“Vanderpump Rules” fans think the season 11 finale marked the end of the series.
Days after it was announced that the Bravo reality show would go on “pause” following a heavy season, the season 11 finale episode, titled “Plot Twist,” finished off with a tearjerker ending montage that showed how much the friend group changed since the series debut in 2013.
As Ariana Madix walked out of a final group event in San Francisco after her ex, Tom Sandoval, tried to approach her, executive producer Jeremiah Smith tried to talk her out of leaving. “Ariana, don’t do this,” he said on camera. “Don’t end like this.”
The move came after Madix said she refused to be part of Sandoval’s “redemption arc” in a confessional.
On April 30, 2024, Deadline reported that “Vanderpump Rules” would take a “pause” from its normal filming schedule after season 11. A source told Page Six that the hiatus is to give the cast a “break” amid the ongoing tension. But “Plot Twist” wrapped the show up into a bow that could very well double as the end of the series.
Fans Think the Finale Montage Looked Like a Series Ender
The “Plot Twist” episode concludes with a voiceover by Lala Kent. “I love filming this show because it is real,” Kent says. “This is what we do. We have been doing this for most of our adult lives.”
As Kent speaks, decade-old confessional looks are shown onscreen. Vintage clips of past storylines are also recalled, including Kristen Doute’s “Miami Girl” confrontation with Sandoval, Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney’s wedding, James Kennedy declaring “It’s not about the pasta,” and Madix screaming at Sandoval following his shocking cheating scandal with Raquel Leviss.
“We have all experienced high highs and low lows,” Kent says, before calling out Madix for not showing her real life with Sandoval on camera.
The episode ends with Madix and her boyfriend Daniel Wai leaving the group event as a hot mic captures a producer saying, “That’s the end.”
After Tom Schwartz calls the ending a “plot twist,” Sandoval is heard saying,” I love it. It’s good for me.”
Fans reacted on social media.
“What did you think of the ending of the VPR finale? It felt like a series finale to me,” wrote an Instagram commenter.
“This screams ‘This is the last season of this show,” another agreed.
“Oh this show is over,” wrote a Reddit user. “That long homage (which, I’ll be honest, was a bit emotional!) at the end showing them growing and all their milestones looks like the producers putting a pin in it!”
“I feel this is LaLa’s way to saying goodbye to VPR so she can say hello to The Valley,” another fan suggested.
Even though “Plot Twist” played like a series finale, a missing element was Lisa Vanderpump. It would seem that the matriarch of the series would be the one to narrate the ending. In addition, Entertainment Tonight confirmed that the episode was not a series finale.
“There’s always a possibility of a cast shakeup, or having the legacy cast members move to ‘The Valley,’ but no decisions have been made yet,” an insider told the outlet.
Tom Sandoval discussed the 'Breaking the 4 wall'th in the 'Vanderpump Rules' Finale
BravoVANDERPUMP RULES — Pictured: Tom Sandoval — (Photo by: Nicole Weingart/Bravo)
Sandoval talked about the unexpected ending during a May 7, 2024 appearance on “Watch What Happens Live.” Host Andy Cohen asked Tom Sandoval and the Most Extras singer for his opinion on “the fourth wall breaking” in the episode.
“I mean, Andy, do you think I really wanted to have that conversation?” Sandoval said about approaching Madix in the episode’s final minutes. “Do you think it was easy for me to walk up to her in front of everybody like that? No, it was really hard, and I didn’t have the support system around me, you know. I had to just do it and go for it.”
“You know, the one thing about our show is like we do have to pull permits,” he added of the filming schedule. “We do have limited amount of time. And we do have to like get things done in a certain time, like, whether you’re ready or not.”
“You’re never ready to have those tough conversations but that’s what we do,” he explained. “That’s our job. It’s our job, we’ve got to do it whether we like it, or we don’t. That’s what we signed up for, and I think that’s what the people like too. It’s a real organic thing that you’re seeing, this is real, raw emotions. It’s a real conversation. But you know, like we can’t have cameras follow us around all night, every day.”
Another ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star is Moving to The Valley
