Heavy/NBCUniversal Vanderpump Rules stars
Jax Taylor thinks “Vanderpump Rules” needs a cast shakeup. The former SUR bartender, who exited the Bravo reality show in 2020 after eight seasons, spoke out about the state of the show – and he had some definite opinions on who needs to go.
In a June 9, 2023 interview on Dear Media’s “The Toast” podcast, Taylor said he doesn’t understand the point of Lisa Vanderpump being on the show anymore. The restaurant owner’s West Hollywood eatery, SUR, served as the focal point of the Bravo hit for years, but most of the cast members no longer work there.
Taylor especially took issue with Vanderpump’s presence at the “Vanderpump Rules” reunion, where Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ shocking cheating scandal was heavily addressed.
When podcast host Claudia Oshry asked Taylor, “What’s the point of Lisa on the show anymore?” he did not hesitate to give his unfiltered opinion.
“Just to be there, sit next to Andy. I think she’s a prop at this point,” he said. “I don’t mean that in a negative way, but let’s be honest, it wouldn’t change the difference if she wasn’t there? She’s not bringing anything to the show anymore.”
Taylor, 42, noted that when the show first debuted in 2013, Vanderpump was “very involved.” “But now we’re all a lot older,” he said. “None of us have been at the restaurant anymore. Yes, this is her show. She brought the show, but I really don’t see a reason for her to be at the reunion. I really don’t. I mean, just to sit next to Andy … or do they just smirk back and forth. ‘How’s your restaurant doing?’ Like I don’t really know if she really needs to be there.”
Jax Taylor Was “Annoyed” By Lisa Vanderpump on the VPR Season 10 Reunion
Bravo “Vanderpump Rules” star Lisa Vanderpump.
Elsewhere in the interview, Taylor noted that many of the current cast members seem to be “afraid” to go against Vanderpump. He credited Lala Kent for clapping back at the wealthy restaurateur during the season 10 reunion.
“Everybody seems to be afraid of her,” Taylor said. “For what? Well, you own a restaurant. You’re a woman who owns restaurants in West Hollywood. Nobody works at the restaurant anymore”
Taylor also addressed people who repeatedly tell him the cast should be “grateful” to Vanderpump for getting them on the show.
“She doesn’t own the show. She is a producer,” he said. “So it’s really upsetting when people are like ‘You should be so grateful she could let you go.’ No, that’s not how it works. She got us the audition, or she got us, you know, the sizzle reel, whatever. She got us in the door. We have to make it work.”
Of Vanderpump’s role on the show, Taylor described it as “her showing up once every six episodes to hand out fake paychecks. “
“And then watching the reunion, her chiming in, she’s not even there,” he said. “These are adults. When we were younger and we were 20 years old, yes. It made a little more sense because she was kind of a mother figure, and she was the boss. None of us have worked at the restaurant for a very, very long time. “
Taylor previously criticized Vanderpump on an episode of his “When Reality Hits” podcast when he told his wife, Brittany Cartwright what bothered him the most about the “Vanderpump Rules” reunion episodes. “This is what annoyed me the most. I can say this because I don’t care. Lisa annoyed me,” he said.
“I just felt that she was siding with Tom [Sandoval],” he added, referencing his former friend’s cheating scandal. “She was kind of trying to be devil’s advocate a little bit. I just feel like she was siding with Tom and it really annoyed me because she never did that with me when I was on the show. She went against me like crazy.”
He also noted that Vanderpump treats the cast “like little kids sometimes.” “We’re grown adults,” Taylor said. “She barely is on the show. It just irks me sometimes.”
Jax Taylor Gave an Update on His Relationship With Lisa Vanderpump & His Possible Return to Vanderpump Rules
Bravo/GettyJax Taylor and Lisa Vanderpump.
While he had plenty to say about Vanderpump’s place on the show, Taylor said his relationship with her is fine. “I saw her at Tom Tom about two months ago,” he said on ‘The Toast.” “She’s like, ‘Hey, how, how are you? How this?’ I just think she’s, I don’t want to say too many negative things about Lisa. I just, I don’t know.”
As for the possibility of him and his wife returning to “Vanderpump Rules,” Taylor did not rule it out. “We have been talking,” he confirmed. “We’re trying to figure it out, what makes sense for my family.” He added that he and Vartwight are “absolutely excited about the thought of going back, but… have to weigh it out and see if it makes sense.”
In May 2023, Taylor and Cartwright hosted some “Vanderpump Rules” rewatch episodes for Peacock and they made their first return to “Watch What Happens Live” amid Scandoval.
Cartwright told Us Weekly that the experience made her and her husband nostalgic for their days on reality TV. “We’re definitely getting the itch because it was fun to have the cameras over and have crew over,” she said. “Going through that whole lifestyle again was so fun.”
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