Right under their noses? The Vanderpump Rules cast was shocked by the news that Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval were having an affair — but have since broken down the signs that might have been there the entire time.
In March 2023, Us Weekly confirmed Sandoval’s split from longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix, who called it quits with the TomTom cofounder because he cheated with Leviss.
“Ariana found out [about the affair] after looking at Tom’s phone while he was on stage performing his new song,” a source shared with Us at the time. The insider added that it was “unclear” if Sandoval’s business partner, Tom Schwartz — who hooked up with Leviss several months prior — “knew [about the affair] or if he was blindsided.
The bombshell news came as Vanderpump Rules viewers watched the onscreen build-up to Leviss and Schwartz’s hookup. (The costars made out at Scheana Shay and Brock Davies‘ wedding in August 2022, five months after the restaurant owner’s split from Katie Maloney.)
Amid the drama, Peter Madrigal recalled growing suspicious of the time the beauty pageant contestant spent with Sandoval.
“Let’s just put it this way, I found it very interesting — I’m not gonna go into the details, because there are certain things I can’t go into details about — but how do I put this, they were hanging out quite a bit without Ariana around,” the OG cast member, who briefly dated Leviss in summer 2022, said on the “Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend” podcast in March 2023. “In the back of my head, I’m like, ‘This is weird, but OK, maybe Tom’s just trying to show her the ropes or something like that.’ Some ropes!”
He continued: “I know this for a fact. I’m not gonna reveal any names, but I know that a few people knew about this and tipped Scheana off. That’s the way I think the scenario happened. I do know some people knew about it for a while.”
Shay, for her part, was served with a temporary restraining order from Leviss amid rumors that things got physical when the singer — who is close friends with Madix — learned about the affair. Shay’s attorney denied the allegations against his client in a statement to Us.
Shay’s friends Jamie Lynne and Kael Ramsey Ackerson later claimed that Leviss told them when things turned romantic between her and Sandoval.
“She basically just told me [it happened] seven months ago and after the Las Vegas trip,” Ramsey-Ackerson explained on Lynne’s “Jamie All Over” podcast in March 2023, referring to the boys’ night episode of the hit Bravo series. “She was like, ‘[After the boys’ night] is when [Sandoval and I] got closer.’”
Meanwhile, Lynne broke down her suspicions about the twosome that night. “Raquel and Sandoval were sitting on the curb outside of Saddle Ranch just talking. I didn’t realize that at the time like how close they were talking or how intimate it actually looked,” she said. “So I start filming the two of them talking. We’re so clueless that we have no idea what’s actually transpiring.”
After rewatching the August 2022 video, Lynne noted that it didn’t appear platonic.
“I had this thought [at the time]. I thought I’m not posting this because this looks way too intimate and I don’t want Ariana to feel a certain way about this,” she continued. “I don’t want her to feel disrespected, but it didn’t set off alarm bells, like, is something inappropriate happening? It was just that she might get the wrong idea and I don’t want to put anyone in that position.”
She concluded: “If you watch it back — without the voiceover on it — it looks super close and super intimate. But bottom line is that none of us knew beforehand.”
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Scroll down for every moment between Sandoval and Leviss that the Vanderpump Rules cast has questioned since news of their affair: