Lala Kent and Katie Maloney think Raquel Leviss should have returned to film Season 11 of “Vanderpump Rules” and would’ve been open to filming with her after Scandoval.
“I thought that she needed to come back to the group after dust had settled and people were willing to hear her out, make her amends in a calmer setting and then ride off into the distance,” Kent told Pvnew at the “Vanderpump Rules” Season 11 premiere Wednesday.
Kent explained that if Leviss had given filming another shot, “it would’ve added an element of some sort of closure” after Leviss’ months-long affair with Tom Sandoval blew up last season.
“I wish that she would’ve come back,” Kent said. “No one’s gonna care about Scandoval forever. This is gonna like at some point fizzle out, and then what do you go and do?”
The “Give Them Lala” podcast host admitted that the season would have been “different than she [Leviss] thought it would be,” because not everyone is on a level “100” like they were at the explosive Season 10 reunion.
Kent, 33, said that she is one of those people who had calmed down and would’ve been open to an honest conversation with Leviss –– as long as Leviss apologized for calling her a “mistress” the year prior.
Meanwhile, Maloney, 37, agreed with Kent’s sentiment and teased that she was more open to filming with Leviss “than someone else.”
“I don’t think anyone was like, ‘Dang I wish Rachel was here,’ but I think given everything that had went down, I think now that she’s got a podcast I think it would’ve been good,” Maloney explained.
Maloney thinks that Leviss “should’ve just come back” to give a round of apologies, and then “no one would’ve been upset if she came back.”
“She had just as much as a place to come back as anyone else did,” Maloney continued. “As much as Sandoval had a place to come back, as much as anyone did.
“I think if she was gonna eventually wanna tell her side or speak her peace, she should’ve just come and done that on the show,” Maloney concluded.
Leviss ultimately confirmed in August that she wasn’t returning to the show following the scandal.
“I refuse to not respect myself on that level where I would endure that emotional abuse any longer. I can’t do that to myself,” she explained on Bethenny Frankel’s “Just B” podcast at the time.
Leviss has since been slowly starting to talk about Scandoval on her new podcast, while the rest of the cast –– including Sandoval –– returned to hash out the drama on the upcoming season.
Season 11 of “Vanderpump Rules” premieres Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
