Vanderpump Rules was rocked by “Scandoval” after the news broke that Tom Sandoval had been cheating on Ariana Madix, his long-term girlfriend, for months with former pageant contestant Raquel Leviss; however, it may have been an open secret. Tom was always seen as one of the better guys on the hit Bravo show compared to Jax Taylor and James Kennedy. However, the scandal has knocked him off his own pedestal and down a few notches.
The singer hasn’t had the best history with the women he has dated on Vanderpump Rules. During the earlier seasons, the former SUR bartender met Ariana when she was working at Lisa Vanderpump’s Villa Blanca. At the time, Tom was dating Kristen Doute, with Tom only referring to Ariana as a good friend. Vanderpump Rules season 2 highlighted Kristen and Tom’s relationship issues, culminating in Kristen accusing Tom of cheating. Even though hindsight is always 20/20, according to Tom, it’s hard to ignore that he has a clear pattern when it comes to manipulating women.
Was Scandoval The Best Kept Secret?
After speaking out on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Tom Schwartz finally revealed that he knew about Sandoval and Raquel’s affair since August 2022. During his chat with Andy, Tom Schwartz stated that he believed there were a lot of people around them who “kind of knew it was an open secret.” The theory about Sandoval and Raquel being so open does seem to have a bit of truth to it. For Ariana, she may have been too close to the situation and had blinders on, but for those outside the friend circle, it was a clear pattern that something suspicious was going on.
Should The Group Have Told Ariana?
Normally, the girl code would have stipulated that if Lala Kent, Katie Maloney, or Scheana Shay knew about Tom’s affair, they would be obligated to tell their friend. However, some past issues could have easily caused the three Vanderpump Rules girls to refrain from coming forward with the truth. It’s unlikely that Ariana would have taken the news well if it came from Lala or Katie because it’s so widely documented how much both women disliked Tom. It could be argued that Scheana was the closest to Ariana, but Scheana has been shut down numerous times before, so why would this time have been different?
The key piece to the “Scandoval” theory is James’ new girlfriend Ally Lewber. She has been the only one to clearly see what was happening between Tom and Raquel after running into the pair at the Abbey in West Hollywood. While the English DJ thought nothing of it, Ally pushes forward, noting that their friendship and late-night clubbing are odd and unacceptable for a man in a committed relationship. While most of the Vanderpump Rules inner circle was blinded to the connection, the most removed and newest to the group, Ally, successfully started to piece together the puzzle leaving the idea of an open secret highly likely.
Source: Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen/YouTube
