Lisa Vanderpump is preparing for the start of production on the upcoming ninth season of Vanderpump Rules.
As the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum focuses on the re-openings of her Los Angeles restaurants, which are now at 25 percent capacity, she’s speaking out about when filming on the new episodes will begin and opening up about husband Ken Todd and his contributions, or lack thereof, to her over-the-top dinner parties at their Beverly Hills estate, Villa Rosa.
“We want the restaurant to be back to at least 50 percent capacity before,” Lisa explained to E! News on March 15 of when filming will begin on Pump Rules season nine. “I think a lot of people want that show back because in the restaurant business there’s always a smorgasbord of stories and relationships and there’s a lot of the original cast.”
While many members of the show are returning for the upcoming season, Stassi Schroeder, Kristen Doute, Max Boyens, and Brett Caprioni were fired after season eight due to past racism, and Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright confirmed in December of last year that they too would be missing from the new episodes.
Because Los Angeles restaurants are only allowed to be at 25 percent capacity, Lisa doesn’t yet have plans to reopen TomTom. That said, she re-opened PUMP on Wednesday, and SUR is up and running as well.
“I think we’re moving quickly in the right direction and everybody will be vaccinated in the next few weeks,” Lisa continued.
During a separate interview, Lisa spoke of having to maintain Villa Rosa without help throughout the quarantine.
“I didn’t have anybody here for nine months, so that was a lot of work,” Lisa shared during a recent interview with The Daily Dish. “But I wanted to kind of, you know, tried to keep the standard up for the house. So it was a lot of maintenance, and I did a lot of cooking.”
As Lisa took on the duties of her staff amid the pandemic, Ken didn’t do much of anything, especially when it came to hosting the dinner parties fans will soon be watching on Overserved.
“He doesn’t really have to do anything. He’ll just pour the wine. He probably loves it, because he literally shows up as the guest comes through the door, which, I would imagine, there’s not many husbands that’s like, ‘Let me help you chop the onion.’ No. That’s not gonna happen,” Lisa said. “So, yeah, it’s kind of annoying when he arrives after the guest, comes downstairs after the guest, but, you know, I think every woman can identify with that. But he normally comes down with a puppy in his arms, you know?”
Also during the interview, Lisa gushed over the many celebrity guests of Overserved, including Vivica A. Fox, who she said was “a goddess,” and Kym Whitley, who she described as “very, very funny.”
“We had some great people. Steve-O is hilarious. Jim Jeffries was everything. And Iggy Azalea and Trixie Mattel were, like, on fire. I mean, they were funny,” Lisa said. “Cheryl Hines, Joel McHale, I mean, right, we just had great people and everybody was up for laughs, and I couldn’t have asked for better guests, really.”
Overserved With Lisa Vanderpump premieres tonight, March 18, at 9/8c on the E! Network.
Photo Credit: Jeffrey Mayer/MEGA