Vanderpump Rules Season 8 finds Lisa Vanderpump continuing to expand her empire after the successful launch of TomTom with Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz. Meanwhile, Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright tied the knot and Stassi Schroeder celebrated her success as a best-selling author and her relationship with Beau Clark.
Ariana Madix moved into her dream home and is working on a new cocktail book, James Kennedy opened up about his issues with alcohol and Lala Kent stays focused on her sobriety, music career and home renovation.
Scheana Shay, meanwhile, has her hands full as she trains SUR’s new servers, Brett Caprioni and Charli Burnett. They join waitress Dayna Kathan, TomTom’s general manager Max Boyens, and assistant manager Danica Dow as new Vanderpump Rules cast members this season, which is now currently streaming on hayu Canada and Slice.
Global News sat down with Scheana at Hotel X in Toronto to discuss her thoughts on Season 8, the new cast members and if she has ever felt she was portrayed unfairly on Vanderpump Rules.
Global News: What do you think of Season 8 so far?
Scheana Shay: In what aspect? I mean, I’m not happy with my storyline or whatever you want to call it, because it’s a very small percentage of my life that you’re seeing. Yes, I can be annoying and yes, I can be overly flirty. A lot of other women on the show are like that too but you’re not seeing that. You’re seeing other people’s careers and lives outside of the restaurant but you don’t see mine.
How annoying was it to constantly have to explain to the cast why you’re not drinking during the beginning of the season because you were freezing your eggs?
Oh my gosh, I was like, “I’ve been doing this for three weeks now — what are you not understanding?” Then they make a montage of it, but I kept saying it because people keep asking me the same questions: “Why aren’t you drinking? Why are you smoking?” I’m like, trust me, I wish I could hit my weed pen right now, but I can’t. It was very frustrating.
I would love to stop serving, but, you know, I just don’t think that’s in the cards for me right now. I will stay until I just can’t.
I think bringing new people on the show is always good. It switches things up and brings new storylines, drama and just different things that people can relate to. However, I think this season our show has gotten so far off from where it started out. It’s kind of confusing. It’s like you’re watching two shows in one. It feels more forced this year than it has in the past because we’ve introduced, like, five new people at once. Normally, it’s just like, we introduced Lala [Kent], we’ve got Brittany [Cartwright], there’s Raquel [Leviss]. It’s like one here and there. But then it was like, boom, here’s five people. It was an adjustment. But I genuinely love all of the new people and I have fun with them.
Do you feel like Dayna rides your coattails for a storyline?
Aren’t they all? (laughing).
I do that with every guy I date. In the past, I’ve never dated someone necessarily more successful than me, until now. I always wanted to spoil them because it was things that they couldn’t afford for themselves. I don’t buy expensive things for myself, but I love to buy them for other people, even like my favourite part of Christmas is watching my family open their presents. I don’t need anything.
I watched the first couple episodes and I just had to stop. I really only watched it for my friend Jake [Peterson]. Once Jake said his storyline was kind of ending I was like, I don’t need to watch this anymore.
You’ve been on Vanderpump Rules since the beginning. Do you have any moments that really stand out for you? You’ve been through a lot on the show.
There’s a lot of cringy moments from all of Season 6. Honestly, good moments don’t even pop up in my head. It’s just all moments I cringe at, you know, because there’s been way more of those than good moments.
Have you ever felt like you were portrayed unfairly on Vanderpump Rules?
Almost every season.
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Really?
For the last three years, the last three seasons, I feel like I’ve lost a huge fan base. After the divorce, people were really with me on that journey. And then once we got divorced and I was “so obsessed” with my new boyfriend, everyone was just so annoyed with it. But then that was all it was. Then it was Adam and then it was just so not me. There’s such a bigger world out there in my life than the boy I’m dating.
They did give Lala her studio time in the show but in regards to you, we just get to see your love life.
Yeah, exactly! I lived in Las Vegas for half a year. I headlined a show out there and it is the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my career. It was literally life-changing and when I moved I was a different person, but you never even saw the transition. You didn’t see anything. It was just like, “Oh, she lives in Marina now.” And I’m like, I’ve been in another state for the last six months and doing a job six nights a week. It was a huge part of my life And I felt like that was a huge missed opportunity by production because there is some crazy s–t that we got into in Vegas between the magic mikes and the Chippendales and every DJ in between. They missed a lot of good content. I wish I was vlogging back then because, oh my God, it would’ve been so lit, but probably for the better.
If it were just one day, I would say, Ariana [Madix], because I would want to know more about her depression and what those insecurities entail, because I know what she tells me, but I’m not in her body. I don’t wanna be Lala with her Gucci bags or Stassi [Schroeder] on her book tour. I would just really want to know more of the inner workings of her brain so I could be a better friend and understand more.
That is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard! When I asked Lisa Vanderpump the same question she said she would want to be you because you “shag all these fabulous men.”
That’s also a good answer (laughing).
Honestly, I don’t know. I think it’s just this shtick now where it’s like make fun of Scheana and get screentime. Katie [Maloney] and Lala hopped on that bandwagon. It’s just so annoying and it’s played out. They need to come up with some new material. But we just have this frenemy dynamic that I don’t think will ever change. I like to do things that irk Stassi and wear outfits that she genuinely hates when I know I’m going to see her. If she’s gonna make fun of me behind my back, I’m gonna try and irk her to her face.
Tom [Sandoval], Ariana and Kristen [Doute] definitely. But also Raquel and James [Kennedy] and some of the newbies like Max. He is one of my closest friends and I talk to him almost every day.
What’s next for you in 2020?
New music coming soon. You’ll see later in this season that I shot my first music video featuring one of the guys from the cast. That song and video I’m releasing in May. But I’m also going to start working with Erika Costell, who is a big YouTuber. She just started a music label called BIA entertainment so I’m gonna be doing some music with them soon. I also have a YouTube channel I just launched two weeks ago. So I have new videos coming out every Wednesday. We release new episodes for my podcast, which I’ve been doing for about two and a half years, every Tuesday. I also have my boy crazy merch coming out soon and I’m just capitalizing on that (laughing).
(This interview has been edited and condensed.)
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Vanderpump Rules airs Tuesday’s at 9 p.m. on Slice and Wednesdays on hayu Canada.
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