Scandoval: The Vanderpump Rules Cheating Scandal

I read about the Tom Sandoval/Ariana Madix breakup on a Google feed last weekend. I was surprised by the news; I expected to see another story or two on TMZ and/or Jezebel, and comments on Primetimer.com. Instead, stories exploded all over the internet; The New York Times ran a story, and it was on the main page of CNN.

I didn't plan to write about it, but if the Times deems it worthy of a story, I'll share my thoughts.

Vanderpump Rules just entered its 10th season. Cheating has been part of its storylines starting with Scheana's affair with Eddie Cibrian (married to Brandy of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills at the time.) 

Later there were cheating stories about Jax and Kristen, Stassi and Frank, Jax and Faith, the Toms and miscellaneous Vegas/Miami women, James and Kristen, James and Lala, James and miscellaneous Sur staff members. I don't know the length of the Scheana/Eddie liaison, but the others were short-term--one (or two) night stands.

In contrast, the current affair between Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss has been going on for several months. They allegedly want to be together. Lisa Vanderpump's theory is that they were waiting until after the reunion to reveal their relationship, giving Ariana and the others a chance to get used to the idea before the show started filming again. 

Tom and Ariana were the longest term couple in the cast after Katie and Tom Schwartz divorced. They bought a house together. They probably would have been married except for Ariana's reluctance. 

I'm mad about it because I liked Tom Sandoval. Let me explain. When I say I like a reality show character, I mean the person is entertaining and makes good TV. I think all the cast members are pretentious assholes who I couldn't stand in real-life situations. Sandoval was over the top in his clothing choices--he loved any excuse to wear a costume and in his plans (ironically he helped finance Rachella when James proposed to Raquel.) While Sandoval was always an asshole by definition, he got worse in recent years: a nasty, middle-of-the-night email to Stassi, a ridiculous band in which he pays the other bandmembers, his stupidity--along with Schwartz--in opening their second bar/restaurant without understanding the business.

I'm also mad that Raquel fooled me. I even thought of defending her when Lala said she would win if she and Raquel were in competition for a man. I thought Raquel was the nice person Brittany pretended to be. No. Raquel was fooling around with Tom Sandoval while pretending to be a close friend of Arianna. She may have used Tom Schwartz as a decoy (or he may have been a willing beard) which also hurt Tom's ex  Katie.

So, here we are a week later. Everyone on the cast is pro-Ariana except possibly for Schwartz. Raquel has taken legal action against her cast members. The story has been called Shakespearean. 

I'll keep watching.