It has all the parts of a Shakespearean tragedy – star-crossed lovers, an nearly biblical backstabbing, a scorned lady rising from the ashes of destruction like a phoenix – and though a tv present is at its core, it is truly taking part in out in actuality.
Yes, we’re speaking about ‘Scandoval’, the real-life cheating scandal Vanderpump Rules stars Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss – and the world – have been embroiled in for months. It reached its grand finale in a single day.
It’s so much to absorb for individuals who are unfamiliar with the actuality collection and its vibrant solid, a posh internet of lies not even Kris Jenner may have masterminded for rankings. Here’s what you need to know.
Watch the video above.
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What is Scandoval?
‘Scandoval’ – a play on philanderer Tom Sandoval’s title – is an umbrella time period for the months-long fallout that got here from Sandoval and former girlfriend of 9 years’ Ariana Madix’s break up.
News broke in March the ex-power couple had parted methods after Sandoval, 39, cheated on Madix, 37, together with her shut buddy Raquel Leviss, 28, who can also be their Vanderpump Rules castmate.
Vanderpump Rules is actuality present specializing in former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Vanderpump’s California restaurant SUR (which stands for Sexy Unique Restaurant), and the behind-the-scenes drama between the staffers who run it.
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All three have been common solid members for nearly a decade – Sandoval has been a part of the present since its first season, and Madix did seem in the present in Season 1 however did not be a part of the solid formally till Season 2 in 2014. The former couple had been notably the present’s most steady couple for all 9 years of their relationship.
Leviss joined the collection in its sixth season in 2016, and was relationship collection common James Kennedy. They acquired engaged in 2021, and had been affianced for seven months earlier than splitting in December 2021.
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Weeks after the cheating scandal broke, Sandoval broke his silence. When requested by paparazzi if he would change something if he may return in time, he famous, per ET, that he may have dealt with issues higher – and stated, “Hindsight’s always 20/20 man.”
He then took to Instagram with an apology, urging followers to not take out their anger on his pals and castmates – particularly Tom Schwartz, his greatest buddy and enterprise accomplice. Schwartz had additionally been struggling on account of the scandal as their new LA bar Schwartz & Sandy’s Lounge and established Santa Monica bar TomTom had been inundated with a slew of unhealthy evaluations on-line. Sandoval stated he was “sorry for everything”.
To followers, that was affirmation Sandoval had cheated on Madix, although he did not handle her or apologise to her publicly till three days later, when he wrote on Instagram: “I made mistakes, I was selfish, and made reckless decisions that hurt somebody I love. No one deserves to feel that pain so traumatically and publicly.”
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Madix, at this stage, had deleted her social media accounts, although she ultimately returned to Instagram on March 16 with a photograph of herself on vacation in Mexico, the place she wrote a prolonged assertion addressing the drama.
“hi. where to begin? i want to express my most sincere gratitude for the outpouring of love and support i have received from friends, family, and people i’ve never even met in the last two weeks,” she wrote.
“when i have felt like i couldn’t even stand, you all have given me the strength to continue and seen me through my darkest hours. to say i have been devastated and broken is an understatement. however, i know that i am not in this alone. so many of my closest friends are also grieving this loss right now and reeling from this betrayal on so many levels,” she continued.
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Madix concluded: “i am so f–king lucky to have the best support system in the world and i hope i can repay every single person for the love you have shown me. what doesn’t kill me better run. love, ariana.”
Leviss, in the meantime, issued an apology by way of Instagram on March 9, saying she was sorry “for my actions and my choices foremost to Ariana, and my friends and fans”, and calling the circumstances of her relationship with Sandoval “indefensible”.
Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ Judas-like betrayal of Ariana Madix
‘Scandoval’ has left followers in a state of disarray ever because it broke – not simply because they’ve faithfully watched the trio on-screen for years, however as a result of their previously shut friendship, and Sandoval and Madix’s relationship, was the present’s True North.
When Leviss and Kennedy break up, she spoke about how a lot she valued Sandoval and Madix’s help, and she is beforehand spoken about how Madix was certainly one of her “true friends”.
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Vanderpump Rules star Kristen Doute, 40, revealed on a March 10 episode of her podcast Sex, Love, and What Else Matters that she was there the night time Madix discovered about the affair, claiming it occurred when Sandoval’s telephone fell out of his pocket and a buddy handed it to Madix after selecting it up.
“The real truth is that Ariana had his phone, and she told me that she just had this gut intuition to look at it,” Doute claimed.
“She just felt like she had to look, so she goes into his photos. He had screen recorded a FaceTime of himself and Raquel masturbating to each other,” she alleged.
