Jax Taylor was slammed by Bravo fans this week after he took to Instagram to reminisce (again) about how The Valley– the Vanderpump Rules spin-off that debuted on Bravo in 2024– was allegedly his idea.
On Wednesday, Jax shared a photo of himself and his manager, Ryan Revel, taken in November 2021 on the same night that Jax allegedly pitched the concept for ‘The Valley.’
“So this is how it all went down,” Jax wrote in his very lengthy caption. “About two years after my departure from ‘Vanderpump [Rules]’ I decided it was time to come back to TV but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.”
As fans may remember, Jax’s so-called “departure” from ‘Vanderpump Rules’ happened in December 2020 after he and wife Brittany Cartwright announced they were leaving the show, just months after OG cast members Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute were fired from ‘Vanderpump Rules’ for racist actions against former cast member Faith Stowers.
While Jax and Brittany initially claimed it was their decision to leave the show, Jax finally admitted in April 2021 that he had actually been fired– something most fans had suspected all along.
Despite Jax’s “departure” from ‘Vanderpump Rules,’ he insisted this week that during the hiatus, he kept coming back to his “main idea” of doing a spin-off with the show’s OGs– a concept that he admitted had been talked about amongst himself, Brittany, Stassi and Kristen. According to Jax, the show would follow the OGs as they moved on from ‘Vanderpump Rules’ and settled into life in the suburbs.
Jax went on to set the scene of the night that ‘The Valley’ was pitched to producer Alex Baskin, claiming it happened at a hotel on “one very cold evening,” over the course of three hours.
“ … The amount of work and emails and meetings that go into a project like this was insane but we also learned a lot about what it takes and how hard it is to start a successful show,” Jax wrote. “And now it’s 2025 and we have Season 2 of ‘The Valley’ on the horizon.”
In response to Jax’s post on Wednesday, many Bravo fans took to the comment section to call out ‘The Valley’ creator star for seemingly exaggerating his role in bringing the spin-off to TV.
“So you have creator and producer credits for ‘The Valley,’” one person commented, to which someone else replied, “Do you see those on the credits anywhere? Lol. No, he doesn’t but you know who still owns his a**? Bravo and [Lisa Vanderpump] 😂.”
“Why aren’t you listed as the co-creator or producer,” asked another.
“That was my question but he just loved my post and didn’t take the time to answer it so I’m assuming he’s full of s**t per usual,” someone else responded.
While Lisa is credited as an executive producer on ‘The Valley’ along with Alex Baskin, Jax’s manager and quite a few others, Jax has neither a producer nor creator credit for the show, despite insisting that the ‘The Valley’ was largely his idea.
Although Jax didn’t take the time to respond to all of the comments questioning his claims this week, he did reply to a few individuals, including one person who specifically asked about Lisa getting a producer credit on the show that Jax allegedly created.
“ … it’s a spin off so she will always get a credit that’s how tv works,” Jax claimed. “She has no part of the show.”
Bravo fans also took to Jax’s comment section to ask about the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ spin-off that Stassi previously revealed was in the works prior to Bravo giving her the boot. According to the former SURver, the spin-off, tentatively titled Valley Rules, would have been introduced to fans through a transitional episode featuring her wedding to Beau Clark.
“ … unfortunately at that time it was just talk but nothing came of it till later,” Jax said.
Similarly, another person mentioned that Lisa has claimed that the idea of a ‘Vanderpump Rules’ spin-off involving the OG cast had been in discussion long before ‘The Valley’ came along; however, Jax noted that this particular concept also never came to fruition.
“That was all talk and clearly it never happened,” he stated.
Jax later returned to the comment section of his post to recognize that others had helped make ‘The Valley’ possible, while still insisting that his version was “how it started.”
“ … and blessed for another opportunity to keep it going,” he added, more than a day later.
The former SUR bartender also repeatedly commented, “I wish” to all of the fans hoping to eventually see Stassi make her way to ‘The Valley,’ despite the married mom of two saying in 2023 that she “couldn’t imagine going to the places and doing the things that would be required from being on a show like ‘Vanderpump Rules’” today.
(Photos: Bravo; Instagram)
One Response
As much as it pains me to say this, I do think Jax is right about Lisa not being involved in the show at all. Remember how she did not even know that Kristen was dating anyone? That doesn’t mean Jax deserves the credit for the show, of course. But I do think LVP is a line item name and nothing more.