Dayna Kathan experienced a panic attack after returning to filming on Vanderpump Rules following her exit from the show after season eight in 2020.
While appearing on Nick Viall‘s podcast last week with castmate and friend Katie Maloney, 36, whom she’s just launched a new podcast with, Dayna looked back on the daunting moment as she revealed if she’ll appear on season 11, discussed her struggles with anxiety, and shared her thoughts on Tom Sandoval‘s potential “redemption arc.”
“I filmed a tiny bit,” Dayna confirmed on the January 4 episode of The Viall Files as she reflected on her decision to quit the show years ago.
“I left the show for a lot of reasons but one of which it just, it was toxic for me and I give so much credit to anyone who does reality TV. It’s way harder than it looks. So so much harder,” she stated, asking, “Don’t you love when people are like, ‘You know what you signed up for?’ And I’m like, ‘Are you f**king okay? Like you don’t know what you don’t know so when you’re in it, it’s so much harder.’ So this year, I did think about coming back.”
But after returning to Pump Rules, Dayna had a change of heart.
“I filmed and immediately was like, ‘I cannot do this.’ So I don’t even know if what I filmed will make it,” she explained of whether the scene will air on season 11.
In fact, the scene led her to suffer a panic attack.
“I called [Katie]. Like I had a panic attack the next morning like full-blown screaming crying panic attack,” she admitted. “I didn’t even realize. I was like, ‘Well I’m in a better place now and you know so mentally stable, blah blah blah.’ And then uh, nope. So funneling that to a podcast. F*cked around and found out.”
As for what gave her the most anxiety, Dayna signaled to a past job and the tense situations that often arise on the show.
“People always assume that I was just a server and I actually was in healthcare sales … I had a corporate job when I started filming the show, and they had me work at the restaurant to kind of fit me in because I was just a random,” Dayna shared. “I had a work situation that went really south because my company at the time was not okay with the show and so I’ve been with my current company for like three years and I like my job and I immediately was like, holy s**t, I cannot threaten my livelihood and it just wasn’t worth it.”
Looking back on one particular situation, Dayna said that there was “a lot of shouting” on the day she filmed.
“This situation erupted and the cortisol in the room was like… They just maybe have more iron stomachs than I do for that, like I’m good at confrontation when it arises but it’s not something I like. I don’t like always feeling like there’s a fight around the corner,” she explained.
“So thrilled to be doing [podcast] with [Katie]. A little passion project that doesn’t involve me getting screamed at,” Dayna added.
Regarding Sandoval’s possible redemption on season 11, which Ariana Madix, 38, hinted at months ago, suggesting that fans could turn on her following Sandoval’s scandalous affair with their former co-star, Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, 29, Dayna wasn’t so sure it would happen.
“People already have a very low view of Tom Sandoval so… Ariana was like, ‘I have concerns that people are going to turn [on me]’ or whatever. I don’t think that’s going to happen but I do think that there is, they’re shooting for some type of redemption arc for him or like maybe just not trying to focus on the whole thing so much cause so much of this year,” she suspected. “Obviously they picked cameras up and filmed an extra episode and then so much of the year it’s been talked about.”
Dayna said that she believes Sandoval is still struggling to take accountability for the affair.
“It’s physically impossible for him and the way in which that then he does talk about it… the way that he’ll just spin it and immediately be like, ‘Well, this person did this.’ And it’s like, ‘We don’t care. That’s not what we’re talking about… we’re talking about what you did,’” she stated.
Vanderpump Rules season 11 premieres Tuesday, January 30, at 8/7c on Bravo.
