Thank Scandoval for the first ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Emmy nominations

The Bravo reality show received two Emmy nominations this year, and you can’t tell us that’s not a coincidence.

As much as we all love and support Ariana Madix, the Scandoval incident really is the gift that keeps on giving for Vanderpump Rules.

The firestorm single-handedly had the power to fix the political and cultural divide in this nation, even for a brief period of time, as everyone united in support of Ariana against her cheating ex Tom Sandoval. And now, on top of getting Madix on Dancing with the Stars, the upcoming season of Love Island, her own truly amazing Duracell commercial, and her own profile in the New York Times, it’s also scored Vanderpump Rules its very first Emmy nominations.

As announced by the Television Academy on Wednesday morning, the hit Bravo reality series received two nominations — one for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program and the other for Outstanding Picture Editing for an Unstructured Reality Program.

It’s not like Emmy voters would come out and say, “If it weren’t for Scandoval, this wouldn’t have happened,” but come on! In the past, they only had an MTV Movie and TV Award and Critics’ Choice Real TV Award to their name.

As soon as the cheating scandal between Sandoval and Raquel Leviss exploded into the public sphere, the show’s ratings quickly skyrocketed to surpass 11 million viewers. The first of the three-part reunion special, which aired on May 25, became the most-watched episode of a Bravo series in more than nine years and hands-down the most-watched episode of Vanderpump Rules ever.

This is the classic case of when life gives you lemons, make your ex eat it.

Related content: