‘Vanderpump Rules’ Is Getting New Cast After the Bravo Show ‘Lost’ Its ‘Direction’

SUR-long! Vanderpump Rules is getting a brand-new cast next season, sending shock waves across the reality TV-verse. “Word is execs felt the show had lost direction,” a source exclusively tells In Touch. “No one worked at SUR anymore. Everyone was doing their own thing. Scandoval severed what ties were left.”

Some of the stars will be OK, the source says, like Ariana Madix. “She has other irons in the fire and was already planning to leave the show anyway.” Others like Lala Kent, Scheana Shay and Tom Schwartz will reportedly join former costars Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright on The Valley. “Bravo hopes that bringing in a fresh set of faces will give Vanderpump Rules a major boost.”

It was revealed that the longtime Bravo show was getting a new cast for season 12 on November 26. TMZ previously reported that the new season will follow the show’s original formula, which gives a behind-the-scenes look at the many restaurants that Lisa Vanderpump owns.

Lisa, 64, previously teased the upcoming season during an exclusive interview with In Touch at Pinky’s by Vanderpump at the Flamingo Hotel, Las Vegas. “We’re going back to the grassroots of where Vanderpump Rules started. I think when I say it kind of took on a different direction because we followed the characters, it was wonderful,” she explained of the decision to revamp the show. “And I can’t minimize how successful it was and how much I love the cast. But I think it’s become almost too contentious between the group to really have some kind of natural cohesion.”

The entrepreneur added that she was initially “hopeful” the original cast would continue to star on the show, though she believes the stars already “told the story” they set out to tell.

Lisa also revealed what fans can expect when it comes to the new cast. “There’s many people that are going to want to work at SUR now. Now they know that we’re casting again,” she shared. “But everybody has to authentically work there and have to actually be, you know, qualified to do the job. Otherwise, it doesn’t work.”

After noting that they can’t “just have people that want to be reality stars” on the show, Lisa said the new cast will include her restaurant’s current employees that are “young and forthright and have different opinions.”

“And that’s always the fascinating thing to watch. What I like about this show is that it does have a nucleus,” Lisa said. “It’s just not random people, you know, that kind of meet up and you think, ‘Well, if they don’t like each other, why are they together?’ But when you have a business that people have to be there, then they’re forced to kind of express their opinions.”

Lisa went on to state that she believes the original cast “knew” about the recasting decision because they had been “on a hiatus for a while.”

“I kind of saw where Bravo [was] coming from. I’m not always, you know, totally confident of their decisions,” the longtime reality star said. “I think they were thinking they wanted to go back to what the show was originally.”