How ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star Tom Sandoval Became TV’s Biggest Villain
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When Vanderpump Rules premiered on Bravo in 2013, it turned the network’s winning reality TV formula on its head. The Real Housewives shows, which followed the lives of wealthy women in America’s elite communities, had already become a cultural phenomenon. Here, it would often feel like the women were playing a game of Pass the Bomb at fancy dinners and glamorous vacations. The casts were desperate not to end up as the villain so, like commanders at war, they would form alliances with each other and strategize to make sure the proverbial bomb would not explode in their perfectly manicured hands.
On Vanderpump Rules, the cast of West Hollywood servers were a far cry from wealthy reality stars like their restaurateur boss Lisa Vanderpump, who fans had watched outplay her co-stars at Pass the Bomb many times on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. And by nature of having very little to lose, the cast weren’t scared of being seen as baddies. In fact, from serial cheater Jax Taylor to the self-described “devil” Stassi Schroeder, so-called homewrecker Scheana Marie, and the captivatingly unhinged Kristen Doute, the show almost felt like a competition of villainy. When James Kennedy – a British DJ with anger issues – joined the staff at SUR (that’s Sexy Unique Restaurant, to you) in the show’s third season, he underlined a central truth: the route to becoming a hero on this show was to first become its biggest villain.
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In a sea of spray-tanned baddies, there was one person who seemed particularly desperate not to be a villain: Tom Sandoval.
At the start, Sandoval was a vain bartender who shaved his forehead and seemed relatively harmless. But now, his public image couldn’t be more different. In March, his carefully crafted TV persona was upended by “Scandoval” – the earth-shaking cheating scandal between Sandoval and his co-star Raquel Leviss. The pair were involved in an affair spanning seven months behind the backs of their closest friends, including Sandoval’s girlfriend of nine years, Ariana Madix. Leviss had previously been linked to Sandoval’s bestie Tom Schwartz and was engaged to their co-star James Kennedy. The affair was conducted in secret as Bravo’s cameras filmed for the upcoming season, but filming suddenly resumed when TMZ broke the story of Madix finding an explicit video of Leviss on Sandoval’s phone.
Since the story broke, further revelations have shaken Bravo fans: secret getaways between Leviss and Sandoval and matching lightning-bolt necklaces, plus allegations of a potential cover-up or decoy game. A restraining order was filed and legal letters were sent. Even for this show, it was dramatic – and everyone from Jennifer Lopez to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been talking about it.
In the hour-long season finale we finally saw Sandoval embracing Leviss and trying to find every possible excuse for the affair. He continually blamed Madix for treating him badly and not having sex with him often enough. He even used her fragile mental health and grief as a rationale for not telling her about the seven-month affair before she discovered herself by looking at his phone. From Sandoval, there was a lot of crying, but very few actual tears, whereas Leviss seemed practically remorseless. It was jaw-dropping and maddening.
Watching the current season while knowing what was coming has been a bizarre experience. There is nothing quite as captivating as watching people lie, and that’s exactly what we got. Fans have watched Sandoval lying through his teeth – about everything from his obvious attraction to Leviss, to why he chose to stay at a pool party with her instead of going home to Madix on the day she found out her grandmother had died. The pair laughed off any suggestion of impropriety when Leviss was found to have stayed over while Madix was out of town. As the show’s creator Lisa Vanderpump and resident detective Lala Kent seemed to realize that there might be more going on, it has been devastating to see how much faith Madix had in both Sandoval and Leviss, before discovering they had both betrayed her.
As James Kennedy said during the finale: “Sandoval is the definition of a backstabber.” And he has now become one of reality TV’s biggest villains. But how did he get here?
In the early seasons of Vanderpump Rules, Sandoval worked hard to cultivate his image as “the good guy.” When his girlfriend Kristen Doute cheated on him with his best friend Jax Taylor – prompting an infamous backhander from Stassi Schroeder – he stood by her, then eventually forgave them both when the truth was exposed. When the antics of so many of Sandoval’s co-stars were mean and indefensible, he positioned himself as a more calm and reasonable alternative – so much so that, when he was accused of cheating with a girl in Miami in Season Three, it was relatively easy for viewers to dismiss these allegations. (In the season finale he seemingly confirmed he actually did sleep with “Miami girl” all along). And even when he did eventually admit that he and Madix had hooked up when he was still with Doute – something she had repeatedly accused them of – it was met with a collective shrug.
Now that we see history repeating itself, the question is: why did fans let Sandoval get away with so much? One reason might be because, alongside his sidekick Tom Schwartz, Sandoval provided much-needed moments of comic relief to counter the drunken brawls and bullying so many of his co-stars freely engaged in. That also might be why, when it came to expanding her businesses, Lisa Vanderpump savvily picked the duo – her least controversial stars – to partner with her in West Hollywood bar TomTom.
