Heavy/NBCUniversal Vanderpump Rules season 11 cast
Tom Sandoval spoke about his affair with Raquel Leviss and joked that the “Vanderpump Rules” producers made him cheat on his longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix.
On December 7, Sandoval was joined on his podcast “Everybody Loves Tom” by VPR co-star Tom Schwartz and the co-hosts of the “Two Ts in a Pod” podcast, Tamra Judge and Teddi Mellencamp. At one point in their interview, the topic turned to “Real Housewives of New York City” alum Bethenny Frankel and her calls for reality stars to get paid residuals.
Sandoval said he understood her point because reality stars like him were forced to relive all the “dumb s***” they’d done years before and constantly apologize for it while not getting paid for the reruns. Mellencamp replied that people who go on reality TV all know, “You have a choice of the s*** you wanna do and the stuff you don’t wanna do.”
“You don’t ever feel like you’ve been forced,” she continued. “Have you ever felt like you were forced? Like did you feel like you were forced to cheat,” she asked. “Actually yes, it was not me at all,” Sandoval replied tongue-in-cheek. “The producers told me. It’s them, they did it. It’s not me.”
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Tom Sandoval Sad He Fought Really Hard for His Relationship With Raquel Leviss
While speaking with Mellencamp and Judge on their own podcast, Sandoval opened up about his affair with Leviss and said he tried really hard to pursue a relationship with her afterward. “I fought so hard for Rachel,” he said, referring to the former VPR star by her legal name. He said he stopped drinking and “stopped smoking cigarettes because she went away to a facility.”
“I’m like, ‘She can’t drink, she can’t smoke. I’m gonna quit,’” he told the podcast co-hosts. “I haven’t gone this long without drinking since I was 16. It’s been eight months. I stopped for her. I was there in any way that she needed me.”
However, he said their relationship ended soon after the news of the scandal broke. He called the end of their relationship and friendship “heartbreaking” and said he was “fully in love with her.”
The Trailer for ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Season 11 Showed That the Scandoval Fallout Will Be a Major Theme
The fallout of the affair, known as Scandoval, will be documented in season 11 of “Vanderpump Rules.” The season, which was filmed in the summer of 2023, will premiere in January 2024.
The trailer showed that Madix and Sandoval, despite still living in the same house, were not on speaking terms and lines were being drawn among the cast. Lisa Vanderpump, for one, called their living situation “ridiculous.” Meanwhile, Madix was shown to be moving on with her new boyfriend Daniel Wai while Sandoval dipped his toes back in the dating pool.
The trailer also showed Schwartz wondering if his best friend and business partner was still in love with Leviss. Elsewhere, Madix threatened legal action against her ex over their house and her “children,” in reference to the eggs she froze during their relationship.
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