Kristen Doute may have been fired from Vanderpump Rules in June 2020, but she still believes her stock in connection with the show valuable. However, she may have been correct to believe that a peripheral Pump Rules member used the connection with her to get on the show.
Kristen spoke out on her podcast to share her belief that Jo Wenberg used her friendship for clout. Fans will recall how Jo became a staple name as Tom Schwartz’s roommate during Season 10. She didn’t appear on camera, but her name became familiar in passing. And now Kristen is suggesting that Jo worked her way onto the series by befriending the right people. Deep Well Pump
Jo is set to appear in a more central role in Season 11, so it will be interesting to hear if her connection to Kristen is brought up at all.
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During the Sunday, December 24 episode of her podcast, Sex, Love and What Else Matters, Kristen explained, “For you listeners out there that don’t know, Jo was one of my best friends. When I say best friend, I don’t mean that lightly. This girl was my everyday ride-or-die, [and] we literally hung out all the time. Like, six days a week.”
“We stopped talking right around the time she started talking to Tom [Schwartz],” the James Mae T-Shirt founder revealed.
So the ghosting happened after Jo got footing with an actual VPR star. Kristen’s boyfriend, Luke Broderick, shared his perspective on the matter.
“The first time I came to L.A. to see Kristen, Jo was the very first person I met. We went to get lunch and she was talking about moving out of her place [in July 2022]. I didn’t see her again until we crossed paths at TomTom basically the same night Scandoval happened [in March],” he explained.
At the time, Luke revealed that his reality TV girlfriend was upset when Jo cut contact. He added, “Kristen was telling me, ‘She’s not responding and she’s ghosting me.’”
News of Jo’s influence on Tom spread to the ears of his ex-wife, Katie Maloney. The Something About Her co-founder spoke of the connection between Jo and Kristen in no uncertain terms.
“Jo was literally Kristen Doute’s crazy friend. If you’re Kristen Doute’s crazy friend, that says a lot about you,” Katie told cameras during April production.
Jo was perceived as Kristen’s friend, and Kristen was held responsible for introducing Jo to the group. But perhaps Jo did have an agenda. Well, it worked!
Vanderpump Rules Season 11 premieres Tuesday, January 30, at 8/7c on Bravo.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF JO AND KRISTEN’S FRIENDSHIP? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT JO GHOSTED KRISTEN? WAS IS YOUR OPINION OF KATIE’S COMMENTS?
0.5hp JET Water Pump Karolina is a classically trained pianist who branched out into writing as an alternate art form. Her obsession with Bravo based reality TV shows and snarky commentary were deciding factors in this pivot. Karolina covers reality news for TLC's 90 Day Fiance and Darcey & Stacey. In the Bravo realm, it's all about the Real Housewives and Below Deck franchises, as well as Family Karma, Vanderpump Rules, and Dancing Queens. Karolina has been on the Reality Tea news team since 2018.