TomTom is the point where things started to go wrong for Sandoval. Up until now, he had never been the “main guy” in the show. In Jax Taylor’s typically modest words, that was him. Then, for a moment, it was James Kennedy. But the opening of TomTom changed the dynamic. Sandoval – someone who joined the show when his dreams of music and acting stardom were faltering – now had the chance to become the lead.
The thing is, not everyone is meant to be the Main Character. And to be a lead on this particular show, you have to be comfortable with being a villain at least some of the time.
Sure enough, cracks started to show not long after TomTom opened. The night before Stassi Schroeder’s book launch, which was being held at the bar, he sent her a series of aggressive “rage texts” at 2 a.m., blaming her for staffing shortages at his own restaurant. When Schroeder exposed the objectively ridiculous texts, Sandoval’s co-stars jumped on his mistake, suggesting it represented a side of him he hid from Bravo’s cameras. Sandoval went into panic mode and, a whole season later, it seemed like he still wasn’t over his outburst being made public. It felt like he had been unmasked.
After this, Sandoval seemed to go into damage control. Big, attention-grabbing “moments” – like when he and Schwartz rode into TomTom on a motorbike and sidecar in personalized helmets – evolved into grand and expensive friendship gestures. In Season Nine, he helped Kennedy organize an engagement “festival” party for his former fiancee Leviss, claiming to have spent thousands of dollars of his own money in the process.
One thing that reality TV reflects very well is that hindsight is 20/20. And when someone messes up or does something bad, it’s difficult not to view all of their behavior with suspicion. At the time, Sandoval’s involvement in Kennedy’s engagement plans felt a little forced, but in hindsight, given what we know now, it feels straight-up weird. Now, Sandoval’s efforts to characterize Kristen Doute as mentally unstable – to the point of accusing her of having a personality disorder – feels like gaslighting. During the season finale, we saw a flashback to Doute telling us that Sandoval is “the best liar I have ever known,” which feels like something we should have listened to.
In 2020, Vanderpump Rules lost some of its biggest cast members. Schroeder and Doute were let go in 2020 amid a racism scandal, while Taylor was not asked to return. For Sandoval and his sidekick Schwartz, there were suddenly less big personalities to hide behind and, with the added scrutiny that comes with a smaller cast, both of their reputations have suffered. Fans can now see that both men have a habit of Passing the Bomb to others – especially women – to deflect criticism of their own behavior. This season, there is hardly anyone Sandoval hasn’t attempted to cast in a bad light, from Katie Maloney to Lala Kent. As he engaged in a secret affair, he even tried to paint Madix in a negative light.
Looking back to the start of Vanderpump Rules, what made the show great was the desperation of its cast. As their dreams of becoming actors or singers were fading, the show gave them the chance to become “reality TV famous” in the new media landscape. Sensing the opportunity, they would say and do outrageous things.
Now, the stars don’t want to lose what they’ve built from the show. In Season Nine, there was a particularly revealing discussion between Sandoval and Schwartz, where the former referred to their friendship as “a brand.” Schwartz immediately pushed back on that phrasing, but it was an exchange which summed up how much has changed for them. When “Scandoval” broke, the first statement we heard from Sandoval was about his businesses. Amid review-bombing and fan backlash, he asked that people direct all their anger toward him. During the season finale, both he and Schwartz seemed more concerned about their minority stake in medium-tier west Hollywood bars than Madix’s feelings.
As this seismic season of Vanderpump Rules comes to a close, it’s unclear what is next for Sandoval. The future of his “brand” likely hinges on how well he is able to navigate being the villain. Repeated attempts to justify his behavior and a bizarre appearance on Howie Mandel’s podcast, which Bravo was not at all happy about, seem to have only made matters worse.
But if Vanderpump Rules has shown us anything, it’s that there is no person or indiscretion that is unworthy of redemption. A timely example of this is Kristen Doute – Sandoval’s arch nemesis – who returned in the season finale for what was a moment of long-awaited vindication. She held Madix as she cried about how she should have known he would do this to her, given how their own relationship started.
This season, fans have been subjected to watching Sandoval performing with his hired cover band and, coupled with his unsightly mustache, it looks like these might have been early signs of a midlife crisis – or perhaps one last attempt at the music stardom he was pursuing before reality TV. (As he tried to justify his behavior in the finale, he kept referencing turning 40 and feeling scared that his “best days are behind him”).
The irony of all this for someone as narcissistic as Sandoval is that he is now more famous than ever. He’s the biggest villain on Vanderpump Rules and, under the laws of the show, that also makes him the Main Character. Fans might not like him, but as the proverbial bomb finally explodes in Sandoval’s hands, we can’t take our eyes off the wreckage.
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