Andy Cohen Says the Back Half of Vandepump Rules Season 11 ‘Takes Off’

Andy Cohen swears the last half of Vanderpump Rules season 11 is completely binge-worthy.

“Y’all, I just landed in Los Angeles,” Cohen said via Instagram Story on Friday, March 15. Vanderpump Rules meeting. I just finished watching the last seven episodes of the season. I can’t believe how good it was. And I know you guys might be like, “Oh, he’s just hyping his stuff,” whatever. It’s not my show. I’m not a producer of it. That’s why I didn’t know what was happening, I was just watching it as a viewer. It’s so good.”

He continued: “It’s taking off in a big way. Kudos to the brilliant team, and what a final. And what a reunion it will be. I’m so excited. Again, not my show, this is not a paid advertisement. No one asked me to post this message. It’s really good.”

Originally shared by Cohen via his Instagram Story, the video was reposted X (formerly Twitter) Friday, prompting a response from Tom Schwartz. “The second half is so solid,” he replied in a follow-up tweet, which confirms Cohen’s excitement. “One of my favorite seasons so far. Except I cringed at myself.”

The 2nd half is so solid 🙏 one of my favorite seasons so far. Except I’m cringing at myself

— tom schwartz (@twschwa) March 15, 2024

Cohen then discussed the remaining episodes of season 11, as well as the reunion, on the Monday, March 18, episode of SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen live.

“I’ve seen seven episodes of Vanderpump Rules within 24 hours. The other seven in the season,” Cohen told co-host Johannes Heuvel. “I think people felt like it wasn’t right. I think people were super interested at first and then they were like, “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about this. I don’t know if I want this redemption thing. I don’t know how I feel about it.’ It’s really good.”

Cohen explained both Lala Kent And Scheana Shay‘s husband, Brock Daviesemerge as the “voice[s] of reason” for this season of Vanderpump Rules. “The other one I’m excited to watch and who I think is emerging as a real potential player in this universe is Ally Lewber, James Kennedy’s girlfriend,” Cohen added.

“Nothing was as heated as last year, but many of the topics were incredibly intense and exciting,” he said. “They were all discussed calmly, which I really appreciated. Obviously it wasn’t like there were flare-ups and shouting, but it wasn’t in that space, especially considering last year.”

It may be hard to beat season 10’s record-breaking ratings in the wake of Tom Sandoval And Rachel ‘Raquel’ Leviss‘ cheating scandal, which rocked the Bravo landscape the moment the news broke. We weekly confirmed in March 2023 that Sandoval and Ariana Madix had ended their nearly decade-long relationship due to his infidelity.

Thanks to the viewership generated by “Scandoval,” Season 10 broke viewership records for Bravo and Peacock, averaging 11.4 million viewers in June 2023. Variety reported at the time. The first reunion episode alone reached 4.6 million viewers, making it not only the most watched episode Vanderpomp episode of all time, but the most watched episode of any Bravo series in the past decade.

By comparison, the season 11 premiere episode, “Notes on a Scandal,” drew a large audience of 3.2 million viewers per year. The Hollywood Reporter.

The overall success of season 10 led to significant paydays for several cast members, with some even negotiating with Bravo for higher salaries. Madix, for her part, reportedly made more than $1 million in sponsorship deals after Scandoval. She also joined season 32 of Dancing with the stars and currently stars as Roxie Hart on Broadway’s Chicago.

Sandoval previously accused some of his colleagues of profiting from the scandal. “Fellow cast members ask me all these questions, but you don’t want to know because you care about Ariana,” Sandoval said on an April 2023 episode of the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast. “You want to know so you have more content for your podcast. It’s f-king disgusting to me. It’s so dirty. You’re not someone who cares about Ariana. You are doing this for your own personal gain.”

Bravo recently confirmed the seating charts for the Season 11 reunion, which will feature Cohen, Shay, Davies, Madix, Sandoval and Schwartz, as well as Lisa Vanderpump, Katie MaloneyAnd James Kennedy. Newcomers Jo Wenberg And Ally Lewber will also appear.