New SUR-vers Attempt to Re-create Magic on Vanderpump Rules
Nearly 13 years ago, Vanderpump Rules premiered with a transition directly out of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and into our hearts. Can lightning really strike twice? Bravo is rebooting VPR and casting a new generation of SUR-vers and managers. While the previous cast members are now shipped off to The Valley, hosting Love Island, or starring on Vanderpump Villa, audiences tuning into the flagship Housewives spinoff will get a new cast of drama queens (non-gendered) for season 12. House madam Lisa Vanderpump is returning, but Bravo finally gave audiences their first glimpse of the new cast in action with a trailer on November 3.
The teaser begins by regaling the audience with all the ways the original Pump Rulers entertained us through the years. It starts with Stassi Schroeder promising in the show’s very first episode that “I am the devil, and don’t you forget it” and ends with Scandoval. That’s probably a mistake. Any trailer would suffer by comparison to 11 years’ worth of great moments, and this one is no exception. Nothing in the new trailer is at the level of quotability that Stassi managed within one single episode. But don’t judge too quickly — “I am the devil” wasn’t in the first season’s trailer, either.
So what do we get? A lot of drama about a penis pump, that’s what, courtesy of Jason Cohen and Chris Hahn, cousins with twin OnlyFans pages who appeared on Netflix’s Dated & Related in 2022. It’s kind of a sad sign when reality pioneer Bravo is taking its casting from Netflix’s discard bin, but we’ll withhold judgment until Chris’s penis pump story line fully plays out. The other duo on staff is on-again, off-again couple Marcus Johnson and Kim Suarez. If the previous cast of Pump Rules is any indication, then don’t expect them to last through the season. The rest of the SUR-vers who Bravo acolytes will learn to love or hate are sober drama king Shayne Davis, the beautifully named Audrey Lingle, lead bartender and singer Natalie Maguire, manager Demy Selem, and Angelica Jensen, who appears to be in a love triangle with both Shayne and Jason.
Plus the show is gayer than it’s ever been before. Venus, one of the new main characters, is the first gay man to be a lead cast member on VPR, which was always a mark against a series that regularly featured episodes about West Hollywood Pride. With his long, flowing orange hair, he gets the teaser’s final moment, when Lisa Vanderpump asks, “Is this totally necessary?” And it turns out, she’s talking about the two fully nude man butts that Venus is standing between. “It’s gay Pride, Lisa!” he protests.
On November 25, a week prior to the premiere, Bravo will air Raise Your Glass to 11 Seasons — a special celebrating the first 11 seasons of the show and ushering in the new cast. Judge them all against season-one Kristen Doute when season 12 of Vanderpump Rules premieres on December 2.
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