Tom Sandoval Reveals What He Tells New ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Cast Members

Tom Sandoval has been a cast member on “Vanderpump Rules” ever since the show made its debut on Bravo in 2013. Over nine seasons, he has seen new cast members come in and others go.

While many of the current main cast members were part of the SUR staff for several seasons, some short-timers have included Laura Leigh, Vail Bloom, Billie Lee, Brett Caprioni, and Dayna Kathan, per IMDb.

But how easy is it for a newbie to fit in with the core crew? Here’s what Sandoval said:

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Tom Sandoval Tells Newbies They Need to Be Ready to Be Accountable

In an interview with the “So Bad It’s Good” podcast with Ryan Bailey on March 8, 2022, veteran “Vanderpump Rules” cast member Tom Sandoval opened up about the cast dynamic.

“With certain people it’s different,” he said. “Even the people, even Jax [Taylor], even Stassi [Schroeder] where we’ve butted heads or whatever, there is still, at the end of the day, an underlying respect that we do have for each other because we’re really putting ourselves out there. That’s the only time there’s ever an issue when someone’s really not putting themselves out there, which doesn’t happen that often.”

Sandoval elaborated to add that he has helped out several newcomers on the show.

“Ariana [Madix] and I have both done that over the years, with everyone from Vail to Billie to even Laura Leigh,” the Tom Tom partner revealed. “All these people. We always, instead of coming down on them. Even with James [Kennedy] and with Lala [Kent] when they first started, Brittany [Cartwright]. Instead of being like, ‘Yo,  you think you can handle this?’ I’m not gonna act like that.”

Instead, Sandoval lets newcomers know that he’s there for them and offers them a piece of advice, telling them:

“Hey, listen. It’s gonna be okay. If you need anything, if you have any questions, whatever, let me know. Just understand you can be as much of a part of this as you wanna be. You cannot come in here, I’m just telling you right now, you cannot come in here and start commenting or making strong accusations about somebody and who they are or what is happening in their lives without putting yourself out as well. If you want to get into the mix of the s*** going down, you gotta understand that that is going to come right back to you as well. You better be ready to be accountable in the same way. “

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Vanderpump Rules Scaled Back on the Newcomers for Season 9

The 8^th season of “Vanderpump Rules” ushered in several new — and younger — cast members, but most of them didn’t survive for season 9. Following a cast shakeup that marked the exits of Schroeder, Taylor, Cartwright, and Kristen Doute as well as three newcomers, fans prepared for an onslaught of new faces — but it didn’t happen.

In an interview with the “Chicks in the Office” podcast, Lala Kent said the newcomers and their storylines were “shoved down” viewers’ throats.  In a separate sit down with the “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef” podcast, Kent admitted that with so many new faces, even she couldn’t “get through an episode”’ because it was so confusing.

“I was like, this is what even is this?” she said. “ How do you even follow anything that’s going on? Like way too many new faces, way too big of storylines for people that are brand new. Like no one’s invested in these people. And you know, now look at where we are. None of those people are even on the show, we spend an entire season like trying to make them happen.”

At the time, Kent added, “I think everybody learned from last year and said, we’re not doing that again.”

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