The Behind-The-Scenes Clues You Missed That Keeping Up With The Kardashians Was Ending

Still rattled by the news that Keeping Up With The Kardashians is coming to an end? Yeah, look, I’m rattled too. But shocked? Absolutely not. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I’ve been a die-hard stan of the Kar-Jenner clan since day dot. I watched the show rise, and, sadly, I’ve also watched its steady decline over the past few years. Let me clue you in on some of these, erm, clues.

It’s me, I’m the FBI.

The series was once known and loved for charting the silly everyday happenings of the then semi-rich / semi-famous Kardashians, from their day-to-day squabbles to their ridiculous vacays. Then as the sisters’ follower counts grew, the eps became reliant on their IRL celeb feuds and various business ventures, but the thing is, we already see all that shit on social media. Why would we take an hour out of our day to watch it go down when there’s so many sick shows to watch on the streaming services?

This isn’t just me spitballing here, there’s legit evidence to back up that the old school KUWTK formula had faltered and fans were losing interest. Midway through 2017, ratings were at an all-time low. The Paris robbery episode only drew in 1.58 million viewers, which may sound like a lot, but when you compare it to the average of 4.7 million viewers that the show was receiving back in 2010, that’s a huge-ass slump.

Rumours started to circulate that the shocking drop in viewers could spell the end for KUWTK and many pondered: Is the Kardashian empire over?

Not on Kris Jenner’s watch. In October of that year, the fam miraculously signed a $150 million deal with E! to produce more seasons. So why did E! strike up such a hefty deal with a failing show?

The mystery was solved by early 2018 as in January, Kim announced that she was expecting a baby via surrogate, in March Khloé announced that she was preggers and at the same time, the Kylie pregnancy rumour started circulating.

I’m not saying that Kris Jenner had anything to do with all three sisters expecting bbs at the same time, but I also don’t believe in coincidences, so do with that what you will.

Then, after the many, many pregnancies had played out, it became clear that the producers were struggling to come up ideas to fuel the show. The dramas became more and more contrived a.k.a. the Jordyn Woods / Tristan Thompson scandal, which is so blatantly fake, IMO (read my thorough investigation here). And the eps went from being overly dramatised to the point that they seemed staged AF, to being so mind-numbingly dull, like there was legit an entire episode about Kris Jenner pretending to be a mime, and another one where she hires a scribe to write down the shit she says. Yep. Those were actual plotlines of two recent eps.

???

Sure, silly little anecdotes like that have always been part of the show, but it just seemed like they were flat out of content to keep viewers interested. They were obviously flailing, and it’s not just viewers who were outgrowing the show, certain members of the family were as well.

The final nail in the coffin came when Kourtney Kardashian, one of the founding members of the show, backed out. Although she’s always been the least interested in filming (or doing anything, really), she was clearly dedicated to the show. Hell, she even gave birth on camera and starred in several spinoffs, so the fact that she had given up on the show with her own name in it was a tell-tale sign.

Not to mention the fact that her relationship with Kim was getting progressively more tense and it was becoming almost too uncomfortable to watch.

First there was the fight over the Christmas card photoshoot that saw Kourt break down in tears and walk away from her sisters, rather than engage. Then in the next season, when she actually does fight back, it got really fucken’ ugly.

Sibling rivalry is baked into the DNA of the show, and we’re used to seeing the sisters go at it, but while we’ve seen Kim fling her handbag at her sisters, we’ve never seen two of them go at it like we did in this episode.

There was something kinda dark and unsettling about the episode. To me, it was a sign that the series had gone far beyond its expiration date and Kourt’s unhappiness was so palpable that I could feel it emanating through the screen, and not in a fun way. I actually didn’t enjoy it at all.

Kourt quit the show shortly after, and she did so in such a sucky way:

Considering Kourt was a vital cog in the KUWTK wheel, plus the fact that the Jenner sisters are barely on the show anymore, I knew that the end was nigh.

Kim, Khloé and Kris are literally my three fave fam members, but there’s no way in hell that they could keep the show afloat without the help of the other fam members.

And finally, Kanye West’s recent tweetstorm was also a big eye opener. In a series of viral tweets, West claimed that Kim “was trying to fly to Wyoming with a doctor to lock me up like on the movie Get Out“. He later publicly apologised and reunited with his wife, but Kim was later spotted crying in a car while talking to Kanye. It was evident that things were not okay with these two, as had long been rumoured.

I’m not sure if this will be featured on the final season of the show which airs next year, but I really hope not ‘cos this isn’t just some spicy storyline for us to watch as we eat popcorn, it’s Kanye’s real-life breakdown which is really fucking serious and should not be reality TV fodder.

So while I’ll miss the show like crazy, in my opinion, it’s time to stop keeping up with the Kardashians and let them keep up with themselves.

The entirety of KUWTK is now streaming on Hayu.

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