Kristen Doute Is 'The Valley’s Easiest Scapegoat

When The Valley premiered, it seemed as if Kristen Doute was back in her Vanderpump Rules villain era. Now that the season is nearing its end, the real villains have been showing their true colors. Many Pump Rules fans were eager to see whether Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright, and Kristen Doute had changed much since they were last seen on the reality series. Jax was fresh off of a run on E!'s House of Villains and proved that not much had changed or matured personality-wise, but no one knew about the others, including Kristen.

Kristen was considered one of the villains on VPR; her behavior in the series was nothing short of chaotic. Her cheating scandal with Tom Sandoval happened shortly after the series began, and the way she casually confessed to sleeping with Jax during their relationship helped cement her villain status. Kristen's time on Vanderpump Rules ended when Faith Stowers shared troubling news about her and cast mate Stassi Schroeder. She revealed during an Instagram live session that Kristen and Stassi reported her to the police and accused her of another Black woman's crimes. Because the woman looked nothing like Faith, their actions could have gotten her hurt or worse, as she shared the story during the police brutality protests following the murder of George Floyd. Kristen and Stassi were both fired, and Jax followed shortly after, after a tweet by Taylor accusing Stowers of a crime surfaced.

Stassi and Kristen both apologized for the incident, and Kristen stayed out of the limelight until Scandoval. Unlike Stassi, Kristen seemed genuinely remorseful about what happened, as she shied away from public view in order to be as respectful as possible. She did make a brief return to VPR after the scandal to show support for Ariana Madix. That moment on VPR may have been the catalyst for her casting on The Valley, and this time around, Kristen isn't the villain, despite her questionable way of operating.

'The Valley's Chaos Started From a Game of Telephone

The first bout of drama involved a game of telephone. While coming under fire from other cast members, Kristen decided to blurt out that Janet Caperna said that fellow cast member Michelle Lally was racist and Republican. She compounded this by saying that Zack Wickham was the person who told her about it and that Jasmine Goode also witnessed it. The problem with Kristen's timing? Janet was not there to defend herself. The situation quickly blew up as Michelle was naturally offended. Zack and Jasmine both denied having said or heard anything Janet allegedly said, leaving Kristen looking like she was simply back to her old VPR shenanigans.

However, a phone call with Zack later proved that she wasn't making up the story entirely. Clarification was later provided by Janet, who said the whole situation began when Michelle said she was fine with the “Don't Say Gay” laws. Michelle's statement was more in line with homophobia than racism. It also became very apparent that Janet was being messy but used the situation to her advantage. Given that she was fired from Vanderpump Rules for racist actions, why on earth would she pull this specific word out of her pocket, especially when the word was never used in the first place? Mistakenly using the word racist actually wound up deflecting from the homophobic aspects of the opinion Michelle was claimed to express.

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Jax Taylor and Janet Caperna Are the True Villains on ‘The Valley’

After the fight that will go down Bravo's history, during which Jesse lunged at Brittany and put his hands on Zack’s throat, everyone in the group decided that Kristen was the root of all their problems. In actuality, it seems as if she’s simply bringing up the issues that are bubbling under the surface within the entire group. Jax goes around to everyone, saying that Kristen was the one who started the rumor about Michelle’s alleged boyfriend, but Kristen has the receipts proving that Jax was the one who told her the rumor first. Kristen’s issue is that she changes the details of what she’s heard, which is why everyone calls her a liar. Jax is using this to his advantage because it’s very easy to say, “Kristen lies,” especially given her Vanderpump history. He has his own version of events now, and everyone, unfortunately, believes him. He is equally if not more messy than Kristen!

Janet is the person who started gossiping about Michelle with Zack and Jasmine, and yet, because of Kristen’s unfortunate ability to reinterpret, Janet was able to become the victim. After all, no one wants to confront a pregnant woman. But Janet’s messy side has been present despite this. She was determined to gossip with her husband, Jason, but with him being one of the three people in the cast with common sense, he wanted nothing to do with her gossiping. Kristen is the easiest scapegoat because she inserts herself into situations that she shouldn’t. She says the things people are whispering behind people’s backs, but her penchant for altering details makes it simple for the actual messy people to blame it on her. It’s a shame that there won’t be a reunion because there are definitely issues that need to be addressed before Season 2. One thing that is certain is that without Kristen, the season would have been a lot less interesting. As a catalyst for all the major drama, Kristen's presence is necessary on The Valley.

The Valley airs new episodes every Tuesday and is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.