'Vanderpump Rules' Without Stassi & Kristen? Andy Cohen Speculates On Season 9

Real Housewives producer Andy Cohen hit up the "Everything Iconic With Danny Pellegrino" podcast on Thursday, November 5, and dropped some knowledge on how Season 9 of Vanderpump Rules is going to shape up, including some commentary on recently dismissed cast members Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute.

“People were really harping on what was real and what was maybe a leap about the last season,” he noted. "I think that what has been so brilliant about Vanderpump Rules and why that show is so hard for all the other people who tried to do it, to replicate it … these people all knew each other for so long and all worked for Lisa for so long....I think they’re going to have real drama built into her reopening this restaurant after a pandemic.”

Lisa Vanderpump was forced to close her West Hollywood, Calif., restaurant, SUR, for six months due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to SUR’s website, they were “back and open for dine-in service” beginning on September 23.

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“I actually think in an odd way that’s going to create a lot of story that is absolutely real, and they’ll be able to lean into it," Cohen noted.

As for Schroeder and Doute, who were fired for past racially insensitive comments amid the Black Lives Matter movement earlier this year? "Frankly, Stassi and Kristen didn’t work there anymore,” Cohen said. “And they’re both brilliant characters on television. I think it will be interesting to see whose there and whose not and what’s really happening. I think they’ll have a better time doing that.”

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Schroeder spoke to talk show host Tamron Hall in September, admitting that she “messed up” in her past.

“I felt like it would be better for me to take the time to get a greater understanding of everything and the issues before I opened my mouth again,” the 32-year-old explained on why she had kept quiet on her firing from VPR. “I am the reason why I am in this situation. I think a lot of people wanted me to focus on cancel culture and whether I was a victim or not but it’s not how I feel at all.”