The Ariana Madix Backlash Is Inevitable

Sympathy is a strange thing when it comes to both celebrity culture and reality TV. The public tends to offer it freely, even excessively. Think of the waves of sympathy afforded to Jennifer Aniston after the Brangelina affair went public. Or the way that fans rallied behind Robert Pattinson after his Twilight-era romance with Kristen Stewart ended in infidelity. There was no bigger outpouring of public sympathy on TV last year than for Vanderpump Rules' Ariana Madix. The shock of her longtime live-in boyfriend Tom Sandoval cheating on her with one of her closest friends was the fuel that powered the end of Vanderpump's 10th season, and the "Scandoval" of it all ripped through the media as one of the year's dishiest gossip stories.

Ariana has garnered unwavering sympathy, both from her co-stars, who all joined her to pile on Tom at the Vanderpump reunion, and the public, who helped push her to third place on the most recent season of Dancing with the Stars. But as the recently released trailer for Season 11 of Vanderpump shows, the Ariana backlash is coming. Given the tone certain people take in the trailer, it could come sooner than we think.

To get it out of the way: this is not a defense of Tom Sandoval. His reality TV villainy has been well established on this site, and nothing about the way he conducted his clandestine affair with Rachel (née Raquel) Leviss inspires sympathy. But in a strange way, the absolute lack of defense for Tom is what may well end up leading to an Ariana backlash. In the wake of the Scandoval coming to light, everyone lined up behind Ariana. With the full backing of cast and fandom, Ariana indulged in some (understandable!) venting. She stated her refusal to film with Tom going forward and declared she would cut off anyone who remained friends with him. She was cruel to Rachel at the reunion, calling her "subhuman." She's doing what any of us might do with a lot of anger and the license to do or say anything to vent that anger. The fact that so many people can empathize with Ariana as the wronged party is why she's gotten so much support.

But sympathy is not an endlessly renewable resource — not in the realm of Bravo-lebrity. And while it's hard to see Ariana losing fan support anytime soon, that's not necessarily the case among her fellow cast members. Ariana was always far more popular with fans than with the other Vanderpump folk. Jax couldn't stand her; she and Stassi were famously slow to defrost towards each other. Her relationships with the other women — even longtime friend Scheana — were up and down. Tom cheating on her gave everyone on the show a rallying point, but it was at least as much about hating Tom as it was supporting Ariana.

Judging by the trailer for Season 11, Ariana has not softened in her stance on Tom, though they remain living in the same house for financial reasons. This might end up making it harder to support Ariana if she continues to threaten to cut people off if they maintain a relationship with Tom. It sounds like Katie is relaying such a threat to Scheana in the trailer.

From the looks of things, Tom certainly hasn't been isolated from the rest of the cast. We see him in scenes with Lisa Vanderpump, Scheana, Lala, and his buddy Tom Schwartz. Not all of these interactions are framed as friendly, but this is a fickle bunch of Angelenos. Everyone who's done something awful on this show has ultimately been forgiven for it, more or less. Scheana kicked off the series on a redemption arc for being the other woman in Brandi Glanville's marriage. This isn't a show built for long-term isolation because the cast members are all bound by that Bravo paycheck. Ariana's friends like being a part of Vanderpump Rules more than they’ve ever liked Tom Sandoval.

So if there is nowhere left to go in pushing against Sandoval, the only direction for the storyline to move is against Ariana. She's already depending on the loyalty of some of the most volatile people in the show, James and Lala; not to mention Scheana, the flakiest, most fair-weather friend on the series. Ariana's living situation with Tom is a perfect bellwether for where sentiment towards her is headed, as Lisa Vanderpump openly calls the arrangement "ridiculous." And in the closing moments of the trailer, a fired-up Lala rants, "I have never before experienced somebody who gets cheated on and then becomes God."

Looping back to Aniston and Pattinson, there was a root of misogyny there, buried inside all that sympathy for Jen and Rob: “Those cheating harlots Angelina Jolie and Kristen Stewart couldn't get away with this.” It's another area where Ariana's situation dovetails, as fans and castmates alike have been horrible to Rachel, driving her off of the show, maybe for good. But that worm can turn too. If Vanderpump Rules has a central thesis, it's that women who have cheated with partnered men can redeem themselves. It's benefitted Scheana, Kristen, and even Ariana herself. Don't rule out a Rachel comeback in all of this, as improbable as that all sounds.

Scandoval was the storyline that brought Vanderpump Rules back into relevance. But it's not a dynamic that is set in stone. Ariana was the scorned woman at the center of that storyline. But this is a show with nearly a dozen major cast members, and they're not going to be content being backup singers for Ariana's ballad of betrayal for much longer. It's just a matter of how soon things change.

Vanderpump Rules premieres January 30 at 8:00 PM ET on Bravo. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.