Lala Kent can’t believe that Ariana Madix chose to keep her Dancing With the Stars gig from Scheana Shay until after it was announced publicly.
Following the latest episode of Vanderpump Rules, Lala, 33, compared Ariana, 38, to Tom Sandoval, 41, and shaded Ariana’s decision as “wild.” Plus, Scheana, 38, admitted she “wasn’t happy” to hear about Ariana’s role after the fact, Ariana explained why she kept it secret, and Sandoval admitted to having his own aspirations to appear on the ABC dancing competition.
“With Scheana, she’s such a supportive friend. The word jealous is such an ugly word and has such a negative connotation to it, it just is like the root of all evil. That’s not where Scheana was coming from,” Lala said on the March 19 episode of the Pump Rules: After Show. “I’m sure she was bummed out because it’s something she wanted to do, but I think she was more hurt where it’s like, ‘Why am I finding out with random people in Iowa that my best friend is doing Dancing with the Stars? I’m just sitting here as a fan it seems like.’”
“[And] didn’t that just happen with Chicago too?” asked Brittany Cartwright, 35. “Everybody was upset about that because her own business partner didn’t know.”
“That was wild,” Lala replied. “For her to not tell Katie, Something About Her is Schwartz & Sandy’s 2.0.”
“Ariana is Tom Sandoval and Katie is Schwartz,” she continued. “Is anyone seeing this? It seems very familiar.”
According to Scheana, she’s always wanted to appear on DWTS herself.
“This was a show I started watching in college. I always loved it. I went as an audience member with friends that had been on it from the very early season and I was like, ‘Wow, one day if I’m ever a star, as they call it on the show,’ not calling myself that obviously, but I’m like, ‘How fun would that be?’ And anyone who knows me I think knows that this is something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time,” she shared.
As for her feelings about Ariana landing the gig over her, Scheana said that it wasn’t that she wasn’t happy for Ariana.
“I was very happy for her. I wasn’t happy how I found out about it,” she clarified. “I would’ve rather heard from her, and when I first heard the rumor about it, I called her and I was like, ‘Wait! Is this a thing?’ And she’s like, ‘No. I mean, they’re pitching me for it but nothing is happening yet, but it’s such a f*ck you to Tom because he’s always wanted to do that show too.”
“I would’ve just hoped she would call me and let me know. Logan knew. Brad knew. Dayna, I don’t know who else,” she added.
In her own segment, Ariana explained why she didn’t tell many about her then-upcoming role on DWTS.
“When that rumor came out, nothing had been signed. It was maybe going to happen, but it wasn’t official and it wasn’t confirmed, and there was a big fear that that coming out was going to deter them,” she shared. “That rumor, I don’t know where it came from, but that that could possibly lose it for me. And I have since spoken to the head producer. She was like, ‘I’m so glad that you didn’t tell people because we would’ve been pissed.’”
As for why she didn’t tell Scheana, Ariana described her castmate as a “public future” and noted that they were “being followed everywhere” at that time.
“And by the time [Daniel Wai] brought it up to her, the announcement was official, so it’s okay if people find out at that point, but that timeframe, in between us working on it, that rumor coming out, and it being official, was a very f*cking freaky time because it was one of these things where like, this cannot get out because we’ve already been on thin ice,” she reasoned.
Also on the Pump Rules: After Show, Sandoval admitted it’s “been a dream of [his]” to appear on DWTS.
“I actually took ballroom lessons and everything. I was working on the ninja sword signed by Randy Jackson for years and getting on Dancing with the Stars for years,” he revealed.
That said, he didn’t watch Ariana on the show.
“I know Ariana well enough to know what her dreams are, and she’s literally living her dream. I did not [watch her on DWTS]. I just didn’t. I mean, I think that’s a little weird. I feel weird about it,” he explained.
“I did,” Tom Schwartz, 40, confirmed. “I voted for her, even when she completely iced me out of her life.”
Vanderpump Rules season 11 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
