VPR Recap: Lala Kent Explains What's Off About Ariana Madix's BF Daniel
Lala Kent doesn’t just have questions about Ariana Madix‘s living situation — she also has questions about her Vanderpump Rules costar’s romance with Daniel Wai.
During the Tuesday, April 30, episode of the Bravo hit, cast and viewers were introduced to Daniel when he made his official debut on the show. Ariana, 38, was excited to be joined by her boyfriend on their trip to San Francisco but not everyone was as welcoming.
“My first impression of Dan? Let me put it this way, you can tell me he’s a great guy all the livelong day,” Lala, 33, told the cameras. “I think it is f—king weird that any dude would be like, ‘She’s The One. Just left her dude of 10 f—king years and they still live together.'”
Lala admitted she had some concerns, adding, “I am sorry but something seems off. Right?”
Despite her suspicions, Lala didn’t pass up the chance to compliment Daniel’s appearance. She mentioned his “fine-looking ass” while visiting Ariana and Daniel’s hotel room. Lala also told Daniel he had a “good body” while watching him get ready for a night out with Ariana’s friend Brad Kearns.
This isn’t the first time that Lala has discussed her conflicted opinion of Daniel. After originally signing off on Ariana’s first boyfriend after Tom Sandoval, Lala has since come back around to feeling worried.
“Ariana gets a new man, and I’m like, ‘What’s his motive? This is weird,’” Lala told her mother, Lisa Burningham, earlier this season. Lala noted that her questions about Daniel stemmed from her messy relationship with ex-fiancé Randall Emmett and Ariana’s shocking split from Sandoval, 41.
Us Weekly confirmed in March 2023 that Sandoval and Ariana parted ways after nearly 10 years of dating due to his affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss. Days after the breakup, Ariana met Daniel at a mutual friend’s wedding and they started seeing each other casually.
Ariana and Daniel’s long-distance romance quickly evolved into something more serious.
“It’s awesome,” Ariana gushed to Us in her October 2023 cover story. “He’s incredibly supportive. He sacrifices his sleep and time to help me with anything I need, and then he takes a red-eye back and goes straight to work.”
The reality star specifically highlighted how Daniel supported her while she competed on Dancing With the Stars, adding, “He’ll clean up things that are left out and [does] little things you don’t really think about. When I come home from the show and everything’s clean and there’s food in the fridge that he made, it’s like, ‘Wow, that’s so nice.’”
While filming season 11 of Vanderpump Rules, Ariana said being with Daniel has even changed her thoughts on starting a family.
“In retrospect, Tom being my partner affected my feelings on having kids a lot more than I thought it did,” she said during a February episode. “I feel like with Dan, I’ve kind of had my eyes open to the fact that there are different types of partners out there who would actually be a real 50/50 partner, or if I can only give 10 percent that day, he’s ready to give 90.”
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Daniel’s first in-person appearance on Vanderpump Rules didn’t come without its problems. In addition to Ariana’s costars questioning his decision to go on the trip but not attend cast events, Sandoval also hinted at his plans to talk to Daniel.
Later in Tuesday’s episode, Daniel maintained he had no plans to interact with Sandoval, saying, “I am just unbothered. I think it is the best way to describe it. … [Sandoval] hasn’t done anything to me but I know what he has done.”
Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET and is available to stream on Peacock the next day.
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