Part 3 of the Vanderpump Rules reunion revealed the big “twist” that was teased ahead of time by executive producer Alex Baskin. In the last five minutes of the episode, Raquel Leviss did an interview with production six days after the reunion filmed, and revealed more details about her affair with Tom Sandoval that no one else knew besides them. Raquel revealed that the second time she had sex with Sandoval was in Mexico for Scheana Shay‘s wedding, when she also made out with Tom Schwartz.
“I was like we can’t see each other. This isn’t gonna be a thing,” Raquel recalled of her and Sandoval’s dynamic heading into the Mexico trip. “But then that first night in Cancun, he was drunk and was trying to find his room. And I heard him talking in the hallway. There was somebody working there and he was asking which direction the elevator was. I was like, ‘Wait, just come inside.’ I was like, ‘Sorry sir.’ He was really drunk. That was the second time that we were physical and intimate with each other.”
Raquel confirmed to production that she and Sandoval had sex “multiple times” in Mexico, and that the affair became “a regular thing” after that. “I don’t remember how often it would happen, but it definitely picked up speed more after we wrapped filming,” she confessed.
Production asked Raquel if she’s spent time with Sandoval’s family, and she confirmed that she met his mother in Los Angeles. “She was aware of the situation,” Raquel claimed. Raquel tried denying that she went with Sandoval to his home city of St. Louis, despite there being photo proof they were together there. “I have a really bad poker face,” Raquel said with a laugh, before she admitted, “It freaking happened. Yeah.”
“I definitely felt really guilty,” Raquel also said, explaining that “a huge part of her” wanted to inform Ariana Madix about the affair. “It ate me alive not to tell her,” Raquel said. “I even suggested…I was like what would Ariana think about like having me as an addition. He was like, ‘No, no no. She would not be into that.’ ” Raquel confirmed she wanted a “throuple” with Sandoval and Ariana, and said, “I love Ariana as a person. And then also I’m in love with Tom Sandoval. So yeah it didn’t seem like that far-fetched of an idea. But it was not something in question. God, he’s gonna kill me. I just hate lying so much. I hate it.”
Raquel initially would not disclose if she had sex with Sandoval in the jacuzzi when Ariana was away for her grandmother’s funeral. “He’s asked me to not disclose all this information,” she told production. “Especially now with being so isolated. I feel like Tom is my one person that I do have. If I just went and betrayed him, then I’d really have nobody.”
Raquel started getting emotional about lying about the affair with Tom. “This is the one story that we’ve agreed on getting straight,” she said. “I know that the reason that 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. Especially for a funeral of all things. So I don’t know. This kills my soul. I am so sick of lying. I hate it. I hate being deceitful. It’s horrible.”
Alex Baskin first teased that something shocking would happen at the end of the Vanderpump Rules finale in an interview with Variety on May 17. He explained that the cast didn’t jump right into filming season 11 because “new information” was revealed at the reunion. “I will put it this way: There are revelations, and they are revelations that not all of them know now,” Alex said in the interview.
Alex reiterated that a “twist” was coming to the show in a June 6 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, and confirmed that the Scandoval timeline “evolves” with the new information. “It isn’t something the group witnessed at the time,” Alex said about the big reveal. “So I think they’re going to have to respond to it when they see it.” He also debunked the rumors that Raquel is pregnant and that Raquel and Tom Schwartz slept together, in the THR interview, which came out the day before the reunion finale.
Tom and Raquel reportedly broke up less than two months after they were caught having an affair behind Ariana’s back. Tom has been out and about on his tour with his band since then. In April, Raquel entered a mental health treatment center in Arizona as she continued to work on her “patterns of codependency and addiction to being and feeling loved.” Meanwhile, Ariana has been getting by with the support of her friends, including her co-stars Scheana Shay, Lala Kent, Katie Maloney, and James Kennedy. She’s moved on from Tom with her new boyfriend Daniel Wai, who she met at a wedding after finding out about the affair.
The cast is currently on an extended filming break as producers create a plan for Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules. While several cast members, including Ariana, have said they don’t want to film with Tom and Raquel, but Alex told The Hollywood Reporter that “the cast knows that those conditional demands never work.” As for when the show will pick up filming again, Alex said, “Our hope and plan is in the not-too-distant future this summer. So, in the next few weeks.”