Why Below Deck’s Captain Lee Doesn't Think Every ‘VPR’ Star Deserves a Raise
Below Deck’s Captain Lee Rosbach has thoughts on the Vanderpump Rules salary negotiations following Tom Sandoval and Rachel “Raquel” Leviss‘ affair.
During the Wednesday, March 13, episode of his “Salty With Captain Lee” podcast, Lee, 74, discussed recent headlines about how the Vanderpump Rules cast requested pay raises for season 11, which he didn’t necessarily understand.
“They all want more money. And what did James [Kennedy] do to contribute to this?” he asked cohost Sam DeCavalcanti. “You only had the ménage à trois going on — you only had the three of them that were involved.”
After ten seasons on Bravo, Vanderpump Rules rocked the Bravo universe when news broke in March 2023 about Sandoval’s split from Ariana Madix after nearly a decade of dating due to his infidelity. Madix, 38, and Sandoval, 41, returned for season 11 but Leviss, 29, chose to leave the show instead.
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Executive producer Alex Baskin recently recalled the conversations that took place about season 11 paychecks, telling the Los Angeles Times in January, “This is as hard as it’s ever been because typically, we have a rate card, a tenure card, we’ve used in prior seasons. There are all sorts of asks across the board.”
Baskin noted that certain requests were immediately rejected. “Something like a producer credit is off the table because that isn’t something that we could open up,” he added. “But otherwise, I knew that it would take a little bit of time for the cast expectations to settle. Because a lot of the time, too, we are making sure that they’re aware of the state of the industry and the fact that shows are challenged these days.”
He concluded: “Their point is, rightfully, ‘You guys are touting the show’s success. Where is our piece of that?’ Those are tough conversations. I did think that everybody, with the exception of Rachel, who had to make a personal decision, wanted to come back. Everybody did better than what they had previously gotten.”
Leviss, meanwhile, claimed part of the reason she didn’t return had to do with money.
“I asked for equal pay with Tom and Ariana and for them to reimburse me for my treatment expenses. They refused to pay me equally,” Leviss said on Bethenny Frankel‘s “ReWives” podcast in August 2023 about one of the reasons for her exit. “I feel like when you pay your employees, it really shows how much you value them.”
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Baskin later weighed in on Leviss’ side of the story, telling New York Times Magazine in February, “Are we supposed to give her retroactive payment for having a clandestine affair for eight months?”
While discussing the subject, Lee showed his support for Leviss. “She’s obviously doing what she feels is best for her,” he said on Wednesday. “I just can’t get over the fact that you behave as badly as you possibly can and you want to be rewarded for it?”
Lee maintained that he had “respect” for Leviss, despite not agreeing with her involvement in Scandoval.
“It’s a mystery to me. I just don’t understand this whole thing,” he concluded. “You used to be ostracized for behavior like that and now they want to be rewarded for it. And not only do they want to be rewarded, they want a raise.”
The former Below Deck star also showed support for Peter Madrigal, who didn’t return for season 11 because of salary negotiations. The SUR manager, who has made cameos on Vanderpump Rules since season 1, revealed earlier this month that a lack of money caused him not to film.
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“No, you won’t be seeing me,” Madrigal confirmed on the March 1 episode of the “Bravo and Blaze” podcast. “It wasn’t by my choice. I mean — I guess it was by my choice. In a sense. Basically, my choice was to come back to the show for free or not do it.”
Madrigal clarified that Bravo didn’t ask him to work for free. “I’ve been getting paid on this show since the inception of the show,” he noted. “And then they asked me, ‘Do it for free.’ … They didn’t [actually] say for free. But they didn’t have it in the budget — [they didn’t have] any payment for me in the budget.”
Madrigal ultimately made the choice to walk away from the current season of the show. “That’s the reason why I was like, ‘Well, you know what? I’m not coming back,'” he shared. “I’m one of the biggest staples there. I’m still at SUR for the most part.”
Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET and will be available to stream on Peacock the next day.
