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Scheana Shay from Vanderpump Rules recently said she is tired of how she’s being portrayed on the show.

At only 34 years old, some of the newer and younger cast members referred to her as older or even middle-aged. Shay made it clear she wasn’t thrilled with the remarks, especially when Brett Caprioni referred to her as “middle-aged” on his YouTube.

Scheana Shay
Scheana Shay | Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

“I think that they just like to keep me in this one-dimensional box,” Shay told Channel Q’s The Morning Beat. “It’s almost like I’m playing a character. I am a ‘desperate, middle-aged waitress.’ That is my role to play here. Nothing from my actual life is shown outside of it. I had so much going on last year, but it’s just brushed over because we have eighteen other cast member’s lives to cover.”

Shay thinks her OG status should have been respected

Shay discussed her journey with fertility treatments and how the experience was extremely important to her. But she says the show glossed over what she was going through which was frustrating. “It’s not like I am trying to create my own storyline,” she says. “But I thought it was so important for so many women out there to watch me go through this and the show just brushes over it.”

She adds that the cast size diluted some storylines. “It’s insane,” she says. “I think we are officially the biggest reality television cast.”

Shay says she understands the show is changing. But, “I’m an OG! From day one, scene one. I think you should prioritize mine and the six other people or seven other people who started the show, you should prioritize our storylines.”

“But that’s not the case on the show,” she continues. “They think me desperately flirting is a better story. Than me actually going through something real in life that could help people. And you, know, that’s their decision.” So adds that’s why she’s putting her own show on YouTube every week.

Do the younger cast members really think Shay is ‘middle-aged?’

Caprioni addressed his remark about Shay being middle-aged. When he introduced Shay on his YouTube video he said, “She’s a little bit older than me. She’s a middle-aged woman.”

But Caprioni shared in the Vanderpump Rules After Show he doesn’t actually consider Shay to be middle-aged. “I didn’t mean to say it like that,” he said, Bravo’s The Daily Dish reports. “I’m middle-aged. Like, I’m 31. You know what I mean?”

He then shared his views on aging. “I would say 30 or 40. I would say your 20s is just its own thing. 20s,” he explained. “And then, you get to 30 and you’re like, ‘Okay, 30s. Maybe I should be settling down, maybe I should start a family.’ Sometimes, it doesn’t work out that way. We live ’til about what? What is life expectancy? 75? 80, right, nowadays? So, you cut that in half. What is that? 40.”

Shay wasn’t buying any of Caprioni’s reasoning. “He’s also, like, two years younger than me. He’s like the same age as me,” she asserted. Then reminded viewers, “He’s not that much younger than me. Call me middle-aged, motherf**ker? Rude!”

Vanderpump Rules is on Tuesday at 9/8c on Bravo.

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