The Vanderpump Rules Premiere Had It All: A Love Triangle, New Cast Members, And Lots Of Drama

The Vanderpump Rules premiere introduced a handful of the new cast members — and a love triangle

It’s finally back: Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules. Season 8. And the reality TV show about the lives of everyone’s favorite group of dysfunctional SURvers, former and current, had it all: forced drama, seemingly legit drama, and even more drama escalated by alcohol, of course.

The first quarter of the show was basically a recap of things we (or, fans who borderline obsessively follow all of the cast members on Instagram) already knew: Raquel Leviss now works at Sur, Scheana “I’m divorced, but it doesn’t define me” Shay and Jax “Someone has to pay for this wedding” Taylor still work at Sur…

… Stassi Schroeder is a New York Time’s best-selling author for her 2019 book, Next Level Basic: The Definitive Basic Bitch Handbook…

… most of the original cast purchased homes in the Valley, including Kristen Doute, Katie Maloney-Schwartz and husband Tom Schwartz, Brittany and Jax, and Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix…

… Vanderpump Rules matriarch, Lisa Vanderpump, opened a new restaurant in Las Vegas last year called Vanderpump Cocktail Garden, Lala Kent is now seven months sober, and there’s been tension between two sets of groups within the OG Vanderpump crew for months: Jax versus Sandoval, and Kristen versus Stassi and Katie.

But what we didn’t know from merely following the lives of the Vanderpump Rules cast — both new and OG — is why the aforementioned cast members were at odds. Even avid listeners of Stassi’s podcast Straight Up With Stassi and attendees of her podcast tour endlessly badgered her during fan Q&As to explain exactly what went down with Kristen. But, of course, she couldn’t divulge.

But let’s start with Jax and Sandoval.

A tale of two feuds

During the premiere, we learn that Jax and Sandoval had a bit of beef leading up to filming and ahead of Jax and Brittany’s wedding. Jax explains he demoted Sandoval from best man to groomsman.

Then, we find out when Jax and Brittany purchased the literal same house as Sandoval and Ariana, Sandoval saw it as a “one-upping” move on Jax’s part.

We then begin to learn a bit more about why Stassi and now-former BFF Kristen are also at odds. By the sounds of it, Kristen didn’t show much, if any, support for Stassi’s successes — notably the success of her debut book. On top of that, Stassi reveals that she felt Kristen wasn’t being honest with her friends about the details behind her breakup/relationship with ex(?), Carter Brian. And, according to Stassi, Carter was still living with Kristen — and they continued to hook up — after they said they broke up. It’s messy.

“We’ve had our fair share of ups and downs, but this feels different,” Stassi says, adding that she doesn’t she think the person she’s growing into can be friends with Kristin moving forward. “I just really hope we can get to an honest place.”

But not everyone agrees with Stassi and Katie’s feelings toward Kristen. In fact, some think they’re not being supportive of Kristen.

The housewarming party heard throughout the Valley

Fast-forward to Katie and Schwartz’s housewarming party, and Max is spotted running his mouth about Scheana to other V-Pump newbie, Brett Caprioni, who also hooked up with Scheana and revealed during a talking head that she wasn’t a good kisser.

“With Scheana, I think we all know she’s a little boy crazy,” Max says to Brett, with a Katie not-so-subtly eavesdropping literally steps away. “I then made the mistake of hanging out all the time, every day. But then I realized, this is a lot.”

Katie tells Scheana, who takes no time at all to confront Max. She begins to cry and says she’s “not crazy.”

Wait, there’s already a love triangle?

It’s the relationship between new cast members Dayna Kathan, a SURver, and Max Boyen, TomTom general manager, that’s really caught our attention, though — and not necessarily in a good way. For one, do we really need a love triangle on Episode 1 of this season, particularly one that includes Scheana? Plus, we smell a couple cast members trying their damn hardest to secure their next-season spots… if there is one, at least. And, yes, we remember you had brief screen time last season, Dayna.

According to Max, though, he and the new cast members didn’t concoct a storyline before they began filming.

“Figuring out what’s your storyline going to be, or how are you going to be interesting to people that don’t know you — you don’t think about that, it just happens,” Max tells People. “You just keep filming and filming, and over the course of time, you see it’s all on camera, and you’re like, ‘Wow, I don’t even remember when we were in this situation thinking about that.'”

Sure, Jan.

Max adds that they’re “genuine” in how they react on-camera, too.

“We’re all doing this because we have bills to pay and we have to come to work. This is really what we do. We work for Lisa Vanderpump, we work in her establishment and we work hard. And then outside of that, we have our issues and we have our problems or we don’t, and we have fun. And you guys get to see that,” he says.

They do admit, however, that filming alongside the reality TV veterans was “surreal.”

“They’re just such a tight-knit group,” Dayna says of the original cast. “So, it was us all getting to know each other and them — and it just happened on-camera. It was a weird dynamic from that perspective.”

Lala versus Kristin versus Katie

Finally, we round out the episode with a good, old-fashioned fight, one that starts with Lala and Kristen arguing, and ends with a Katie call-out.

“I’m tired of talking about what an amazing friend you are and that is bullshit! Get over yourself!” Katie yells at Kristen.

And that’s the gist of the Vanderpump Rules premiere, folks. What a start to a season full of love (triangles), marriage, and someone getting arrested. Now excuse us while we make a trip to Costco to restock on Vanderpump Rose. (You’re welcome, Lisa!)