Reality TV is ultimately transactional. Producers promise viewers a certain level of drama, which is usually slightly amped up with each new episode. In return, viewers promise to keep tuning in, turning a blind eye to the exaggeration of certain narratives. Each season sets new expectations, so if fresh material fails to deliver, viewers could begin to feel cheated.

Vanderpump isn’t the only reality show to potentially run empty after a major scandal. In the second season of The Kardashians, Khloé Kardashian revealed her ex-partner Tristan Thompson conceived a baby with another woman while they were involved. The news stunned audiences, especially since Thompson had been accused of cheating on the reality star multiple times before. Since then, the show has struggled to generate tension. Despite the family experiencing genuinely complex issues, such as Kim Kardashian’s divorce from rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West), they instead chose to focus on a mundane argument between two of the sisters, which ultimately went nowhere by the end of the most recent season.

Season four of Big Brother Australia also proved difficult to follow, after evicted contestant Merlin Luck used his exit interview to protest mandatory detention. Shortly after being evicted, he appeared on stage with his mouth taped shut holding a sign that read “Free Th (sic) Refugees”. The incident was so shocking that Channel Ten extended the episode by half an hour to include the controversy. Though some succeeding storylines managed to grip and astound audiences, such as the notorious “turkey slap” of season six, the show ultimately ran out of steam.

Other productions have managed to avoid such a fate, such as The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which went straight from Erika Jayne’s controversial legal woes to original housewife Kyle Richards’ unexpected divorce in its two most recent seasons. Shows like these appear to remain an anomaly, however, with the majority getting crushed under the weight of previous scandals.

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That being said, perhaps this is part of natural fluctuations within reality TV – the ebb and flow of drama that allows viewers to breathe and reset. After all, they are technically focusing on “real” lives, and sometimes life can be boring.

Vanderpump cast member James Kennedy agrees with this proposition, emphasising that although Scandoval offered juicy content for viewers, it ultimately impacted real people’s daily lives.

“If you worry about what happened last season, then you’re just living in the past. The story continues every year, and it’s very important to see growth through that,” he says.

“It’s not necessarily about how we’re going to top Scandoval, because it’s nothing to be proud of at the end of the day. These are real-life choices and situations. Scandoval shook our friend group to the core and changed it forever. Now, it’s just a matter of watching the waterfall cascade.”

Regardless of repetitive or dull storylines, people continue to tune into shows like Vanderpump and The Kardashians. One need only look at the recent ratings for Married At First Sight Australia – a reality show known to recycle plot points (“they have a partner outside the experiment” is frequently said on the show) – to realise weak narratives are usually not enough to kill these shows.

Whether will be the case for Vanderpump, only time will tell. Will it find ways to thrive post-Scandoval, or will it – like Icarus – plummet to the ground after soaring too close to the sun?

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