Lisa Vanderpump Jokes About What She’d Do Differently On ‘Vanderpump Villa’: “I’d Have Another House Completely Full Of Staff Waiting To Replace Them” [EXCLUSIVE]

Lisa Vanderpump has perfected the workplace reality TV genre. After 11 seasons on Vanderpump Rules — one of which was Emmy-nominated — and a standalone season of Vanderpump Dogs, the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star is gearing up for the release of Vanderpump Villa, which follows her hand-selected staff as they work in her French château. And like the shows that came before, Vanderpump must manage a cast of large personalities all while giving her guests the most divine experience at Château Rosabelle.

As far as the drama, the Hulu series hits the ground running in just the first three episodes. There are arguments between lead server Marciano Brunette and the other female staffers, who believe he’s disrespectful of women. Plus, manager Eric Funderwhite finds himself in hot water when he dares to change Vanderpump’s carefully curated plans. And don’t even get us started on how much drinking is done behind Vanderpump’s back!

While the boss lady can suspend or fire her employees for acting out at SUR, she didn’t exactly have that option in the French countryside as she only brought along 12 staffers. But if she were to do a second season, she joked to Decider that she might “have another house completely full of staff waiting to replace them.”

Until then, Vanderpump had to find different ways to “chastise” her employees — and, yes, she teased that she does eventually take Brunette “to task” for his questionable behavior. She also noted that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions by comparing him to OG villain Jax Taylor, as Brunette will show off a “softer side” and “growth” as the season goes on.

Keep reading for our full interview with the one and only, Lisa Vanderpump.

DECIDER: Hannah Fouch and Marciano Brunette are very reminiscent of Stassi Schroeder and Jax Taylor when they were together. Do you think that’s a fair comparison? How did you handle the relationship drama this time around?

LISA VANDERPUMP: Yeah, I see why it would be a comparison in a way. Well, initially they were recommended to me because I was looking for really good servers. So I was told by Stephen, who had been a manager and opened my restaurant Vanderpump Paris, that he knew two great servers. They used to be together but they work together every night and they’re separated. So I was like, “Okay, I’d like to meet them.” 

They’re like, “Oh, yeah, we’re good. We’re good together.” So they were kind of pretty much done and then things developed for the better for the worse and things got complicated. I quite liked the fact that we had a couple of existing relationships to start the show with but everybody had to be well-qualified. There wasn’t one person in that whole cast that wasn’t very well-qualified to do the job.  Because we hit the ground running – literally, we started like two days later – they had to know everything. I didn’t have time to teach housekeepers how to do this, how to do that, or chefs or sous chefs or, you know, servers. They had to know – give me this, give me an espresso martini, change the bed, do that. So everybody was up to speed, but then you put them together, living together in close proximity.

The Château was an unusual situation because also, I allowed the staff to join in with the guests once their job was done, because they’re a fun group of people and we had a lot of young guests that were really up to party, so they would always say, “Oh, can the staff come? Can the staff join in?” Then it gets complicated, but life is complicated. I mean, even when I had a hotel in the English countryside, that was complicated, too.

Who was the more problematic employee — Marciano or Jax?

Oh, I don’t really compare them at all. Marciano, you’re gonna see a softer side and you see some growth with him and how he takes ownership of his actions. It’s a very different personality there. 

Many of the girls are complaining that Marciano is disrespectful toward women. Obviously, you aren’t able to see everything in real time, but when you’re watching back, what is your reaction to the way he conducted himself in some of his arguments? 

Well, you see, I don’t suffer fools gladly. And if I see somebody putting a foot wrong, I do chastise him for sure. I think there was a little bit of a drink issue that was kind of stimulating, provoking him in the wrong direction. But he had a taskmaster – me – that took him to task, and that’s part of the story.

Eric Funderwhite seems to be letting the power go to his head a bit with the way he’s changing your plans. Does that make you regret not making Stephen Alsvig manager when he applied for it?  

Stephen got very het up over the whole thing. He kept saying, “I’m the qualified one. I’m the one that should be doing it.” Whereas Eric had always portrayed — to me, as a front of house when he worked for me — this absolutely, almost Stepford Husband, this kind of perfect man that’s greeted everybody and was social. He was, like, kooky, like, eccentric. But I have to say, the guests loved him. But it was … some strange choices. I’m like, “What are you doing?” I’m like, “Okay, don’t answer that.”

But also, you have to understand – I was in the middle of a countryside with 12 jobs that needed doing and that wasn’t really enough with this big château and all these people and dinner parties and drinks. I had 12 people there, so you can’t start saying, “You’re suspended. Come back in three days,” or, “Somebody else is covering your shift.” I didn’t have that option. Maybe if I did it again, I would have another house completely full of staff waiting to replace them.

So when people were like, “Oh, I can’t do it anymore. I think I want to go home,” I’d have to say, “You can do this.” Then of course they all look back at the end and they go, “What was I thinking? I loved it. I don’t want to leave.”

Well, I loved the show and I think it’s a great addition to the Vanderpump-verse.

I think it’s going to be something when you check into Vanderpump Villa and Château Rosabelle – you’re going to be there and follow the story. And then when it’s over, you’re gonna think, “Oh, I miss that.” You know what I mean? I think it’s something that you immerse yourself, actually, in that world.