feels like producers are deliberately pairing up cast members, hoping for drama and cheating scandals. While the show is supposed to be about working at SUR, and the newer cast members are trying to put in some hours, most of the time is spent on who’s dating who. Unfortunately, the relationship storylines don’t really resonate because the show is trying everything at once to see what catches on. Instead of letting relationships develop naturally, things move too quickly.

Just three episodes into the season, the romantic relationships are already a whirlwind. Marcus and Kim reconcile, Natalie dates a regular customer named Shayne, Angelica sets up a date with a fellow server, Jason, and Jason’s cousin, Chris, dates a hostess named Audrey. However, Natalie and Shayne quickly break up. It’s hard to follow – and even harder to care – because we barely know these people. By episode five, Angelica has already ended things with Jason and is now pursuing Shayne. Shayne points out Angelica was always attractive, conveniently forgetting she only joined the show recently. When they kiss in front of Jason and Natalie, it’s supposed to be a classic Vanderpump Rules moment of drama. But because Angelica and Shayne’s “relationship” barely lasted any time at all, their actions feel meaningless. It’s difficult to feel any sympathy for anyone involved when the connections are so fleeting.

The first season of Vanderpump Rules benefited from featuring a group of friends who already had a long-established, messy history. In contrast, most of the relationships in season 12 are very new – starting at best in 2023, or even just when filming began. It seems the show is trying to create drama quickly, possibly fearing viewers will lose interest without it. But you can’t force the kind of deep-seated conflict that led to iconic moments like Stassi hitting Kristen. The current fast pace feels unnatural and removes any real sense of genuine connection or consequence. It’s turned VPR into more of a typical dating show, and maybe that was the goal from the beginning, considering who was cast.

The show seems to be casting for looks and availability – Shayne doesn’t even work at SUR, and he wasn’t in a long-term relationship like Tom Schwartz was when Vanderpump Rules began. But Chris really highlights what producers are aiming for with season 12. His date with Audrey felt staged, like something from a Netflix dating show, and that’s probably because Chris is a reality TV veteran – Vanderpump Rules is his third show after Dated & Related and Perfect Match. You can believe he’s genuinely connecting with someone ten years younger, or you can see this as Bravo increasingly copying the style of shows like Love Island.

Bravo is clearly trying to recapture the magic of earlier seasons of Vanderpump Rules, and they’re also looking to duplicate the success of Peacock’s Love Island USA. Since Ariana Madix started hosting season six – boosted by the attention from ‘Scandoval’ – the show has become incredibly popular and a major cultural moment, becoming the most-watched streaming reality series in the country. While Bravo can’t simply copy Love Island’s competitive dating format, it’s clear the show’s success is influencing their other programs. The Below Deck franchise, which used to balance crew relationships with work drama and demanding guests, now focuses almost entirely on onboard romances. This was particularly noticeable in the disappointing twelfth season of Below Deck, which featured Solène Favreau, a former contestant from Love Island France, as a stewardess. Despite having little yachting experience, Solène remained on the show, pursuing relationships with both male and female crew members and creating conflict. It’s no surprise her next project was Ariana Madix’s Peacock spinoff, Love Island Games.

I’ve noticed Bravo is starting to feel a lot like Love Island, and it’s pretty obvious sometimes! Like, they made a dating show called Love Hotel right when Love Island was super popular. But it’s not just the big stuff; it’s creeping into other shows too. It feels like there’s a push – maybe the producers are telling them, or maybe they’re just doing it themselves – for the younger cast members to get into relationships fast, and it’s often really messy. Take Vanderpump Rules, for example. It’s become all about awkward first dates and people bluntly asking each other out based on looks. It’s like they’re trying to recreate the early seasons’ drama, but this rush to couple up feels totally inspired by Love Island. They’re basically speedrunning relationships now!

This season of Vanderpump Rules feels surprisingly dull, even though it had promise. Episode seven finally introduces a storyline the show hasn’t explored before: accusations that cousins Chris and Jason are inappropriately collaborating on OnlyFans. After eleven seasons, the show tackles a suggestion of incest—but then spends more time on a pointless drama about Angelica being upset that Audrey and Shayne shared a kiss (without tongues!) for a music video. Natalie voices what everyone’s thinking when she admits she’s given up trying to follow the constantly shifting storylines. If the producers stepped back and let things unfold naturally, the show might have a more interesting future with its new cast. For now, though, this reboot feels like a failure, and we’re left wishing we appreciated the earlier seasons more.

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2026-01-26 21:00