'Vanderpump Rules' star Ariana Madix is cashing in — but risks overexposure

• Ariana Madix has been flush with endorsement deals and new opportunities after Scandoval.
• The "Vanderpump Rules" star made lemonade (lots of cash) from lemons (her partner cheating on her with her BFF).
• But Madix (now set for "DWTS") is starting to seem a bit overexposed, and it's grating on some fans.

The year is half over, but the pop culture story of 2023 is still, and will likely remain, Scandoval.

Somehow, an affair scandal among the stars of the long-running Bravo reality show "Vanderpump Rules" took over pop-culture discourse. It all started in March, when TMZ broke the story that Ariana Madix, who's appeared on the show since season two, had dumped her partner Tom Sandoval, an original cast member, after discovering that he'd cheated on her with their close friend and costar, Raquel (Rachel) Leviss.

The show hadn't been particularly popular before the affair, dubbed "Scandoval" by viewers, and in fact had seen flagging ratings in recent seasons. Yet, the story went megaviral, garnering explainers from The New York Times and becoming a hot topic on daytime talk shows. All of America (nay, the world) appeared to rally around Madix, reveling in the righteous fury of a woman scorned.

Madix, quite wisely, has cashed in on the near-unanimously positive public sentiment. As we watched her verbally eviscerate Sandoval and Leviss on the show's 10th season reunion special, which filmed in March and aired from late May into June, Madix got to work shilling everything from Lay's potato chips and Bic razors to Duracell batteries and Glad trash bags. She also started producing merch, both on her own and for Something About Her, the soon-to-open sandwich shop she shares with costar Katie Maloney. (Maloney and Madix said during the season 10 reunion that they'd sold about $200,000 worth of Something About Her merch at that point.)

The Cut, in its feature about how Madix is making bank from Scandoval, coined it "revenge spon."

While no one can fault Madix for the way she's turned lemons (being cheated on) into lemonade (lots and lots of money), she hasn't used this to pivot off of our screens and do something else (a supporting role in a Lifetime movie doesn't count). So now, she's everywhere. It's becoming a bit much, and the tide of fan support is beginning to turn, ever so slightly, against her.

That tide-turning is most evident on social-media platforms like Twitter and Reddit, which are still mostly full of enthusiastically #TeamAriana posts but are seeing an increasing trickle of grumblings about her overexposure. This was perhaps most obvious in one Reddit post from May about how Madix's apparent move out of the house she still shares with Sandoval was actually fake and staged for her brand deal with SoFi. Redditors called it a "bad look" for Madix and others said it was "irritating."

"Get the money but it's also overkill," one user wrote. "She's getting so close to oversaturation. You in danger girl!" another said.

A June 4 Reddit post specifically questioned whether she was in danger of overexposure. Other posts are more recently reexamining her behavior in past seasons, and fans are expressing hope that she'll acknowledge her past missteps (particularly in the ways she supported her ex's often egregious behavior during their relationship) more directly.

But those posts were from weeks ago, and Madix shows no signs of slowing her roll.

Madix herself has acknowledged she's said yes to just about every endorsement deal that's come her way, and she doesn't seem to care if people think it's annoying. She told Glamour in a June interview (which also noted that she's reportedly made over $1 million post-Scandoval) that she wants to make as much money as she possibly can for her family.

"We have no generational wealth in our family," Madix said. "I want to make enough money to be able to take care of my mom and my brother and any other family members who may or may not need it. I never want to worry about it ever, ever, ever. So I will work as much as possible to not have to."

Only time (and the reception to "Vanderpump Rules" season 11) will tell whether Madix will continue to enjoy the widespread adoration she's had since her life was upended. But Madix and the team she's working with are clearly smart, so maybe they'll rein it in soon. That is, after Madix's guest spot on "Love Island USA" this summer. And her turn on "Dancing With the Stars" in the fall. Maybe.