The Hollywood Reporter
The second part of the Vanderpump Rules reunion special featured the first on-camera conversation between Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss since season 10 finished airing, and it also updated viewers on the temporary restraining order that Leviss filed against Scheana Shay in the aftermath of Sandoval cheating on longtime partner Ariana Madix.
After last week’s chaotic episode kicked off the Bravo unscripted series’ highly anticipated three-part reunion, the cast was back for part two to chat with host Andy Cohen about the much-debated controversy known as “Scandoval.” As with last week’s installment, Leviss spent most of Wednesday’s new episode sequestered in a trailer due to her restraining order against Shay, while the show’s castmembers — including Lala Kent, James Kennedy, Katie Maloney, Tom Schwartz and Lisa Vanderpump — hashed things out on stage.
The proceedings began with Kent discussing her relationship with ex Randall Emmett, who has been at the center of his own share of controversy. Kent, who shares daughter Ocean with the film producer, explained, “I obviously look back and know that there were red flags everywhere, but I feel like now I have a 30,000-foot view on life. If something seems too good to be true, it’s because it is.”
At that point, the cast took a break from filming to grab lunch. Cameras followed Sandoval as he walked to Leviss’ trailer, and it was clear that she didn’t love hearing what Madix said in last week’s episode about feeling that her years-long relationship with Sandoval had still been going strong until recently.
“Just watching what you guys taped right now, it looks like you guys had this solid relationship,” Leviss told him. “I feel like she felt like you wanted to keep the relationship going because you never broke up with her.”
This led Sandoval to rethink the fact that he never ended his relationship with Madix before beginning his affair with Leviss. “Maybe we should have done this earlier?” Sandoval asked, to which Leviss responded, “You think?”
She added, “It just sucks because my entire character is in question now. I have gone through a transitional phase in my life this summer, and I think the pendulum swung a little bit too far the other way. And this is my wake-up call.”
Then, Sandoval and Leviss hugged goodbye, and he made his way out of the trailer — or so he wanted viewers to think. He could then be heard telling someone from the crew, “All right, I’m done filming.” Sandoval walked back into the trailer and asked a crewmember, “Can we have a for-real break where we’re not being filmed?”
A producer explained to Sandoval that he’s free to take a break from filming if he’s on his own, but if he and Leviss plan to chat, the cameras will be rolling, just as they had been during the other castmembers’ mealtime. Sandoval wasn’t pleased with this: “I don’t want a camera in my fucking goddamn face!”
Following the break, during which it did not appear that Sandoval and Leviss were permitted to conspire away from cameras, the cast returned to the stage, along with Kennedy’s girlfriend, Ally Lewber. The conversation led to Sandoval and Kennedy debating which of them is more out-of-control while drinking, with Sandoval asserting, “I don’t smack girls on the ass.” This spurred Madix to quip, “No, you just fuck my friend.”
After Lewber left, Cohen brought up Leviss having filed a restraining order against Shay, and Sandoval claimed that he heard Shay say over the phone that she “punched” Leviss, which Shay denied. Viewers then saw footage from Cohen’s private conversation with Leviss, where she explained that she “completely” regrets filing the restraining order against Shay. Leviss asked Cohen to present Shay with paperwork revealing that Leviss had requested that the order be dismissed, and viewers saw Shay get emotional when Cohen relayed the news. (It was indeed dismissed after the reunion filmed.)
Shay said that the order had taken a toll not only on herself but also had impacted her daughter. “The betrayal of two of my best friends, that is heartbreaking in itself,” Shay said. “But then to throw all of this on top of it when I did nothing but take care of [Leviss]. I gave her a home to live in when she didn’t have anywhere to go.”
Sandoval tried to say that the situation “spiraled out of control” but that it didn’t mean he had been a “fake person” up until now, nor that he and Leviss did this “maliciously.” Madix fired back with, “You watch what you fucking say right now — because it is malicious.” This led Sandoval to quibble, “It is malicious, but I did not do it with malicious intent.”
Madix continued, “You’re disgusting. You [and Shay] are done being friends, so don’t even fucking worry about it. Go ahead and be the real you.”
To close out the episode, viewers saw footage from Cohen’s private conversation with Leviss. Cohen suggested that Leviss maintaining that Madix may have known about the affair seemed like Madix was being blamed. “Now I know that she really did want to know, and it was very deceitful,” Leviss admitted. “I’m very ashamed of it.”
And with Shay having exited the stage, Leviss finally joined her co-stars. But alas, fans will need to wait for part three to see what goes down.
Vanderpump Rules airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo. The reunion episodes, including uncensored extended versions, stream exclusively on Peacock the following day.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
