Stassi Schroeder and Lisa Vanderpump reveal their advice for new stars of ‘VPR’ reboot
Raise your glasses high, and listen closely to these two queens.
After starring for eight seasons on “Vanderpump Rules,” Stassi Schroeder — who exited the reality show five years ago — has some sound advice for the next generation of SURvers.
“VPR” followed the employees of Lisa Vanderpump’s SUR restaurant and lounge in West Hollywood and ran for 11 seasons from 2013 to 2024. Season 12 will now return with a whole new cast.
“I wish I could get them all just in front of me right now,” the author, 36, exclusively told The Post, to which Vanderpump, 64, chimed in, “I’m so glad you can’t!”
“Don’t drink in the bathroom,” Vanderpump listed. “Don’t cry on the floor.”
“I’m saying don’t try and be anything other than yourself,” Schroeder explained.
“No,” the restauranteur cut in. “Try and be a good server! How about that?”
“No, don’t be yourself,” Vanderpump joked. “Be differential to the customer, bring the service and behave yourself. How about that?”
“That’s her advice,” Schroeder continued. “My advice? Be yourself. Lean into yourself. When you try and emulate anyone else or try and act a certain way, people see right through that. Friends see right through that. Your customers see right through that. Everyone sees right through that, so just be yourself.”
“They do not!” Vanderpump countered. “When someone is serving you, you just want your water and your bread and then your alcohol without anything else.”
“But you know, I have to say,” the entrepreneur went on. “Doing reality television, when you have a group of young people you could keep it going.”
When it comes down to it, Vanderpump couldn’t agree with her former employee more.
“I think authenticity is absolutely what Stassi is trying to say. Be authentic, then you get the job done in terms of reality television.”
“Not so much in being a good waitress!” she added.
When “Vanderpump Rules” ended, the cast was made up of Scheana Shay, Lala Kent, Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval, Tom Schwartz, Katie Maloney and James Kennedy. And while fans anxiously await the new crop of SUR workers to make their mark, they have “Vanderpump Villa” to turn to.
Vanderpump and Schroeder have teamed up for Season 2 of the Hulu reality show that sees Vanderpump’s staff accommodate a variety of guests in Castello Rosato, a 12th-century castle in Italy.
Schroeder is the summer’s VIP guest alongside her husband, Beau Clark, and their two kids — Hartford, 4 and Messer, 1.
It was a trip out of a fairytale for the Los Angeles resident.
“I think just every single day [was a favorite memory],” Schroeder reminisced. “I got to wake up with my kids and walk around the medieval castle and play music. Hartford was listening to ‘Annie.’ There was a tower right outside our villa.”
“Hartford would come and show me her outfit of the day,” Vanderpump recalled.
“That experience doesn’t happen to most people,” Schroeder noted. “To spend a summer in a castle in Italy. It’s wild.”
“I think that’s one of the most important factors of the show,” explained Vanderpump. “It’s not just a reality show. Of course, it’s very funny and playful and sexy and everybody kind of gets intertwined. But it’s also the visuals and when you turn it on you feel like, ‘Ahh, this is just [beautiful.]’ And for me, a designer, to have the luxury to create this beauty, it’s a very important part of the show.”
Vanderpump, who starred on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” for nine seasons, is no stranger to taglines. In honor of her time in Italy she knows exactly what statement would encompass her summer.
“You may think you’re royalty but I’ll always be the queen!” the reality television vet coyly said.
“Oh, that’s definitely hers,” Schroeder exclaimed. “That’s definitely hers.”
The podcast host, meanwhile, knows her tagline would most certainly play to her favorite drink.
“Something about living like royalty but also living off of Aperol Spritzes and snooping,” Schroeder mused.
But sometimes the flowing of the spritzes could cause some trouble. During the season, viewers will get a glimpse into a small tiff between Schroeder and Clark, 45. Longtime “VPR” viewers will recall the dark passenger — Schroeder’s alter ego for when things go sideways.
“I’ve been trying to figure out what ignites the dark passenger and I feel like it’s just a lot of things,” she confessed. “It was [my] birthday. I had my friends and family come. We were a guest group one time and it was just so amazing. To feel the pressure of wanting everyone to have the best time ever, I was drinking Aperol Spritzes all day long. I was bound to yell at someone.”
According to Vanderpump, who has been married to Ken Todd for 42 years, that’s just part of the territory when it comes to marriage.
“But don’t you think that’s a real relationship? she asked. “If you don’t see that then I don’t believe it. I think half the reality shows, you see people saying, ‘Oh my love’ and this and that and then suddenly they are getting divorced.”
“I mean, you do say ‘You’re driving me around the f–king bend.’ That’s real life. That’s marriage. It’s push and pull, push and pull,” continued Vanderpump.
Schroeder agreed, chiming in: “We’ve been together eight years. That’s wild.”
“Eight years? You’re on your honeymoon for God’s sake. I’ve done 42 years with Ken,” Vanderpump noted. “Tell me when you’ve done 42 — if I’m still alive!”
All 10 episodes of “Vanderpump Villa” drop Thursday on Hulu.
