According to a recent source, the new season of Vanderpump Rules will film only “three weeks” due to money issues. The cast will allegedly get pay cuts as newcomers from a potential spinoff may be introduced.
After a season of low ratings, the show was put on hiatus. Some reports claimed certain castmates were holding out for bigger salaries amid contract negotiations – causing a stall in production.
But on the Deux/U podcast, Thea de Sousa – author of the Vanderpump Rules trivia book – shared some more tea.
“So they are doing another season and it will most likely be the last season of Vanderpump Rules,” said Thea, via @breakingtherulespodclips on Instagram. “It will only film for three weeks, as opposed to the normal 12 to 10 weeks, and it’ll be filming [in] January.”
“And the reason for that is because the show just got way too expensive for Bravo to produce. Every single castmember at full salary [gets] a bump every season. Now we’re up to season 12. You can imagine how much the main players are making.”
“Season 10 … was gonna be the last season. Bravo couldn’t afford [it] anymore, so they were going to do a show called Schwartz and Sandy’s that was set at [Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval‘s] bar, and they start off fresh with new contracts, new salaries, and it was going to be similar to Vanderpump but just cheaper,” she continued. “And of course when Scandoval erupted, they couldn’t do that. But they’ve been meaning to end it for a while now.”
She said the shortened season will “bump the salaries down.”
According to the author, they were set to film in October and the budget was approved – but they ended up not having enough “money.” She said the stall had nothing to do with certain castmates holding out for bigger paychecks.
Thea claimed every costar from last season has “signed on,” but they might “throw in a few” servers from a new spinoff that the network wants to create.
Vanderpump Rules is currently still on “pause.”