What Bravo Learned from Scandoval & How It Created a Jaded Fandom
And How Kyle Cooke and Lindsay Hubbard are Paying For It
When Ariana Madix found out her boyfriend, Tom Sandoval was sleeping with their mutual friend and castmate, Raquel Leviss back in March 2023, it shook the Bravo universe. The drama, coined Scandoval, caused damage that extended beyond the fractures in the original cast of Vanderpump Rules.
The (mis)handling of the following season, in which production required forced proximity between Ariana and Tom and created a crusade against Ariana for her strong boundaries, ultimately eroded the audience’s ability to trust any Bravo drama at face value. Production’s attempt to manufacture a Sandoval redemption arc for a fanbase that had already convicted him led to the downfall of the beloved series.
History feels like it’s repeating a bit, for VPR, they had The Valley. Summer House has In The City. As the cast transitions amid this huge scandal, the audience is more suspicious than ever.
Post-Scandoval, Bravo audiences became pattern-matchers. Any castmember posting rants on TikTok or IG Live? Probably PR. Any form of reconciliation? Produced. The audience’s sophistication has become an obstacle for both production and the cast. Lindsay and Kyle, the anchor cast members of In The City, are under a microscope, accused of doing production’s bidding for repeatedly framing Amanda as a victim in her situationship with West.
The skepticism toward Bravo is valid and earned. But let’s be clear about the true motivations behind their approach.
The kid gloves used with Amanda are legal protection – not favoritism or kindness or even promotion of In The City. Raquel Leviss spent 90 days in a mental health facility in Arizona after the Scandoval fallout and later sued Bravo, alleging the network “deliberately fomented” the narrative that destroyed her reputation, that she was turned into a villain for ratings while the actual wrongdoing was obscured. Whether or not the lawsuit has merit is another conversation, but that filing is a liability Bravo cannot afford to invite twice. This is why Amanda’s edit has been comparatively gentle — not to protect In The City nor Summer House, but to mitigate corporate risk at large.
As for Lindsay and Kyle, they are picking up on West’s off-putting behavior, which has made Tom Sandoval seem like a reasonable, morally grey character. While Amanda is a 30-something married woman and doesn’t deserve a sympathy edit or infantilization, West’s dark pattern of manipulation has become clear. And to Kyle’s point in part three of the Summer House reunion, he’s isolated her entirely. Yes, Amanda was a willing participant in this torrid affair, but did she really know who she was getting involved with? That remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, West has been on a tear. His open disdain for the upcoming bonus episode — going on his own podcast to hope an NBA Finals game would conflict with the airtime — is a known network no-no, and indicates he’s not afraid of repercussions. If anything, his behavior is that of someone who has already been let go by Bravo. Plus, the bonus episode itself communicates that at least one person in this scenario will not be returning — hence the need for the additional episode rather than letting it play out in an upcoming season of either show.
Bravo learned from Scandoval that reality TV villainhood isn’t for the weak of heart, and how these villains absorb the blows is ultimately on the network. What they didn’t take away is that protecting someone from that edit produces the same problem. The audience Scandoval built is reading Amanda’s sanitized edit as a cover-up, Lindsay’s posts as strategy, and Kyle’s pap walk with Amanda as coordinated optics. There is no version of a major scandal that a post-Scandoval audience receives as authentic. Only time will tell how they’re able to move forward with Kyle, Amanda, Lindsay and West.