Vanderpump Rules Moments That Made Fans Gasp

If you've ever seen even just one episode of "Vanderpump Rules" then you know the Bravo series is filled with tons of drama and more than its fair share of jaw-dropping moments. Since its premiere in 2013 as a spin-off of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," the show has chronicled the lives of friends (or more accurately, frenemies) who have worked at SUR, the bar/restaurant owned by former "Housewife" Lisa Vanderpump. Season 1 introduced series regulars Stassi Schroeder, Jax Taylor, Katie Maloney, Tom Sandoval, Kristen Doute, Tom Schwartz, and Scheana Shay. They were eventually then joined by Ariana Madix, James Kennedy, Lala Kent, Brittany Cartwright, and Raquel Leviss in later seasons.

Although Schroeder, Doute, Taylor, and Cartwright were eventually let go by Bravo, the series has continued on without them even if most of the original cast has moved on from their jobs at SUR as well. In fact, the remaining crew filmed its 10th season in 2022, proving that they were nowhere near out of drama despite all the changes. Kent told People, "It's going to be absolutely insane. And without giving away too much, I feel like with everything that happened, and cast members who have exited, we finally have our footing again."

While "Vanderpump Rules" may still have an exciting future ahead, we can't forget the crazy moments from the past that made the show what it is today. So let's break down those wild moments over the years that literally made fans of the reality series gasp.

One of the first "WTF" moments on "Vanderpump Rules" happened during Season 1, when the cast went to Vegas to celebrate Stassi Schroeder's 24th birthday. Fans have come to learn that Schroeder takes her birthdays very seriously, and that year was no different. What made things more interesting was that Schroeder had been on the outs with then-boyfriend Jax Taylor at the time, so she took another bartender named Frank as her date instead. Taylor still showed up to the bar where they were celebrating, though, which led to a huge fight breaking out among the group.

While drinks were spilled on Schroeder and Tom Schwartz inside, it was outside the bar where a more intense brawl erupted with Taylor and Tom Sandoval going after Frank. When it came to how things turned physical with Frank, Taylor later told a Bravo blog, "I think I initiated it with my comments and my outburst. Although, he did say something to me when I walked in and that kind of fueled me." Sandoval gave his take too, explaining, "I had so much pent up anger towards Frank and felt so betrayed. Once we started arguing it escalated quickly."

The production crew stopped the fight but not before Sandoval, Taylor, and Frank had all strangely removed their shirts and sweaters. When asked about it, Sandoval later joked, "I took my shirt off because it was really hot in Vegas, and also to show off my great tan." He then added, "Not my proudest moment."

Jax Taylor was clearly a main source of drama during the first season of "Vanderpump Rules," which is why it's no surprise he ended Season 1 with another jaw-dropping moment. That's because, despite denying it for literally the entire season, Taylor finally admitted to his former girlfriend, Stassi Schroeder, that he had cheated on her during a trip to Vegas by getting another woman pregnant. When it came to that other woman, Taylor even revealed in the confessional, per Radar, "I sent her some money and never heard from her again."

In true "VPR" fashion, Taylor's confession was heavy on the dramatics, with him sitting Schroeder down at SUR after quitting his job there. While Schroeder couldn't have been shocked, she still didn't take it well, telling Taylor, "You spent the last two months lying to me, lying to my best friends, bashing them when they were just helping me ... when you were the piece of s*** the entire time." She was also upset with how it impacted her friendships, adding, "I lost my friends for months because they believed you."

According to Daily Mail, in a later special episode of "Vanderpump Rules Uncensored," Taylor revealed that he finally decided to own up to his cheating because he felt the fans of the show should know the truth about him and his issues with sex. He admitted, "If there would have been a hole in the wall I would probably try to have sex with it."

It was hard not to gasp when Stassi Schroeder slapped her then-bestie Kristen Doute across the face after she lied about sleeping with Jax Taylor when Schroeder was dating him. It seems Taylor had once again started the drama by telling Schroeder that he had slept with Doute twice, once while Doute's then-boyfriend Tom Sandoval was asleep nearby. This of course led Schroeder to call Doute out in front of Taylor and Sandoval, yet Doute denied the hookup. She then began cursing at Schroeder in return, which resulted in Schroeder backhanding Doute, marking one of the most infamous moments in the show's history. The Reality TV Guru even tweeted, "I was so so so shook when this aired live the slap Heard round the world."

