Vanderpump Villa

I'm a big fan of both VPR and Below Deck so I thought this would be an amazing combination of the two styles of reality tv. But unfortunately this was a massive disappointment.

The characters are for the most part unlikeable and tiring to watch. Hannah & Telly are the mean girls and Marciano & Eric are horribly narcissistic. The LVP effect is in full force where the worst characters are needing their tires pumped by mommy Lisa. There's few characters that I truly liked, but those few didn't provide enough for the show to make me want to come back for season 2.

Another thing I found was I was wanting more, and not in a good way. I found the editing feels like there are missing pieces of the story when things get blown out of proportion. I know it's reality tv & it's dramatic but the characters are either trying too hard or there's a lot more going on that they're not airing.

Usually Lisa does GREAT reality tv, cause she really knows how to pick them, but this show, OMG NO!

The cast is riddled with obnoxious people trying to create drama to hog airtime and it's just not working.. I get it, the unknown cast members want to be reality tv famous and feel like a celebrity, but they're actually acting like fools and it's just embarrassing to watch, the unprofessionalism is macabre and so cringe that I couldn't watch the first episode till the end, cause I felt so much secondhand embarrassment for the rest of the cast who actually did a great job and just tried to stay out of the weird crazy drama, that was ruining the guests experience..

I know the premise of most reality shows is to create tension, drama and conflict but everything here is just unbalanced and unhinged. At the head are two overgrown frat boys who are just too much. The first interview with Eric where he introduced himself as a good old country boy from Ohio? When did the drunken gigolo arrive and replace him?! I found the general level of incompetence and unprofessionalism uncomfortable given how much people must have paid to stay at the chateau! And it also makes me seriously doubt Lisa Vanderpump's standards and integrity. As others have said, she makes explicit rules with zero follow up or consequences when people repeatedly break them?! Every episode so far I think to myself why is Eric still even there?!

Orvieto is my favorite town in Italy. I was so excited to watch this because I've always wanted to stay in an Italian castle. There isn't one likable character. Not interesting and unlikable. But boring, uninteresting unlikable. With no redeeming qualities. Every time you get a beautiful shot of the scenery, the stupid staff comes back and argues again about ridiculous narcissistic thing no one but them cares about. Just no. Anything would be a better use of time than this vapid show.

LVP needs to find some interesting starlets who are trying to make it in Hollywood. Not this crew. Watch an old RHONY if you need some reality TV.

I must say first that I am a huge lover of reality shows. I even produce and direct my own so that genre holds a particular fascination for me. There are so many now that it's difficult to watch them all but I really try to experience as many as possible.

I always give a new show the chance to develop and my feelings might evolve over time but for now, I get a very bad feeling about this one. It is obviously inspired by Vanderpump Rules and my guess is that Lisa Vanderpump is hoping it will become must see TV.

But in order for that to happen, some serious fixes are needed. So far, the only ones I like are Anthony the chef, Andre the barman, server Priscila and Stephen the event coordinator. They are real, entertaining yet not prone to extreme behavior that never fails to make my skin crawl.

The others in the cast are still an open question for me to find out if I will like them in the long run. But the two most obnoxious, cliched and unbearable characters are without a doubt Eric the manager who is an absolute monster of arrogance and Marciano the eternal frat boy who will most likely never change.

Eric is by far the absolute worst one in the bunch. He is prickly, smug and pretentious. I understand that he is the manager but the way he goes about it is insane. I find him unwatchable to the point that when he talks in his confessionals, I fast forward because I can't stand what he says and the cocky way he says it.

Marciano is the typical jerk who goes around drinking like he's on a Vegas bender. Hannah is his insecure ex who still loves him and we can see a mile away that their road to get back together will be filled with toxic confrontations already teased as the season will progress.

But the thing that really disappoints me about this show is Lisa. At the beginning, she establishes her rules which make perfect sense one of which is to not drink on the job. Well, that rule is broken within minutes obviously along with several others yet, Eric and Marciano drink constantly and antagonize every other person in the cast but Lisa doesn't do anything to stop it.

I understand that most reality shows think they need at least one or two villains to stir things up but the fun for an audience is to see the bad apple being properly chastised and punished. Yet Lisa doesn't intervene when they break her own rules and the show devolves into yet another circus of toxic personalities who drink, make bad decisions and so far suffer no consequences.

The show is still in its infancy and the previews are showing us that there might be repercussions for the culprits but I can't help but agree with chef Anthony who says that in any normal restaurant, half the staff would be fired already.

The toxicity is already so high and as I write this, only 4 episodes are released so I am not hopeful that this will get any better. I will pretty much watch any reality show but at some point I feel like this one will lose me if the people who need to be called out on their behavior are free to roam in this debacle eventually making it unwatchable. Let's hope that some sense will prevail and that Lisa will admonish the ones who deserve it.

Any show needs a grace period and I am willing to stick around to find out but if by the end of the season nothing changes, I won't be returning for season 2. A bit of drama is fine but toxicity to this level is just not sustainable and frankly, not even remotely entertaining.