NBCUniversal/Getty/Heavy Andy Cohen and Tom Sandoval
Several months after Howie Mandel interviewed Tom Sandoval in the “Vanderpump Rules” star’s first interview after news of the Scandoval made headlines across the country, Mandel and Andy Cohen discussed the reaction to the interview.
Fans might recall that Mandel took a lot of heat over his interview with Sandoval, partly because he revealed that he hadn’t watched “Vanderpump Rules” and didn’t know much about the scandal, and partly because of the ire surrounding anything to do with the VPR star.
“I started watching after the fact, which was, I gotta tell you, as somebody who wasn’t initiated into this thing, it was after the deposition,” Mandel explained to Cohen on SiriusXM’s “Andy Cohen Live.” “It’s like having a deposition and then watching the courtroom, you know?”
Mandel said he was watching episodes of “Vanderpump Rules” and realized Sandoval’s on-screen actions were contradicting what he told Mandel. “He said he broke up,” Mandel said. “He told me a story about how, you know, she wanted to have kids and he went, ‘Are you crazy? I broke up with you.’ The next episode is him and his buddy [Tom] Schwartz walking into, what’s it called, a fertility thing.”
“I go, ‘Well, that’s not what he told me. He told me that he broke up with her and it was crazy that she wanted to have kids,'” Mandel added. “So it was so much fun afterwards, but so much hate for just allowing a guy to have a platform and if so, if you believe it, bury himself.”
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Andy Cohen Named Howie Mandel the ‘Jackhole of the Day’ on WWHL in the Wake of Mandel’s Interview
After Mandel’s interview with Sandoval came out just ahead of the “Vanderpump Rules” season 10 reunion, Cohen didn’t hold back in sharing his thoughts about it. The “Watch What Happens Live” host used a segment on that show to name Mandel the “Jackhole of the Day.”
“Tonight’s Jackhole [of the Night] goes to the fact that Howie Mandel apparently didn’t know what he was getting himself into with his interview of Tom Sandoval today,” Cohen said. He shared that it was clear that Mandel didn’t do his research into VPR or Bravo before the interview and warned the TV personality to “be careful” because Bravo fans are “very passionate.”
Andy Cohen Acknowledged That Howie Mandel’s Interview With Tom Sandoval Worked Out Well for Him in the End
During Mandel’s interview with Cohen on January 18, the former “Deal or No Deal” host challenged Cohen, asking, “Why am I a jackhole?”
Cohen replied that it was “interesting” to hear Mandel’s perspective about wanting to give Sandoval a platform, especially given the criticism that he was receiving from all sides. “The idea of him being given an opportunity to just have an open mic and say what he had to say, it actually wound up working out well personally for me because then he could get grilled,” Cohen said. “As it turns out, maybe I should give you the mazel instead because we do a jack-hole and a mazel, you know?”
Mandel also said he had to prevent his co-host and daughter, Jackelyn Shultz, from challenging Sandoval on too many aspects of his responses. He said he had to tell her that if she kept challenging Sandoval, he was going to “shut down” and wouldn’t talk to them. Cohen agreed that Sandoval likely agreed to Mandel’s podcast because he thought it would be a “friendly place” to share his side unchallenged.
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