Doute later admitted to sleeping with Taylor, and said on that season's reunion episode that she deserved to be slapped by Schroeder. She even told Schroeder in tears, "Stassi, I'm sorry. I know it's not good enough." While Schroeder acknowledged that slapping her wasn't right, she did point out to Doute, "I go back and forth between knowing that it's wrong ... but then just feeling like you did so much worse. You destroyed everything."

However, looking back on the slap much later, Schroeder told "Hollywood Life" that she was embarrassed by the whole thing because she let her emotions get the best of her. She explained, "I do not condone violence ... my brain was not connected to my hand ... I do not know what to say."

Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney's relationship clearly had its fair share of drama, but "Vanderpump Rules" fans were still pretty surprised that Schwartz would pour a drink on his then-girlfriend's head. That did happen, though, when the cast went to Mexico for Stassi Schroeder's birthday during Season 2. According to People, Schwartz and Maloney had been fighting over him and Scheana Shay saying Maloney had a drinking problem. That then led to Schwartz and Maloney screaming at each other in the street with plenty of cursing. But the worst part seemed to be when he poured his beer on her head while saying, "F*** off, man."

In the show's confessional, Schwartz later revealed, "I sort of snapped." Maloney was visibly upset, explaining to her friends in another scene what he would have to do for her to forgive him. She even dished, "He better be on his knees like licking my toes." However, when looking back at the incident, Maloney told Bravo that she did eventually get her revenge, saying, "I punished him by withholding his back rubs and head rubs."

Schwartz has since apologized and often, revealing on "Watch What Happens Live," "I have thoroughly. I do on a weekly basis." But if you watched "VPR" over the years, then you know that this particular incident wasn't the last time that the former couple had drama. 

It's safe to say that Kristen Doute was not happy when her ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval moved on with fellow bartender Ariana Madix, since she was apparently obsessed with proving that he cheated on Madix. Doute went as far as to meet up with a woman who claimed to have slept with Sandoval when he was in Miami so they could plan a confrontation with him and Madix at SUR. Doute explained, per Reality Tea, "I know that I'm broken up with Tom ... and I know that it's probably none of my damn business, but I made it my business."

For Doute, it was apparently more important for her to prove that Sandoval was a liar than it was for her to not look, well, kind of unhinged. The confrontation didn't seem to go as planned either, since Madix and Sandoval ended up just leaving together. Yet Doute was still pleased, going on "Vanderpump Rules After Show" to say, "You're confronted by the girl you slept with who lives on the other side of the country ... and he just like bolts, I mean guilty as charged."

Sandoval, for his part, has denied ever hooking up with the woman now known as "Miami Girl." He expressed his to Us Weekly, saying, "I can, like, make up something about anybody and then end up on our show?" Madix said she would have done things differently, dishing, "I do regret, I guess just not fully calling out the whole real story, like on camera and staying there."

While the whole "Miami Girl" moment was super entertaining in itself, what happened after that was just as over-the-top, as Scheana Shay confronted Kristen Doute for bringing that woman to SUR when she was smoking on the patio. That unsurprisingly turned into a full-on screaming match between them, since Shay didn't like Doute getting involved with her friend Ariana Madix's relationship. All that chaos got the attention of the restaurant's manager, Diana ​​Dacheva, who told Doute she needed to stop yelling and leave. Doute apparently didn't take that well, responding, "Diana, f****** walk away now. Move your a**," before adding, "Suck a d***."

Fans were seemingly flabbergasted that Doute would speak to her boss that way, as was one of the restaurant's owners Lisa Vanderpump, who later called Doute out on it. Doute refused to apologize at the time, and instead blamed "Miami Girl." She claimed, "It wasn't my fault that that girl came in and that's what happened and that's why the drama started ... I'm not taking blame for this." Vanderpump didn't buy that, and fired Doute on the spot.

Although Doute later told E! that she was ready to leave SUR anyway, she revealed that she really did feel bad for what she said to Dacheva. "I apologized to her profusely, both as my friend and as my manager," she said, adding, "I knew I was completely out of line and reacted impulsively toward her that day."

If you thought Kristen Doute's relationship with Tom Sandoval was messy, then you'll really be shocked by her romance with James Kennedy, since many of their explosive fights on "Vanderpump Rules" left fans with their jaws on the floor. One of the more shocking ones happened during Scheana Shay's wedding to Mike Shay, when according to Bustle, Doute decided to leave early because she felt Kennedy was drinking too much. Kennedy seemingly didn't want to let that happen and followed Doute out into the parking lot, where he found her standing with her trainer.

