Raquel Leviss upset quite a few people during the May 10 episode of Vanderpump Rules, when she got into a long-awaited showdown with Katie Maloney at SUR. Not only was Katie’s mom, Teri, hurt by what she witnessed during the heated exchange, but Ariana Madix ran to Lisa Vanderpump and shed tears over the whole situation. And to make matters worse, Ariana’s boyfriend Tom Sandoval couldn’t care less about her feelings — instead, he made it a priority to defend Raquel in her battle against Katie.
Ryan Murphy will one day make a ten part series of how diabolical this is#PumpRules #VanderpumpRules pic.twitter.com/gBRm9YkCC3
— T (@trinawatters) May 4, 2023
All the drama went down at Ariana and Katie’s preview party for their sandwich shop, but before that happened, Sandoval and Ariana sat down to have a serious talk about the state of their relationship. Tom told Ariana that it often feels like she can’t stand his presence, and he complained about the fact that they only have sex about four times a year. While she agreed that she wants them to work on their connection and intimacy, she also seemed a bit surprised by his complaints, and to be honest, we don’t blame her. Tom was clearly already dating Raquel behind her back, so he was probably just making things up and building a narrative that would benefit him, so he could eventually break up with her without her feeling blindsided.
Interestingly, Tom also told Ariana that he wanted to work on their relationship, but somehow, Raquel learned of the situation and later confronted Ariana about it at the preview party. She asked Ariana why she and Tom weren’t having sex anymore, and Ariana told her that has insecurities she’s dealing with, but she also doesn’t want to have sex with someone who feels like a stranger, and because of Tom’s hectic work schedules, that’s sometimes what he feels like to her. Raquel was sympathetic about Ariana’s insecurities, saying she, too, beats herself up about her looks, and honestly, it would’ve been a really sweet moment had we not known that Raquel and Sandoval were already having sex behind everyone’s backs. So the way it now feels to us is icky. Was Raquel just digging to find out when Tom and Ariana would be breaking up so she could finally be Tom’s main squeeze? Hopefully we’ll get our answer at the reunion.
"I did want to ask you, though: How are you and Sandoval?"
"I feel like in a relationship you should want to have sex."
"Do you feel like you're sexually attracted to him?"
Watching Raquel fish for details about Ariana's relationship with Sandoval is making me sick. #PumpRules
— Gibson Johns (@gibsonoma) May 11, 2023
To have the mistress belittle the betrayed woman for not being intimate enough while sleeping with the boyfriend is an act of evil of epic proportion. #PumpRules
— Kate Casey (@KateCasey) May 11, 2023
Anyway, once Raquel was done speaking to Ariana, she made her away over to Katie, who didn’t appear to love that she was there or wanting to talk to her. Raquel told Katie that she loved the sandwich samples, and again, it was sweet, but a few seconds later, Raquel started going after Katie for “rage texting” Tom Schwartz. It was so incredibly random and felt like she was just desperate to get camera time. Apparently, a blog reported about Schwartz and Raquel’s make-out at Scheana Shay‘s wedding, and when Katie learned about it, she went off on Schwartz via text. Raquel must have caught wind of it, and felt it was her place to question Katie’s motives? It was all very strange, and Katie was blown away by the fact that Raquel felt she could tell Katie how to live her life. Also, side note — why did Raquel even care what Katie was fighting with Schwartz about when Schwartz wasn’t even the Tom she was truly into? Again, knowing what we know now, it seemed like a desperate move to get camera time — or a way to keep the narrative on Raquel and Schwartz since everyone was starting to grow suspicious of Sandoval’s “friendship” with Raquel.
As soon as Raquel disrespected Katie’s mom, Tequila Katie got activated and cleared! #pumprules pic.twitter.com/qKpoluhNEO
— Queens of Bravo (@queensofbravo) May 11, 2023
Things got so crazy inside SUR that Ariana burst into tears. She couldn’t handle seeing her two best friends going at it, so she ran to Lisa and cried in her arms. Everything around her was imploding, and the preview party was supposed to be a special moment for her. Meanwhile, Tom Schwartz hid in the corner, and Tom Sandoval dove in to protect Raquel against Katie. Kristina Kelly told Sandoval to leave Katie alone and focus on his own girlfriend, who was crying on the side, but he didn’t listen. He just kept hammering Katie until she had enough, got up, and stormed off. And when she passed Schwartz and Raquel, Raquel started snickering. Lala Kent caught her doing that, told Katie, and Katie flipped. She quickly grabbed Schwartz, pulled him into the alley behind SUR (so iconic) and ripped into him. But Raquel interrupted them and tried to defend her make-out with Schwartz, but it pissed Katie off even more, and everything went to hell. Katie told Raquel to leave, so she did, but it didn’t help. There was no resolve for Katie and Schwartz.
Back inside, the group presented Lisa with a birthday cake, and after blowing out her candles, she stood up to give an emotional speech. Clearly, this was supposed to be the season finale, as most seasons end with Lisa giving some sort of emotional speech, but the group had no idea what lied ahead. In just a few months time, Sandoval and Raquel’s affair would be exposed, s*** would hit the fan, and cameras would come back out to watch it all unfold. It’s honestly sad watching these episodes and seeing how badly Raquel and Sandoval were betraying Ariana. But on the bright side, at least we know her struggle with how to handle her best friends fighting wasn’t a longterm problem. And next week, we’ll finally see how the cast truly reacted to the news of “Scandoval” in the official season finale.
THIS IS KATIES SEASON pic.twitter.com/TYnT2zBqWU
— Vanderpump Rules (@sur_rules) May 10, 2023
Oh, and this was also the week where we saw Raquel buy her lightning bolt necklace — the one she purchased to match Sandoval’s so they could secretly tell each other how much they meant to one another without anyone knowing. Ugh.
Want more? New episodes of Vanderpump Rules air Wednesdays at 9pm on Bravo.