There's only couple left still working at SUR on Vanderpump Rules: James Kennedy and Raquel Leviss. And… things aren’t going so well at SUR or, it seems, in their relationship — at least from what we've seen in season 8. I swear, every time I watch these two interact on television I wonder if James and Raquel are even still together. How could they be? Well, the truth is stranger than fiction — or reality television.
A quick perusal of social media shows that yep, Raquel and James are indeed still together. They’re taking selfies on vacation. They're posting romantic throwbacks to PRIDE. They’re at parties. They’re making the rounds. They’re doing everything a normal couple would do. It’s not all sunshine and roses, and James is there to admit it — at BravoCon, he said that it was “weird” when Raquel got hired at SUR because he wasn’t working there and was kinda jealous.
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He also added that they have a “journey” as a couple in the coming episodes, which the Vanderpump Rules season 8 trailer laid out pretty nicely for fans; Raquel told James, “if you can’t get your shit together, we will break up.” Seems like they didn’t, and really, I’m at a loss as to why.
Season 8 of Vanderpump Rules has Raquel working as a SURver (a job she’s equipped for, she once told Lisa, because of her days in the pageant circuit), and James trying his damndest to get back into Lisa’s good graces so that he can DJ at the restaurant once more. Sometimes, it seems like Raquel is the only one on James’ side, so why does he appear to treat her so badly?
In the past two episodes of season 8, James has screamed at Raquel on the phone because she missed his set at SUR and yelled at her in their own home because he didn’t want her going to a party he wasn’t invited to. He called her a "slut." He told her to go fuck herself. It doesn't take a relationship therapist to know none of that is alright. Raquel once told the Vanderpump group that they didn’t see the James that she saw when they were alone, but, uh, since we’re seeing them alone (admittedly with a room full of cameras) now, what does she see? It’s not always fair to judge someone’s relationship based on a few hours of footage grabbed for the sake of a reality TV show, but James' name-calling and angry outbursts at Raquel aren't something that can be washed away with the ol' "out of context" explanation.
It's possible that Raquel’s insistence that James grow up or she would bounce, from the season 8 trailer, could have indeed been the catalyst he needed to treat her better and get his life together. What's coming up in future episodes could explain why they've continued to be together. There are still at least a few episodes of Vanderpump Rules to go this season before we see this confrontation, but since we already know the endgame, we can't help but root for a little growth along the way.