This season on Vanderpump Rules, there’s been a lot going on. With a whopping 16 full-time cast members, there are a lot of storylines to follow, and we’ve seen main players like Jax and Kristen cut out of entire episodes. But even with so many balls to juggle, many of us have noticed that the editors always find time to make Scheana look like a clown. From driving home her boy crazy tendencies, to making a punchline out of her egg freezing process, even to implying that she likes teenage boys, it’s all felt a little unfair.
But no matter how much it seemed like the editors had some kind of problem with Scheana, I never thought that my suspicions would actually be confirmed. But recently, Vanderpump Rules editor Bri Dellinger appeared on the Twisted Plot Podcast, and she offered a shocking look behind the curtain of the show we all love to hate. Long story short, our suspicions about Scheana’s edit couldn’t have been more correct.
When asked about Scheana’s edit on the podcast, Dellinger said “If Scheana knows what’s good for her, she’d befriend me because my favorite game is finding all the embarrassing things that Scheana does and putting them all in.” Yeah, we’ve noticed. While I’ve never been an editor on a TV show before, this feels deeply unprofessional. Editing these shows is a complex job—the editors work behind the scenes to structure storylines and cut down hours and hours of footage into neat, 42-minute episodes—but basing your editing decisions on which cast members have kissed your ass more? Nah, that’s not right.
Based on Dellinger’s comments, this seems like more of a personal game than a basic editing decision. She joked on the podcast that the title of Scheana’s memoir should be Death By A Million Embarrassments, because of all her cringeworthy moments that have been shown on the show. It’s one thing to make her look a certain way on the show, but that’s just rude. Let’s be honest, Scheana can make herself look silly and desperate all on her own (she’s admitted that some of her behavior is cringey), and the relentless montages of her worst moments just feel like overkill at this point.
But aside from Dellinger’s whole vibe toward Scheana seeming petty, she spoke about one situation that I actually find quite disturbing. At Stassi and Beau’s engagement party a few episodes ago, we saw Scheana chatting with Stassi’s teenage brother Nikolai. Scheana was teasing him about his love life, and then we saw an interview clip of Scheana talking about how young she would date. The clear intention was to make it look like Scheana was flirting with Nikolai, who is a literal child. I immediately felt uncomfortable, and like this was somehow manipulated.
Noooooo. Last summer there was a 21 year old (and looked way older) who i met at a bar and we went hung a few times. That’s why I said that. Had ZERO to do w Nikolai. That kid is like a little bro to me. https://t.co/jQdOMaNdQe
— 🏳️🌈Scheana (@scheana) May 4, 2020
Scheana felt the same way, and voiced her frustration on Twitter. Whether you like Scheana or not, it’s pretty sh*tty for your employer to joke that you’re a pedophile, don’t you think? Scheana clarified that the interview was taken completely out of context, and she was never even talking about Nikolai. She said that he’s “like a little bro” to her, and Stassi also clarified that she never thought anything inappropriate was going on.
Girl, you were harmless. And watching that scene had me rolling. Whoever’s saying it’s inappropriate is a weirdo. @scheana https://t.co/EFzbU4bmC3
— Stassi Schroeder (@stassi) May 4, 2020
So who was responsible for this uncomfortable joke at Scheana’s expense? Yeah, you guessed it. Dellinger called the moment “so funny,” saying that “We were watching the scene and were like, ‘Okay, this is over the top, I realize that, but how can we resist?’ … Yes, I set it to funny music and I added a funny [sound] bite, but she did that.” I’m sorry, she did what? Made playful small talk with a kid she’s known for half his life? Without the (out of context) sound bite, that moment probably wouldn’t have even made the final cut, so it’s weird for Dellinger to act like she didn’t do anything here.
It probably seems like I’m a ride or die for Scheana, but honestly, I don’t really care one way or the other. All of these people are flawed, and seeing their negative traits is a big part of what makes the show so watchable. But it’s less fun when you know that the whole show has been manufactured to make one person look bad—it’s unnecessary, and the show would probably feel more authentic if the entire cast was given an equal opportunity to look bad.
Of course, I’m not naive enough to think that any of these shows are being shown without any kind of guiding hand from the producers and editors. In her interview, Dellinger also shared that this season, Bravo decided that Stassi and Beau are the “special heroes” of the show, which explains why their relationship has been heavily featured, and mostly shown in a positive light this season. This kind of storyline decision is to be expected, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of someone else who’s equally earned respect on this show.
Clearly, the powers that be at Bravo aren’t thrilled with us having this information. The second I heard about the details of this interview, I assumed there was some breach of confidentiality on Dellinger’s part, and it didn’t take long for the hammer to come down. The podcast episode containing the interview was deleted, along with Scheana’s tweet at Andy Cohen claiming that she had tea. As for Bri Dellinger, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s no longer an editor next season, because this is definitely not the kind of tea that’s ever supposed to become public.
And while I have a deep love for reality TV (listen to my Bravo podcast LOL), even I would honestly prefer not to see how the sausage is made. It’s fun hearing about what production pays for, or who’s a pain in the ass to work with—I don’t need to know about the minutiae of the editing process. But when we can all tell the editing is biased against one person, that’s a problem. #JusticeForScheana!
Images: DFree / Shutterstock.com; Scheana, stassi / Twitter
