Vanderpump Rules boss Lisa Vanderpump has revealed her decision on how to handle Marcus Johnson getting caught drinking on the job at SUR.
Lisa sat Marcus down for a one-on-one meeting during Season 12, Episode 2, first giving her veteran server the opportunity to explain why security footage showed him “swooping cups of sangria” during his shift. With three years on the job, Marcus should “know better than that,” as she put it.
“If Marcus thinks he’s invincible at SUR, he’s got another thing coming,” LVP remarked in a confessional. “There’s a million out-of-work actors looking for a job. Don’t push me.”
RELATED: Is Lisa Vanderpump Firing the First Cast Member of Vanderpump Rules Season 12? (VIDEO)
Marcus, who arrived at the sitdown with a bouquet of roses for his boss, apologized and insisted that working at SUR was “the best thing that’s happened to him.” Then, he opened up to her about the deaths of his parents, Raymond and Patricia (more on that below).
After talking things out, Lisa told Marcus, “I want you to come back to your job, but I’m gonna check on you.” She also informed him that she would set him up with mandatory grief counseling sessions.
LVP explained her decision to go easy on him to a producer: “I’m not gonna suspend Marcus. When somebody’s struggling, you need to bolster them. You can’t take anything more away.”
Marcus Johnson explained his personal struggles to Lisa Vanderpump
During their meeting on VPR‘s Dec. 9 episode, Lisa mentioned that she’d heard Marcus was “drinking way more” than he used to. She also observed that he looked “tired,” “thin,” and “unhappy.”
That’s when Marcus filled her in on how “so much has gone on” over the past few years, including his mom’s death in September 2024. He also shared that his father had recently passed away, just a “couple [of] years ago,” as well.
“When I lost my dad, I was devastated,” Marcus elaborated. “But I had my mom and my family, and it was … somewhat like a normal grieving process, a little bit. But now that I lost my mom too, I’ve just felt like, alone in the world.”
RELATED: Why Marcus Johnson Broke the Fourth Wall on Vanderpump Rules: “I Got Caught…”
LVP, meanwhile, asked if he had confided in his on-and-off girlfriend and fellow SUR-ver, Kim Suarez.
“She just can’t understand,” Marcus responded. “And I try to tell her, you know, that there are certain things that you’re gonna want out of me as a boyfriend that I’m not gonna be capable [of giving] you right now, you know what I mean? I’m just trying to be a normal person myself.”
As Lisa reminded him, however, Kim was in his corner and loved him, regardless of any relationship issues they might be navigating.
How Marcus Johnson reacted to Lisa Vanderpump’s suspension decision
Once Lisa revealed that she would not be suspending or firing Marcus from SUR, he told her, “I know I need help. I’ve made so many good friends that have really rallied around me. I just feel like, right now, this job is all I have.”
After their meeting, however, Marcus struck a slightly different tone.
“Lisa is always busting my balls, for sure,” he said in a confessional that rolled prior to the one-on-one. “To be honest, everyone does drink at work; I just happened to get caught.”
Later on, during hostess Audrey Lingle’s rooftop birthday party, Marcus admitted to assistant manager Demy Selem that he had assumed LVP would be “pissed still” when they met. When that ended up not being the case, though, he quipped that the flowers he brought her “worked like a pro.”
Demy, meanwhile, replied, “You are so annoying. Any other boss would’ve suspended or fired you,” eliciting a wide grin from the server.
With that misstep resolved at least, find out what else is ahead for Marcus on Vanderpump Rules Season 12.