Fans have since gone again and pored over previous episodes, social media posts, and interviews given by Leviss and Sandoval in an effort to determine how lengthy the affair had been happening – Sandoval notably dressed as Leviss for Halloween in 2022, and went out with Madix and Leviss, who had been carrying matching costumes, that night time.
Some followers assume that Sandoval and Leviss had been carrying matching lightning bolt necklaces for months as an indication of their secret relationship, which was confirmed by Leviss this week throughout the third a part of the Season 10 reunion.
Host Andy Cohen requested Leviss if the necklace had “the meaning we all think it does” and she confirmed she determined to get the necklace to match Sandoval’s piece because it ”was significant to who [Sandoval] became in my life.”
“I know that’s not what anyone wants to hear,” Leviss added, to which her ex-fiancé Kennedy stepped in and stated it was “gross”.
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How lengthy Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss had been having their affair
”This has been going on for upwards of 6 months – all the while, Tom was sleeping next to Ariana in bed,” one supply claimed to People, alleging the affair had been happening in the American summer time of 2022.
“She was completely blindsided by this; devastated doesn’t even scratch the surface of how she feels.”
In the ultimate episode of Season 10, Sandoval confirmed the affair had been happening for seven months. Vanderpump Rules is filmed in the summer time, and he additionally confirmed in a separate interview he and Leviss kissed for the first time in August 2022, at 38-year-old co-star Scheana Shay’s marriage ceremony.
One piece of data that Sandoval, Leviss and Madix had been going again and forth on was if Sandoval and Leviss had slept collectively at his and Madix’s house whereas she was out of city for her grandmother’s funeral.
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“That’s the one story that we’ve agreed on getting straight, and I know that the reason why Tom wanted to lie about it is because it’s a really bad look to hook up with someone’s boyfriend in their own house when they’ve gone out of town,” Leviss stated by tears in the third a part of the Season 10 reunion.
“Especially for a funeral of all things. I am so sick of lying, I hate it. I hate being deceitful, it’s horrible.”
At the reunion, Leviss additionally got here face-to-face with Madix for the first time, who known as her former buddy “diabolical, demented, disgusting, subhuman” as she cried.
Leviss supplied an apology, saying she was “ashamed and embarrassed” and “can’t even fathom the pain” she has brought about.
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“The way that we have betrayed the people closest to us was detrimental to all of our friendships, and I’m seeing all of the consequences for my actions that I never even considered because I was living in the moment,” Leviss stated.
A teary Sandoval instructed his ex-girlfriend: “Ariana, I know you hate me, and that’s OK, it’s OK, I understand, but I want you to know I will always love you, and I will always be cheering you on from afar. Always.”
Cohen requested Leviss if she was nonetheless in love with Sandoval, which she confirmed. Sandoval stated the similar about his emotions for Leviss, confirming with a solemn: “I’m sorry, yes.”
Madix chimed in: “That’s the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard.”
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Off-camera, Madix has reportedly not been talking to Leviss since the information broke. She has additionally claimed that Sandoval had intercourse with Leviss of their former shared house, whereas she was asleep in one other room.
Where Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss stand now
It seems that in spite of everything that, Leviss and Sandoval are not collectively.
In a March 22 interview performed at a nail salon in Los Angeles, Leviss stated, per Page Six, that she and Sandoval had been “taking a break for now” and “not putting a label on things”.
Madix, in the meantime, has signed a number of model partnerships off the again of the scandal, and has seen her social media followers develop exponentially.
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In the Vanderpump Rules finale, she snapped at Sandoval: ”You’re worth nothing and I want you to feel that deep in your soul.”
“I want you to hear those words coming from the mouth of the woman that f–king stood by you and loved you and was ready to build the rest of my life around you. Hear my words and know that that’s how I feel about you. I regret ever loving you,” she stated.
Leviss, nonetheless, in the finale episode, appeared to present little regret. She smiled and took a playful tone throughout confessional interviews, saying of why their relationship started: ”I was just so curious to know what it would be like to be physical with someone that you love, ’cause I already knew that I loved him as a friend. And I’ve never had sex like that before. I should’ve, like, completely removed myself from the situation, but I did not have the willpower to not see him.”
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TMZ has additionally reported that Leviss and her household have obtained so many demise threats and graphic messages in the wake of the cheating scandal that they’d to name the FBI.
Sandoval, in the meantime, spent a majority of the finale episode – which aired earlier than the three-part reunion did, the ultimate a part of which was broadcast on June 8 – weeping.
He additionally claimed that he tried to finish his relationship with Madix repeatedly and that she did not settle for his determination, however viewers, and Madix, have not purchased that for a second.
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Star subtly confirms marital standing amid cheating scandal
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