Accusations flew on Tuesday’s episode of The Valley after a broken game of telephone led to a misunderstanding among the group.
At the beginning of the episode, Michelle Lally called Janet Caperna to talk to her about Kristen Doute’s claim that Janet thought Michelle was a Republican, and therefore, a racist.
“That’s complete bulls—,” Janet, 34, said to Michelle, 36, over FaceTime.
Janet called the move “very typical for Kristen” and Michelle said Kristen “snapped” when she found out that Jax Taylor invited her ex-boyfriend Alex Menache to boys’ night with her current boyfriend Luke Broderick.
“What I think is that she does not want Alex’s side of their breakup shared, especially with Luke,” Janet suggested.
Brittany Cartwright then grabbed coffee with Kristen, 41, and confronted her about repeating the comments she heard from Zack Wickham.
“Me of all, people? You think this is a topic I want to talk about ever?” Kristen asked Brittany, 35.
Kristen explained in a confessional that she repeated something that “was told to me, something that Janet said.”
Kristen proceeded to call Zack, 35, to confirm that she heard these allegations from him. “The Republican thing was said, but that does not mean racism and I never said that,” Zack said, adding that those comments were made “behind the scenes.”
Zack said in a confessional that Kristen should not have repeated what they discussed. “Kristen just cannot keep a secret to save her life,” he continued.
Kristen told Brittany she felt compelled to say something. “It’s been sitting inside of me like, really bothering me,” the He’s Making You Crazy author said.
Later, Janet recapped the situation to her husband Jason Caperna. She explained in a confessional interview that the whole thing started when Michelle made a comment to her about how she thought “Don’t Say Gay” laws protect children.
“I just said to Jasmine, who I guess said to Zack, I said, ‘We were talking about this bill and I think she might support it. I’m like, I don’t know, but, you know, since it’s related to the LGBT community, if you happen to hear her talking about it and sense the same thing I did, it might be like a teachable moment,’” Janet told Jason, 40.
Everything came to a head at the Lallys’ Capri-themed dinner party.
“I don’t think she realizes how seriously mad I am,” Janet told Brittany at the dinner table of Kristen.
Kristen overheard the chatter at the other end of the table and thought it seemed “inappropriate.”
“Now I think everybody’s involved so we might as well speak publicly,” Michelle, who attended couples’ counseling with Jesse earlier in the episode, said to everyone.
Janet began by saying she never said she thought Michelle was racist and she wanted to know where that sentiment originated. Kristen said she heard it from Zack, which he denied. Everyone went back and forth and eventually escalated with Jesse Lally telling Luke to “shut the f— up” for defending Kristen, who apologized for repeating the comments about Michelle.
“I will tell you this, if you call someone a Republican in L.A., that’s a death sentence right there,” Zack said in an on-camera interview. “That is a social suicide moment. You better be on the DL if you’re a Republican because you’re not getting invited to anything.”
Back at the table, Kristen reiterated that she heard the rumor from Zack and didn’t make it up. However, Jesse, 43, brought up Kristen “being thrown off the show for being an actual racist,” referring to her being fired from Vanderpump Rules in 2020 for reporting a Black cast member to the police for a crime for which they were not involved.
“He’s just trying to ruin my name by bringing up the most painful thing that I’ve ever done,” Kristen said in a confessional interview.
Kristen called her 2020 departure from VPR “the hardest time of my life thus far.”
“I’m not proud of what I did and I’m sorry that I’ve hurt people, but I’ve learned from my mistakes,” she continued.
The former SUR server hoped to leave her past in the past.
“People finally gave me a chance again and now it’s like, brought up all over again and now I’m going to have to relive it again,” Kristen concluded. “I hope that my whole life doesn’t fall apart again.”