Ariana Madix Thinks VPR Season 12 Cast Should ‘Do Their Own Thing’

Ariana Madix shared some sage advice for the new cast of Vanderpump Rules about setting themselves apart from those that came before them.

During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly at the 2024 Out100 event, Madix, 39, reacted to Lisa Vanderpump‘s recent comments about how the season 12 newcomers aren’t trying to compete with the original cast.

“That’s great. I completely understand [why] and I also think that it’s encouraging for new cast members to hear that,” Madix explained. “Because I think that it will encourage them to forge their own path and do their own thing.”

Madix hopes the next generation of SURvers to stand out by being themselves, adding, “I think that’s what’s going to make that show successful, and that’s what’s going to make the audience really connect with them as well.”

Earlier this month, Vanderpump hinted at what fans can expect from the season 12 overhaul.

“I think everything we do is going to have a different energy to it,” she teased to E! News. “Not gonna try and compete with the old Vanderpump Rules. It’s just gonna be totally different there. Still, we’ll go back to the premise of the complications of running a restaurant and the staff in it. And that always has a story to tell.”

Vanderpump called working with the former cast “a wonderful experience” but acknowledged it needed to come to an end. “It was time to do something different. Stories were kind of closing up a little bit,” she admitted. “I think people, they weren’t that shocked that we decided to do this now.”

The Vanderpump Rules franchise began as a spinoff of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which Vanderpump starred on from 2010 to 2019. Vanderpump Rules became its own cultural phenomenon as the restaurateur expanded her TV universe with Vanderpump Villa, Vanderpump Dogs and Overserved With Lisa Vanderpump.

Season 11, which aired this year, left Bravo viewers divided on the future of the franchise. The network eventually confirmed in November that Vanderpump Rules is returning with an entirely new cast.

“The last 12 years of filming have been an extraordinary run full of laughter, tears and everything in between,” Vanderpump said in a statement at the time. “I can’t thank enough those who have shared their lives. How I love you all. In the restaurant business, one shift always gives way to another. Cheers to the next generation of Vanderpump Rules.”

Madix, meanwhile, shared an emotional post about her time on the show.

“Vanderpump Rules, you will forever be that girl 💖 I was up til 4am looking for all the right pics and the right words, but there’s no post or caption that could ever encapsulate everything. I am forever grateful to have been a part of such an incredible cultural phenomenon,” she wrote alongside a variety of photos from her 11 seasons on the show. “I’m feeling at peace with closing this chapter and im excited for everything that is to come.”

While adjusting to some major professional changes, Madix appeared at the 2024 Out100 event to celebrate influential LGBTQIA+ individuals who are shaping culture, politics and society.

“It’s incredible. To be a part of this event is really amazing. There’s so many people here that I’m such a huge fan of,” she told Us. “It’s really important and wonderful to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community because there’s things being thrown in the way, so to speak, all the time, and so a night of celebration is really, really wonderful. There’s so many people here who have made such an impact and such a difference over, not just the last year, but always.”

Vanderpump Rules is currently streaming on Peacock. The Out100 special airs on AdvocateChannel.com on Saturday, December 21. The special will also air on OutTV Proud on December 24 at 9:30 p.m. ET and Fuse/Fuse+ on December 26 at 12 p.m ET.

With reporting by Mariel Turner