Vanderpump Rules scrapped its entire cast going into Season 12 after Bravo bosses felt the deep division among the existing cast threatened the reality TV show’s future.
Whilst cast members like Jax Taylor, Katie Maloney, and Scheana Shay appeared on numerous seasons of the Bravo show, some people were short-lived as cast members. Some ex-cast members decided reality TV was not for them, while others were fired for their off-screen behavior.
Bravo announced in November 2024 that the entire cast of the Emmy-nominated show had been fired in favor of a “new group of close-knit SUR-vers.” Over the years, Vanderpump Rules has had its fair share of cast members and introduced the world to the likes of Lala Kent, Ariana Madix, and Tom Sandoval.
Dayna Kathan
Dayna Kathan only appeared on one season of Vanderpump Rules as a main cast member but chose not to return for Season 9. She made an impact in her short time on the show, inviting the cast to watch her stand-up comedy sets. She explained she only joined the show to boost her comedy career, but reality TV was not for her.
| Vanderpump Rules Cast Member | Seasons |
| Dayna Kathan | 8 |
Following one season as a full-time cast member on the show, the comedian announced in April 2021 to E! News that she wouldn’t return for Season 9. “It was a tough decision for me but ultimately the right one,” she said in an April 2021 statement. I’m grateful for the experience and wish everyone on the show all the best!”
On an episode of Scheana Shay’s Shenanigans podcast in July 2023, Dayna admitted she had returned to her corporate career. “I had no intentions of being on television.”
I did not come to Los Angeles being like ‘I wanna be on a reality TV show.’ That was not it. It truly found me and so I ended up going with it though ’cause I was doing stand-up comedy at the time and I had been doing this really serious health care sales career my whole adult life.
Dayna explained in an episode of The Viall Files podcast that she returned to Season 11 to film “a bit” but struggled with it. “I had a full-blown screaming, crying panic attack and I didn’t realize [it at the time],” she said. Despite her struggles with reality TV, she continues to socialize and podcast with Katie Maloney and Ariana Madix.
Max Boyens
ScreenRant reported that Max Boyens was a general manager when he appeared in Season 8 of Vanderpump Rules (having made a brief cameo in the previous series). He quickly became the restaurant’s heartthrob, with both Dayna Kathan and Charlie Burnett wanting to date him.
| Vanderpump Rules Cast Member | Seasons |
| Max Boyens | 8 |
Max was dismissed from the Bravo show following a 2020 racism scandal. Bravo confirmed to Life & Style in June 2020 that he was fired from the show after Twitter posts from 2012, in which Max had used racial slurs on multiple occasions, resurfaced on social media.
“I want to sincerely apologize for what I tweeted in 2012 — it was wrong on every level,” he shared in a statement at the time. “It is not a representation of who I am. I am shocked I ever tweeted that and I am disgusted and embarrassed. I am truly sorry.”
He later complained about his treatment on the reality TV show. In an episode of The Up and Adam! podcast, Max felt he was not paid enough. He explained he was paid a flat rate rather than being paid per episode. “It was $4,000 [or] something. It was around $4,000 and they also pay it to you in increments.”
Max continued to work at Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz’s bar, TomTom, after he was fired from Vanderpump Rules, but later accused Ken Todd of not paying him, per Collider. The former reality star claimed that he had to hire a lawyer in order to secure the $8,000 that his former employer owed him.
Brett Caprioni
Brett Caprioni also lost his job on Vanderpump Rules due to his social media behavior. In the eighth season of the reality show, he appeared as a SUR waiter and Lisa Vanderpump’s personal trainer.
According to PEOPLE, he was fired after tweeting racial slurs multiple times and the hashtag “#WomenSuck.”
| Vanderpump Rules Cast Member | Seasons |
| Brett Caprion | 8 |
During the Season 8 reunion, the only one he would appear on, he apologized for his past comments and claimed, “I’m doing my best to move forward and be the best person I can be, and try to emulate [sic] that to everybody else.”
TMZ reported that Max and Brett’s screen time on Vanderpump Rules was edited down when their social media path was unearthed.
Danica Dow
Season 8 was filled with one-season wonders, including Danica Dow (she briefly was a guest in Season 7). The assistant manager of SUR was in a toxic relationship with bartender Brett Willis. Danica allegedly pushed Willis at work, and was suspended for two weeks, according to Nikki Swift.
| Vanderpump Rules Cast Member | Seasons |
| Danica Dow | 8 |
Although it was never explained why Danica never returned for Season 9, many presume it was due to her relationship with Brett. According to E! News, she was granted a temporary restraining order against her former partner in August 2020 after getting into a fight with him at a party. She claimed he was threatening and stalking her, but according to a report in The Blast, he filed legal documents claiming she was the violent party.
Laura-Leigh
Laura-Leigh infamously left SUR in season 1 of Vanderpump Rulesafter booking a role in We’re The Millers alongside Jennifer Aniston. She is in more of the most memorable scenes after a pre-Brittany Jax Taylor dumped her despite claiming to not be in a relationship with her.
| Vanderpump Rules Cast Member | Season |
| Laura-Leigh | 1 |
“A huge movie with Jennifer Aniston. I’m playing opposite of her and I fly out tonight at 10 p.m. and go shoot in North Carolina,” Laura-Leigh explained on camera.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s real,” she added. “I used to watch [Jennifer Aniston’s] E! True Hollywood Story at home, like on my couch in Arkansas, and be like, ‘I can do that.’”
- She went on to have a successful acting career and never returned to reality television.
Some of Laura-Leigh’s most noticeable roles include:
- Under The Silver Lake alongside Andrew Garfield
- A regular in Season 2 of The Client List
- Blue Bloods
- Tooken alongside Margaret Cho
Vail Bloom
Former Young and the Restless actress Vail Bloom made a short-lived appearance on Vanderpump Rules, working as a server in Season 3, as reported by ScreenRant. In her one-season appearance, she flirted with Jax Taylor and dated Peter Madrigal.
| Vanderpump Rules Cast Member | Season |
| Vail Bloom | 3 |
Vail has never publicly explained the reasons behind her departure from the show but admitted in a February 2023 interview with SoapHub that she “got out of there as soon as possible.”
“My experience on the show was fine,” the soap actress told the outlet. “I had no idea how many people watched reality TV. A friend of mine from Princeton was one of the show’s producers. He said, ‘You’re hanging out here [at Lisa’s restaurant] anyway.’”
