Vanderpump Rules EP Opens Up About How Scandoval Affected Season 11 Salary Talks

And now the Bravo series' executive producer, Alex Baskin, is sharing how the Vanderpump Rules scandal -- aka Tom Sandoval and Rachel Leviss' months-long affair -- and the show's new level of popularity -- affected the cast's salary negotiation discussions for Season 11.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times ahead of Tuesday's Season 11 premiere, Baskin revealed talks for the new season were more challenging than in the past, sharing that there were "tough conversations."

"This is as hard as it's ever been because typically, we have a rate card, a tenure card, we've used in prior seasons. There are all sorts of asks across the board," he began.

"Something like a producer credit is off the table because that isn’t something that we could open up," Baskin added. "But otherwise, I knew that it would take a little bit of time for the cast expectations to settle. Because a lot of the time too, we are making sure that they’re aware of the state of the industry and the fact that shows are challenged these days."

The EP acknowledged that the cast of the series -- which received its first Emmy nomination for Season 10 -- had more to bargain with heading into the new season. The three-part explosive Season 10 reunion- which saw Ariana Madix confronting her longtime boyfriend Sandoval and Rachel following their affair -- broke records not only for the show but also for Bravo as a whole.

"Their point is, rightfully, 'You guys are touting the show’s success. Where is our piece of that?' Those are tough conversations," Baskin told the LA Times. "I did think that everybody, with the exception of Rachel, who had to make a personal decision, wanted to come back."

While he didn't reveal specifics, Baskin shared, "Everybody did better than what they had previously gotten."

In addition to Ariana and Sandoval, Vanderpump Rules stars James Kennedy, Lala Kent, Katie Maloney, Scheana Shay, and Tom Schwartz are all returning for Season 11.

In the wake of the scandal, Rachel underwent treatment at a mental health facility, before it was revealed that she would be leaving the show.

She later opened up about her negotiations with Bravo when deciding whether to return for Season 11.

While appearing on Bethenny Frankel's ReWives podcast in August, Rachel claimed she asked for "equal pay with Tom and Ariana" and for Bravo to "reimburse" her for her treatment," but the network "refused."

Baskin addressed Rachel's claims during an appearance on Scheana's Scheananigans podcast last week, saying she was given a "healthy offer" for Season 11.

"We had conversations with both her reps and her directly," he told the Los Angeles Times in the new interview. "Our first concern was how she was doing, and whether or not it made sense for her to come back -- personally, emotionally. She was very conflicted about it. There was, frankly, a lot of conversations about money. Her team was very clear that they felt that she should be rewarded. At one point, they raised the idea of her getting a development deal."

"We would have liked it [if she came back] because I think there's a great interest in how she was doing. I also think that it’s the best platform for her to tell her story, more so than any podcast, but that’s ultimately up to her," Baskin continued, referring to Rachel's recently launched podcast, Rachel Goes Rogue. "I think that she would have been surprised by the consideration that was given to her, and I think, as you'll see in the first episode, there was a willingness to hear her out."

"I'm not saying that everything would have healed right away," he added. "But I think it would have been a different experience than she would have anticipated. I think that would have been a good story to tell. I will say on the other side of things, if she still wanted to move on from Tom and didn’t want anything to do with him, then perhaps her absence allowed that to happen."

Season 11 premieres Tuesday, January 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo and will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.