It was in the parking lot where things escalated, with a drunken Kennedy getting in Doute and her trainer's face. Kennedy even told Doute, "You're f****** unmanageable, babe." He continued, "That's why you're 31 and you're never going to f****** find a guy to marry you." While it appeared that Doute did try to walk away, Kennedy continued to follow her, which led to Doute punching him in the face ... twice.

Doute later told Hollywood Life that she wasn't proud she resorted to violence. However, she did say, "What I do defend is the fact that it wasn't at the wedding ... James was clearly intoxicated and I was really just trying to get away from it." She went on to say that Kennedy was harassing her way longer than was shown on TV, adding, "James wouldn't let me walk away ... [he was] a little too aggressive for me and that's what made me snap."

It seems Scheana Shay's Season 3 wedding was full of drama for the "Vanderpump Rules" cast, particularly when Katie Maloney got very emotional after her then-boyfriend Tom Schwartz gifted her a "ring on a string." Viewers watched thinking a proposal was about to happen, but then saw the look of disappointment on Maloney's face when it turned out to be a ring necklace instead. She later wrote on Bravo's website why she was so upset, dishing, "In conversations past, Tom and I talked about the idea of wearing rings on a necklace. I scoffed at the idea, as I thought it defeats the purpose and sentiment of a ring."

Maloney made her disappointment clear to Schwartz by telling him that isn't what a woman pushing 30 wants. She then discussed it with her boss, Lisa Vanderpump, who worried that Maloney was settling since Schwartz wasn't giving her what she wanted. Maloney even wrote on her blog, "I felt like it was a pacifier without really having to make commitments ... I had been so patient and understanding with Tom, but did this all come with cost?"

Schwartz later defended the gift on the "Vanderpump Rules After Show," despite Jax Taylor and Tom Sandoval ribbing him for giving his girlfriend a fake engagement ring at someone else's wedding. Yet Schwartz dished, "I went in there ... with sincere intentions. I thought it was cute. I put a lot of thought into it ... it said 'Bubba' on it."

It appears that many "Vanderpump Rules" fans were stunned when Scheana Shay asked her then-husband Mike Shay for a divorce, since they had seemed to be in a good place. You could say Scheana was surprised herself, with her telling E!, "In the beginning of 2016, everything was genuinely good. Then the cameras turned on again, and then he changed." She went on to explain, "Other people around me had noticed a change in his behavior. I was either oblivious to it or I just didn't want to believe what I was seeing." That change was apparently caused by Shay abusing pills again, which fans got an insight into when Scheana opened up to her boss, Lisa Vanderpump, about it.

Vanderpump seemingly pointed out what Scheana already knew, which was that Shay had been hiding his drug problem from her. He had apparently cleared her bank account, too, which had made things even worse. Fans then watched as Scheana sat Shay down and asked him for a divorce through both of their tears. She explained, "This relationship needs to be done on paper ... I know divorces aren't easy and it's not something that I ever wanted."

Scheana later revealed to E! that Shay continuing to lie was the final straw. She dished, "The second I found out he was still lying to me — and had been for six to eight months — I was done." She continued, "I couldn't ever move forward with him when so much trust had been broken."

While it probably wasn't astonishing that Jax Taylor eventually got himself arrested, it was how it all went down that was pretty jarring, since it happened when the "Vanderpump Rules" cast took a trip to Hawaii. The episode didn't show the moment Taylor was taken into custody for stealing sunglasses from a store, but his then-girlfriend (now wife) Brittany Cartwright later broke the news to the others on camera. She explained (via Bustle), "He told me that it was for a felony charge and it was still under investigation."

If you can't understand why Taylor stole sunglasses, neither could the rest of the cast — at that point in his TV career, he presumably had enough money to pay for them. Taylor told Cartwright the next day it was because he was drunk. According to The Daily Mail, he even reiterated that to the judge when he went to court, saying, "I had too many drinks, too many mai tais." He added, "I made a mistake, took full responsibility and I understand this is going to follow me the rest of my life due to the fact that I'm on television."

Although the incident had to be embarrassing for Taylor, he revealed to The Daily Dish that some good came out of it, because it had humbled him. He admitted, "I kind of needed to be knocked down a little bit. The Hawaii thing was a perfect example — my ego was getting a little out of control." 

Lisa Vanderpump's husband Ken Todd may not get that much screen time on "Vanderpump Rules," but that doesn't mean he's never had his own memorable moment on the show. We're talking about the time he threatened James Kennedy after Vanderpump fired him from SUR for his bad behavior. According to E!, Kennedy had been taking shots at the bar during his shift before he made the wrong decision to confront Vanderpump and Todd outside the restaurant.

