Vanderpump Dogs' John Sessa Continues To Be A Player In RHOBH's Dog Drama

In a genuinely shocking twist at the end of last week’s episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Lisa Vanderpump was shown taking a lie detector test with none other than Vanderpump Dogs executive director John Sessa by her side. John has popped up a number of times this season and played a pretty big role in puppygate, so let’s find out more about him, shall we?

Just to refresh your memory, John Sessa was the man carrying Dorit’s former dog, Lucy Lucy Apple Juice, when Teddi and Kyle were at Vanderpump Dogs with Lisa during the season premiere. During this scene, John made it known that he was very upset about the whole situation. (The other John in the scene, John Blizzard, was the one who texted with Teddi about the “plan” to bring the dog out.)

As Lisa has repeatedly made clear during the show, John Sessa is not her employee, who she can order around, but her partner. And John’s bio on the Vanderpump Dog Foundation website backs this up. It’s very lengthy and includes details all of his jobs and education, including the fact that he has a doctorate in business administration. He’s worked in a number of fields and “currently owns and operates his own business development consulting company.” He’s particularly passionate about green energy and animal rights and founded the non-profit Organics of Chicago. As for his work with Lisa, he’s the co-founder of Stop Yulin Forever, along with Lisa and her husband, Ken Todd. He also co-founded the pet goods shop Vanderpump Pets, and, as stated above, is the executive director of Vanderpump Dogs.

So, yeah, dude’s got a lot going on, and he still has time to contribute to the drama on Housewives. He doesn’t regret it, either. Sessa spoke to Page Six at the opening of Lisa’s Vanderpump Cocktail Garden in April and said, “Honestly, at the end of the day I stand up for the foundation and I stand up for the dog and at the end of the day it’s the health of the dog that matters.”

Sessa also recently had some drama with Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix, as reported by Us Weekly. After Ariana confronted Lisa on the season 7 finale, Sessa tweeted, “How disrespectful and disloyal @ariana2525 to @LisaVanderpump - someone who has given you a job for eight years and countless opportunities. Enjoy your new $2M home.” In response, Ariana wrote, “Ok, John. We’ve been friends for years and have had plenty of deep conversations about this stuff. You tweeting this little prepared paragraph instead of just texting me is very telling.”

To go back to that lie detector test, it does seem odd that Lisa would take a test to prove her innocence in the puppygate situation with someone who was supposedly directly involved in it. The other women probably wouldn’t buy Lisa’s test results as proof no matter what, but her taking the test with John certainly doesn’t help. The lie detector test already seemed forced since Lisa was no longer filming with the other women at this point, but it did make for a surprising moment and got John Sessa back on screen. If there really is a Vanderpump Dogs spinoff in the works, then that would one reason to get him on the show again. (It might also be a reason for him to make himself known by stirring up drama with Ariana… just to throw a theory out there.)

Lisa says, though, that John was at the test because it was his idea. “John Sessa said, 'Take a lie detector test.' So I said, 'You know what? Yeah, why not? Why not? I’m not scared,’” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I don’t think you put yourself forward for a lie detector test if you have a modicum guilt, and I didn’t, so that was it." As for the results, she says they showed she was telling the truth.

Even still, the test didn’t have any effect on her relationship with her fellow Housewives. It remains to be seen if Lisa returns next season, but if she doesn’t it won’t be the last we see of her. And it might not even be the last we see of John Sessa.