Raquel Leviss Explains What Really Happened With Tom Sandoval & Ariana Madix During Coachella Weekend

Rachel “Raquel” Leviss shared her side of a long-running Scandoval story.

Nearly one year after her shocking affair with her former friend Ariana Madix’s boyfriend, Tom Sandoval, was uncovered, the former “Vanderpump Rules” alum addressed claims that she told “Shahs of Sunset” alum Nema Vand that Sandoval said he was in an “open” relationship with Madix.

Speaking on her iHeart podcast, “Rachel Goes Rogue,” on February 18, Leviss said Vand, whom she dated briefly in 2022, took her story the wrong way.

“I did not tell Nema that Sandoval told me that he was in an open relationship,” Leviss said. “What I told Nema, I was explaining to him my experience at Coachella staying with Sandoval and Ariana and a few of our friends in that Airbnb.  Sandoval and I and Jesse were in the jacuzzi our feet were in the jacuzzi and we were talking till 5:00 a.m. The sun was coming up and we were listening to Dua Lipa and talking about relationships and whatnot. And nothing happened that weekend. But also Sandoval and Ariana were extra lovey towards me.”

“And so when I told Nema this experience, what I said was ‘Sandoval and Ariana give off an open relationship vibe,’” Leviss continued. “And he was like ‘Oh, that’s interesting, do you think they’re in an open relationship?’ And I was like, ‘No, I don’t think that they are but it was a weird energy.’”

Leviss claimed Vand asked her if she thought Sandoval might be interested in her.

“I was like, ‘Yeah it felt like he was,’” Leviss recalled. “And he said ‘Would you act on that?’ And I said. ‘No I would be more likely to hook up with Ariana than I would with Sandoval.’ That’s what I said.”

Leviss acknowledged that Vand may have misinterpreted her story when he retold it to Scheana Shay. “I guess he took it as I was saying that Sandoval told me that him and Ariana were an open relationship. And that was not the case,” she said.

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Nema Vand & Scheana Shay Spilled the Story about Leviss on Shay’s Podcast in June 2023

Three months after Leviss’ seven-month affair with Sandoval was uncovered, Vand appeared on Shay’s “Scheananigans with Scheana Shay” podcast. While chatting with Shay, Vand alleged that Leviss told him Sandoval said he and Madix had an “open relationship.”

He shared some of the same details as Leviss did, including the fact that they had a hot tub chat until sunrise. But Vand claimed Leviss told him that Sandoval and Madix had “an open thing” and were allowed to hook up with anyone they wanted to. He also alleged that Leviss told him that Sandoval point blank said to her, “Like, you know, we could totally hook up.”

Vand said when he asked Leviss if she’d ever consider such a thing she told him she’d never hook up with Sandoval but would consider a hookup with Madix.

On her podcast, Leviss said Shay confronted her after hearing about the story but refused to tell her who told it to her. Leviss also described Shay as “vindictive” for holding into the story and waiting until the cheating scandal broke to spill it to Madix.

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Tom Sandoval Confronted Scheana Shay About the Podcast

Shay told Madix about the story in an unaired scene filmed for the “Vanderpump Rules” season 10 finale.  According to Page Six, after cameras picked back up to capture post-Scandoval drama, Shay told Madix that Sandoval attempted to make a move on Leviss nearly a year earlier.

“Apparently in April [2022], she told this person that at Coachella, after you went to sleep, they were in the hot tub, he made a comment to her and was like, ‘So you know Ariana and I are like open right?’ And that he started coming onto her at [expletive] Coachella,” Shay told a shocked Madix.

Sandoval denied the accusation during the “Vanderpump Rules: Pumped Up Edition” reunion.

More recently, Shay doubled down on what Vand told her during the “Vanderpump Rules” season 11  episode “You’re Not the Queen of My World.”  In the final scene of the episode, Sandoval told Shay that after her podcast with Vand he “really had to talk [Leviss] down.”

“But she said it, Tom,” Shay replied.

“This was never supposed to be a podcast where we were attacking or hurting Tom or Raquel,” Shay added in a confessional. “Nema and I just wanted to do a podcast and put the truth out there. Because I’m not going to have people saying I’m making up a rumor. Whether Sandoval actually said that to Raquel or not, I don’t know. But Raquel said it to Nema.”

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