Lala Kent Said it Best: Tom Sandoval is a Dangerous Person
Part 2 of the Vanderpump Rules Season 10 Reunion aired last night, and it wasn't pretty
It’s been almost exactly three months since the news of #Scandoval first broke, keeping the nation captivated by the brazenness of it all. In March, Ariana Madix learned that Tom Sandoval, her partner of nearly a decade had been having a 7-month affair with their costar and close friend Raquel (Rachel) Leviss. While the cast has had their fair share of cheating scandals, this one easily takes the cake due to the many layers of manipulation at play as well as the longevity and seriousness of the relationship.
The news broke after the season had already wrapped, so the Bravo! production team scrambled to get filming back up and running, eventually borrowing a crew from The Real Housewives of Beverley Hills. Only the last three episodes of the season were filmed following the revelations.
In these recent episodes, Tom Sandoval has attempted to discredit Ariana by attacking her character, citing intimacy issues, and even questioning why she didn’t press him harder. In a scene following the fallout, Tom Sandoval says to Tom Schwartz, “She could’ve, like, followed me to see I wasn’t where I said I was.”
Later, in the first scene with Raquel since the news broke, Tom expresses his frustration that Ariana had friends at their shared home to support her. Raquel expresses that she is glad that she has that support, to which Tom responds, “Yeah it’s just that she would always get mad at me when I would like have birthday parties and stuff.”
We see Tom have one-on-one conversations with four individuals: Ariana, Schwartz, Lisa, and Raquel. Out of those four conversations, he only breaks down when speaking to Schwartz and Lisa: his business partners. He is icy and resentful when speaking to Ariana, and awkward and guarded with Raquel
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In the two reunion episodes that have aired so far, he has taken cheap shots and low blows at several of his cast mates. First, James Kennedy expresses how betrayed he felt by Tom’s actions, to which Ariana adds that they were like brothers. Tom then scoffs at this, and says that no, they weren’t. A clearly hurt James, close to tears, shouts that yes they were, and Tom says, “You said that, I never did.” Later, he calls Lala a “moron” and says she “pulled out her IUD the day she found out Stassi was pregnant.” In the preview for the next episode, he angrily calls Ariana “motherf*cker” out of frustration, and is admonished by Lisa.
During the lunch break, Tom attempts to persuade production to allow an off-camera chat alone with Raquel, which they decline. This then prompts him to go ballistic on the producer, shouting and cursing about how he needs a break. Production continues to urge him to take his lunch alone, off camera, or concede to having his lunch with Raquel filmed. Eventually, they seem to enjoy an off-camera smoke break together.
We then get to see Raquel’s one-on-one interview with Andy during which she admits some shocking claims including that she had originally thought her friendship with Ariana would be able to be salvaged. She also repeat’s Tom’s talking points blaming Ariana for not pressing Tom harder, never confronting Raquel, and generally not looking hard enough. When Andy asked what was taking them so long to come clean, Raquel then says, “We wanted to get our story straight.”
What was made clear in the second episode of the reunion is that there is a stark difference between Raquel and Tom Sandoval. Raquel truly doesn’t seem to grasp the magnitude of what she’s done, while Tom Sandoval does, but is trying to manipulate his way out of suffering the full extent of his consequences. While I’m not a clinician, I do have my fair share of experience with narcissistic abuse and recognize some frightening patterns at play here. If Lala Kent has ever been right about anything, it’s that Tom Sandoval is a dangerous person.