Ariana Madix’s first Chicago run opened in the winter of 2024, and she says the moment felt like a payoff for years of winding work. Looking back, she said everything had lined up, with the hard work and all the meandering paths finally coming together.
That opening night mattered because it arrived after years when Madix was known in pieces, as a bartender, a funny presence on CollegeHumor, and a Vanderpump Rules personality. Before Broadway, before Love Island and before St. Denis Medical, she said she was trying to make rent while juggling sketch videos and a string of jobs, including go-go dancing and one stint promoting cigarettes for Camel.
“I was just working to try to be able to pay the rent at that point, while I was also doing CollegeHumor sketch videos and I was doing a million different jobs. I was a go-go dancer. I was someone who promoted cigarettes for Camel at one point,” Madix said. She added that many of her CollegeHumor classmates had gone on to become powerhouses, a reminder that the people around her were moving forward even before the industry fully caught up to her.
On Broadway, it did catch up. Madix later posted record-breaking numbers for the production and returned as Roxie Hart, giving the role a second life after that first Chicago stretch. The run helped turn a performer once boxed in by reality television into someone with a theater resume that now carried real weight.
That shift also set up her next high-profile turn: hosting the American version of Love Island. Madix said she knew people had already made up their minds about her because of her reality TV past, and she went into the villa determined to change the story. “I was very determined to come in there and make a moment because I felt like I needed to show up and show out and show the world that I deserved to be the host of the show,” she said.
She made that entrance in a gold Di Petsa dress that sold out immediately, a look crafted with help from a glam team that included Emily Men, Carl Bembridge and Krystal Dawn. Madix said Beyoncé was a major influence on her walks, and the polished arrival fit the image she was trying to project: not a novelty hire, but a host with command.
That is why her winter 2024 Chicago debut still matters. It marked the point where Madix’s career stopped reading like a series of side quests and started looking like a straight line, even if it had taken years to draw.
