It has all the weather of a Shakespearean tragedy – star-crossed lovers, an virtually 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 enjoying out in actuality.
Sure, we’re speaking about ‘Scandoval’, the real-life dishonest scandal Vanderpump Guidelines 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 is rather a lot to soak up for individuals who are unfamiliar with the fact collection and its vibrant forged, a fancy net of lies not even Kris Jenner may have masterminded for scores. This is what you’ll want to know.
Watch the video above.
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What’s 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 cut up.
Information broke in March the ex-power couple had parted methods after Sandoval, 39, cheated on Madix, 37, along with her shut pal Raquel Leviss, 28, who can also be their Vanderpump Guidelines castmate.
Vanderpump Guidelines is actuality present specializing in former Actual Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Vanderpump’s California restaurant SUR (which stands for Horny Distinctive Restaurant), and the behind-the-scenes drama between the staffers who run it.
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All three have been common forged members for nearly a decade – Sandoval has been a part of the present since its first season, and Madix did seem within the present in Season 1 however did not be part of the forged formally till Season 2 in 2014. The previous 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 received engaged in 2021, and had been affianced for seven months earlier than splitting in December 2021.
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Weeks after the dishonest 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 all the time 20/20 man.”
He then took to Instagram with an apology, urging followers to not take out their anger on his buddies and castmates – particularly Tom Schwartz, his finest pal 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 dangerous evaluations on-line. Sandoval stated he was “sorry for every thing”.
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 errors, I used to be egocentric, and made reckless choices that damage someone I really like. Nobody deserves to really feel that ache 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.
“hello. the place to start? i wish to categorical my most honest gratitude for the outpouring of affection and assist i’ve acquired from buddies, household, and folks i’ve by no means even met within the final two weeks,” she wrote.
“when i’ve felt like i could not even stand, you all have given me the energy to proceed and seen me via my darkest hours. to say i’ve been devastated and damaged is an understatement. nevertheless, i do know that i’m not on this alone. so a lot of my closest buddies are additionally grieving this loss proper now and reeling from this betrayal on so many ranges,” she continued.
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Madix concluded: “i’m so f–king fortunate to have the most effective assist system on this planet and that i hope i can repay each single particular person for the love you may have proven me. what would not kill me higher 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 decisions foremost to Ariana, and my buddies and followers”, 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 cut up, she spoke about how a lot she valued Sandoval and Madix’s assist, and she is beforehand spoken about how Madix was certainly one of her “true buddies”.
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Vanderpump Guidelines star Kristen Doute, 40, revealed on a March 10 episode of her podcast Intercourse, Love, and What Else Issues that she was there the evening Madix came upon concerning the affair, claiming it occurred when Sandoval’s cellphone fell out of his pocket and a pal handed it to Madix after choosing it up.
“The true reality is that Ariana had his cellphone, and he or she instructed me that she simply had this intestine instinct to have a look at it,” Doute claimed.
“She simply felt like she needed to look, so she goes into his pictures. He had display screen recorded a FaceTime of himself and Raquel masturbating to one another,” she alleged.
Followers 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 sporting matching costumes, that evening.
Some followers assume that Sandoval and Leviss had been sporting matching lightning bolt necklaces for months as an indication of their secret relationship, which was confirmed by Leviss this week through the third a part of the Season 10 reunion.
Host Andy Cohen requested Leviss if the necklace had “the that means all of us assume it does” and he or she confirmed she determined to get the necklace to match Sandoval’s piece because it ”was vital to who [Sandoval] grew to become in my life.”
“I do know that is not what anybody needs to listen to,” 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 happening for upwards of 6 months – all of the whereas, Tom was sleeping subsequent to Ariana in mattress,” one supply claimed to Folks, alleging the affair had been happening within the American summer time of 2022.
“She was fully blindsided by this; devastated would not even scratch the floor of how she feels.”
Within the last episode of Season 10, Sandoval confirmed the affair had been happening for seven months. Vanderpump Guidelines is filmed in the summertime, and he additionally confirmed in a separate interview he and Leviss kissed for the primary 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 backwards and forwards 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 is the one story that we have agreed on getting straight, and I do know that the explanation why Tom needed to lie about it’s as a result of it is a actually dangerous look to hook up with somebody’s boyfriend in their very own home once they’ve gone out of city,” Leviss stated via tears within the third a part of the Season 10 reunion.
“Particularly for a funeral of all issues. I’m so sick of mendacity, I hate it. I hate being deceitful, it is horrible.”
On the reunion, Leviss additionally got here face-to-face with Madix for the primary time, who referred to as her former pal “diabolical, demented, disgusting, subhuman” as she cried.
Leviss provided an apology, saying she was “ashamed and embarrassed” and “cannot even fathom the ache” she has induced.
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“The best way that we now have betrayed the folks closest to us was detrimental to all of our friendships, and I am seeing all the penalties for my actions that I by no means even thought of as a result of I used to be residing within the second,” Leviss stated.
A teary Sandoval instructed his ex-girlfriend: “Ariana, I do know you hate me, and that is OK, it is OK, I perceive, however I would like you to know I’ll all the time love you, and I’ll all the time be cheering you on from afar. All the time.”
Cohen requested Leviss if she was nonetheless in love with Sandoval, which she confirmed. Sandoval stated the identical about his emotions for Leviss, confirming with a solemn: “I am sorry, sure.”
Madix chimed in: “That is probably the most pathetic factor I’ve ever heard.”
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Off-camera, Madix has reportedly not been chatting with Leviss because 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.
The place Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss stand now
It seems that in any case that, Leviss and Sandoval are now not collectively.
In a March 22 interview carried out at a nail salon in Los Angeles, Leviss stated, per Web page Six, that she and Sandoval had been “taking a break for now” and “not placing a label on issues”.
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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Within the Vanderpump Guidelines finale, she snapped at Sandoval: ”You are value nothing and I would like you to really feel that deep in your soul.”
“I would like you to listen to these phrases coming from the mouth of the girl that f–king stood by you and beloved you and was able to construct the remainder of my life round you. Hear my phrases and know that that is how I really feel about you. I remorse ever loving you,” she stated.
Leviss, nevertheless, within the finale episode, appeared to point out little regret. She smiled and took a playful tone throughout confessional interviews, saying of why their relationship started: ”I used to be simply so curious to know what it will be wish to be bodily with somebody that you just love, ‘trigger I already knew that I beloved him as a pal. And I’ve by no means had intercourse like that earlier than. I ought to’ve, like, fully eliminated myself from the scenario, however I didn’t have the willpower to not see him.”
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TMZ has additionally reported that Leviss and her household have acquired so many dying threats and graphic messages within the wake of the dishonest scandal that they needed 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 resolution, however viewers, and Madix, have not purchased that for a second.
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Star subtly confirms marital standing amid dishonest scandal
