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Vanderpump Rules viewers have wondered if any of the original cast still works at SUR and how producers assembled the cast that took Bravo by storm.

Stassi Schroeder, Scheana Marie, Kristen Doute from 'Vanderpump Rules'
Stassi Schroeder, Scheana Marie, Kristen Doute |Isabella Vosmikova/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Original cast member Scheana Shay dished about her current status at SUR but also how the series was originally created.

Shay’s entrance into the show made her the crossover between The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules. Viewers first met Shay and other SURvers via Shay’s unfortunate connection to Brandi Glanville. Shay had an affair with Glanville’s (then) husband Eddie Cibrian. Shay says the show was set up for viewers to take sides as Shay was originally portrayed as a homewrecker.

She still works at SUR and takes her job seriously

Shay confirmed she still works at SUR and would like to someday become a manager. “I take my job seriously,” she said on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast. “And if that means waiting tables because that’s my job then that’s what I’m going to do. And I just know that the show started at SUR, it’s going to end at SUR and it has other components to it.”

“But I literally do value my job and I take it seriously,” she insists. “I will be there until I get fired or until the show is canceled.” She adds that she’d love a promotion next season. “There’s a season 9 and I’m still at SUR, make me a damn manager!”

She and Tom Sandoval previously worked at Villa Blanca and started at SUR immediately before season 1. Shay said she pulled doubles for some time, working the lunch shift at Villa Blanca and then dinner at SUR. She adds that you don’t just get on the show and make a pile of money either. “I think people think we make a lot more [money] than we do and that everything’s paid for,” she shares. “I paid for my wedding. We pay for a lot of our own stuff.”

Kristen Doute originally didn’t like Scheana (because of Tom Sandoval)

Shay recalled how the show originally came together. She remembers how the first scene of the show came from her connection to Glanville and RHOBH. But it also sparked the “Team Scheana” and “Team Stassi” drama.

“The show was kind of built around our friend group,” Shay explains. “So it wasn’t like there were auditions for servers to be on the TV show. They knew I had a public scandal going on and coincidentally, Brandi [Glanville] was on the Housewives. And then Kristen [Doute] was working at SUR and Tom [Sandoval] was at Villa Blanca.” Doute and Sandoval were dating at the time too.

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“Kristen didn’t like me because she thought I liked Tom,” Shay explains. “And then Kristen was best friends with Stassi [Schroeder] and Katie [Maloney-Schwartz]. And they’re with Jax [Taylor] and [Tom] Schwartz. It just naturally came together very easily.”

Shay says the show came to fruition through Vanderpump and the production company’s collaboration. “Because they would be filming [Vanderpump] at the restaurant [for RHOBH] and see that she would have to deal with drama like girls hiding alcohol in the bathroom and all of these things they used to do.”

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