It was then that fans got to watch Todd and Vanderpump scold Kennedy for being drunk at SUR. While Kennedy initially denied it, he then began crying. He even blamed Vanderpump, saying, "Lisa, stop, he's going to get mad at me ... Ken scares the s*** out of me." That fear turned out to be justified, since once Kennedy began raising his voice and swearing at Vanderpump, Todd famously yelled back at him, "You little f***er. I'll knock you spark out."

It seems that Todd wasn't just upset that Kennedy was yelling at his wife, but was probably also concerned with how Kennedy's behavior was impacting his restaurant business, as a part owner of SUR. Todd had his own personal relationship with Kennedy as well — per The Things, he was the DJ's music manager. Todd had reportedly been close with Kennedy's father, which is why the couple appears to have a soft spot for him even if they occasionally need to put him in his place.

If you think Jax Taylor only cheated on Stassi Schroeder, think again. He also did it to his next serious girlfriend, who's now his wife, Brittany Cartwright. It seemed that Taylor had really changed for Cartwright, which is why it was dumbfounding when he admitted to cheating on her with Faith Stowers. Cartwright had asked him flat out during an episode of "Vanderpump Rules" if they'd had sex. Taylor then tried to justify it, telling her, "It was when we were going through bad times. It was about what was going on in our relationship." Cartwright was, of course, devastated, telling him, "I would never do that to you ... I hope it was worth it."

Taylor later revealed in the show's confessional what led him to actually tell Cartwright the truth. "This isn't my first time being caught cheating," he explained, seemingly referring to the incident with Schroeder. "In the past, I've gone through months and months of deny, deny, deny, and that didn't work for me." It was also something he apparently didn't think he'd have to deal with, considering that he said that he didn't think Stowers was going to rat him out.

Eventually, Taylor did show some remorse for his actions, telling Us Weekly, "I really really really regret what I did. It was just a huge mistake that we are actually working out right now." They presumably did work it out, because they went on to tie the knot two years later.

Jax Taylor wasn't the only cheater in the "Vanderpump Rules" cast. Tom Schwartz had a few slip ups of his own when he was with his now ex-wife Katie Maloney. The first had happened before they were married when he went to Las Vegas with Taylor. According to Hollywood Life, a rumor had started among the group that Schwartz had slept with Taylor's then-girlfriend's best friend there. When Taylor later threatened to spill the beans, Schwartz decided to come clean to Maloney on camera.

While Schwartz admitted to cheating, he insisted that he and the girl in question had only made out. He explained, "It was sleazy and it was gross. I was s***faced. I didn't even really remember. I had to call the next day and ask her." Schwartz did try to defend himself by saying that he had doubts about their relationship at the time. But Maloney wasn't having it, dishing in the confessional, "I can't believe he lied to me."

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only time Schwartz couldn't keep his lips to himself, considering that Lala Kent dropped another bomb after they were married. In a 2018 episode, she revealed to Ariana Madix and Scheana Shay that he had hooked up with one of her friends. "They made out, he was touchy feely," she said, per Radar. Schwartz owned up to that one too, but had no memory of it. He told Us Weekly, "Knowing that I hurt someone I love so much, it's really embarrassing."

It can probably be said that no "Vanderpump Rules" fan expected James Kennedy and Lala Kent to get into an explosive argument over pasta, but that's sort of what happened during Season 6. It all started when Kent joked about eating the pasta Kennedy's then-girlfriend Raquel Leviss had ordered at one of his DJ gigs. That apparently set off Kennedy, since he then told Kent, "You've always been a b**** to Raquel." He even added another jab, saying, "Honey, you f*** the fat man because he pays for your rent," referring to her boyfriend at the time, Randall Emmett.

If that wasn't enough to make fans gulp, Kennedy then followed Kent outside after she stormed off. He then rattled off one of the show's most famous soliloquies, stating, "Why is it about the damn pasta? Get over the damn pasta! Read between the f***ing lines! It ain't about the pasta! It's not about the pasta! ... It's not about the pasta."

While Kennedy insisted in the confessional that the fight was caused by Kent not respecting his girlfriend, there were other interpretations. In fact, there was a rumor (via Watch What Happens Live) that pasta was a codeword for cocaine. But Kent explained on Jenny McCarthy's Sirius XM show, "It was legitimately pasta," adding, "I'm not a drug person, so I was actually very offended." Regardless, this was one of the many moments that left fans shook, and hopefully the future seasons of "VPR" will be just as entertaining.