Why Jax Taylor Left The Vanderpump Rules Spin-Off The Valley After 2 Seasons

This article contains discussions of addiction, mental health, and domestic violence.

On July 16, 2025, one of the cast members of the "Vanderpump Rules" spin-off "The Valley" made a statement exclusively to Us Magazine. "After an incredibly challenging year and many honest conversations with my team and producers, I'll be stepping away from the next season of 'The Valley,'" Jason Couchi, a man who styles himself as "Jax Taylor," told the outlet.

"Right now, my focus needs to be on my sobriety, my mental health, and coparenting. Taking this time is necessary for me to become the best version of myself — especially for our son, Cruz," Taylor continued; Cruz is the son that he shares with his ex-wife and current star of "The Valley," Brittany Cartwright. 

Thank god, honestly.

Jax Taylor, née Jason Cauchi, has been a menace on reality television for over a decade. As an original member of "Vanderpump Rules" — a spin-off, of sorts, of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" focused on one housewife, Lisa Vanderpump's, culinary ventures in Los Angeles — Jax was basically made in a lab to be on a reality show, and he proved that during his "Vanderpump Rules" tenure as a frankly terrible bartender at Vanderpump's West Hollywood restaurant SUR Restaurant and Lounge (the full Christian name of which is actually Sexy Unique Restaurant Restaurant and Lounge). Jax never had a girlfriend he didn't cheat on, never met a bar fight he didn't want to instigate, and never met a shot of tequila he wouldn't take, though it's important to note that he is now seeking treatment for substance abuse issues (though, as we'll discuss, the treatment he purports to be undertaking is a little suspicious). Jax will, for the time being, not terrorize women on television anymore, and that is absolutely for the best.

Right from the beginning of "Vanderpump Rules" it was clear that Jax Taylor, to co-opt a wrestling term, was the show's "heel." That might be generous, though, in that within wrestling, the heel is putting on the show of being a bad guy, whereas Jax is actually just a terrible human being at his very core. In the first season of "Vanderpump Rules," Jax is introduced as the older boyfriend of young SUR-ver Stassi Schroeder and constantly denies that he's ever strayed from their relationship, gaslighting Stassi so grievously that her own friends turn against her. (He absolutely did cheat on her and ultimately admits it.) In Season 2 of "Vanderpump Rules," rumors swirl that Jax and Stassi's best friend Kristen Doute, who also happens to be the girlfriend of Jax's then-best friend Tom Sandoval, had an illicit affair, and both deny it. (They did it while Nicholas Winding Refn's movie "Drive" was playing at one of their houses, making this movie an integral part of "Vanderpump Rules" lore.) In Season 6, Jax cheats on his new longterm girlfriend Brittany Cartwright with their coworker Faith Stowers; during the tryst, Faith is working as an in-home aide for an elderly woman, and they do the deed with the patient present. Also, in Season 4, Jax steals a pair of sunglasses during the Bravo-mandated cast trip to Hawai'i. He does this for no reason and ends up going to jail briefly.

You see where this is all going, right? Jax's job on "Vanderpump Rules" is to cause constant chaos, and he certainly fulfills his job requirements in that sense. It's still pretty hard to watch Jax mentally manipulate and verbally attack every woman he dates (and some women he doesn't date, as is the case with Katie Maloney, who often ends up the subject of Jax's wrath likely because she sees through his nonsense). Still, on a show like "Vanderpump Rules" where almost everyone is some degree of "awful" and everybody behaves like a buffoon most of the time, you can gloss over Jax's behavior. The same cannot be said of "The Valley."

The most important thing to consider about "The Valley" is that nearly everyone on the show has young children, which obviously makes everything much more serious and complicated than, say, a show about a bunch of young restaurant workers who sleep together, fight, and fight about who's sleeping together. In Jax Taylor's case, he and Brittany Cartwright had a son named Cruz in the spring of 2021 and then they separated in 2024; in 2025, Brittany opened up about Cruz's autism diagnosis and spoke openly about parenting a child who is largely nonverbal. (At the risk of editorializing, Brittany is, by all appearances, an incredibly devoted mother, in stark contrast to her ex-husband.)

To say that the way Jax treats Brittany on "The Valley" is bad is an understatement. It's reprehensible. Before their separation — which happened between Season 1 and 2 — Jax constantly accuses Brittany of drinking too much, even when she's sick for completely unrelated reasons. In Season 2, Brittany relays a story about an argument between her and Jax that culminating in him flipping a table and hurting her in front of their son. While he attends a 30-day rehab that allows him to seemingly do whatever he wants at all times, Jax checks cameras he left in his former marital home and tricks both Brittany and his own sister into thinking he's experiencing a medical emergency, which is a lie. This is not even a complete list.

In an interview with executive producer Alex Baskin in June 2025 in Variety, he defended the choice to allow someone as openly abusive as Jax to remain on television. "Remind me again what you want to watch?" Baskin asked writer Kate Aurthur. "We're all trying to figure out how to tell the story responsibly and fairly, in a way that is entertaining and real. But that doesn't put a gloss on what is really happening. This subject matter is dark!"

"Our job is to tell the full story," Baskin continued, addressing the conflict between Brittany and Jax. "If we didn't tell the story in its completeness, then we would be covering up something that really happened, and denying Brittany the chance to share what she had been through. I don't think that's really 'platforming an abuser' as much as that is platforming the story — which includes Brittany's experience as well as Jax's."

The problem with Baskin's statement is it's not entertaining to watch a cruel man torment the mother of his child and hurt his son in the process. Jax Taylor was fun to watch for a while; that is, for so many reasons, no longer true, so it's best that he leaves "The Valley" behind for good.

"Vanderpump Rules" and "The Valley" are streaming on Peacock now.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.