Rachel “Raquel” Leviss is spilling the tea on why Tom Sandoval tried to stop Bravo from filming their conversation at the season 10 Vanderpump Rules reunion.
During the Tuesday, January 16, episode of her “Rachel Goes Rogue” podcast, Leviss, 29, recalled Sandoval’s frustration over Tom Schwartz admitting at the reunion that he knew about their affair, which seemingly indicated that Schwartz’s short-lived fling with Leviss wasn’t as genuine as it appeared on screen.
“We’re partially acting on this show and the main goal is to not break that fourth wall, and Sandoval I think wanted to maintain that,” Leviss claimed. “He was not happy with Schwartz when he said at the reunion that he found out in August [2022].”
According to Leviss, Sandoval wanted to make sure she stayed true to their timeline before she walked out on the reunion stage.
“That was part of the conversation that we had when he pulled [me] aside out of the trailer. And the cameras went down,” she continued. “He was like, ‘It’s not cool that Schwartz came clean with his answer,’ or he didn’t come fully clean, but he definitely didn’t stick to the date Sandoval wanted him to.”
Leviss continued: “I think he was reinforcing that I would stick to the story to keep me in his grasp, so I wouldn’t go rogue and expose it all. So it was definitely a control tactic and it seemed to have worked for the time being.”
News broke of Sandoval and Leviss’ affair in March 2023. The cheating scandal caused Sandoval and Ariana Madix to end their relationship after nearly a decade together. Schwartz initially claimed he didn’t find out about what was going on between his BFF and Leviss until January 2023, but he walked back his comment during the Bravo reunion. Schwartz revealed he found out in August 2022, which was the same month he hooked up with Leviss at costar Scheana Shay and Brock Davies’ wedding.
One month before the reunion aired, Schwartz addressed the timeline on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen after some fans accused him of covering for Sandoval throughout the scandal. “I learned about the affair in August. The one-night stand was in August and then it became, from my point of view, it became an emotional affair,” he said in April 2023. “Which is still inappropriate, but I didn’t think it was linear. [Then] in January, he came to me and told me that he was in love with Raquel.”
Most of the Vanderpump Rules cast — including Sandoval, Schwartz and Madix, 38 — returned for film season 11 after hashing out their issues on camera. Leviss checked herself into a mental health facility in the wake of her affair and remained in treatment for 90 days before confirming in August 2023 that she had no plans to return to the reality series.
Leviss has since used her podcast to call out the “staged” aspects of the show.
“It is very strange how the fans’ comments will influence our story line and how we go about filming. I guess it is part of the producers’ jobs to know what the fans want to see and what they are asking for. A lot of cast members will self-produce and will be thinking about what story line they’re going to be involved in as the season comes up,” she claimed on Tuesday. “The comments that the fans will put out there seems to influence [what happens]. If there’s a little seed of, ‘So and so should date so and so.’ It seems to come into fruition.”
Leviss alleged she was encouraged to make a move on Schwartz after he initially blew her off. The twosome shared an on-camera kiss in Mexico, and Leviss said she felt “rewarded” for her behavior when her birthday trip became the focus of a future episode.
“I was like, ‘That’s what I’ve been wanting. That’s what I asked for.’ So immediately I was rewarded and we were all celebrating,” she shared. “It just felt like this high. Like I did something right. So no, it wasn’t initially a cover to cover up my relationship with Sandoval. It turned into that when we kept the secret and still played into this flirty role that Schwartz and I had. I question whether or not Sandoval strategized that move so that it could be a cover. But I do know that Schwartz was fully aware of the situation.”
Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules premieres on Bravo Tuesday, January 30, at 8 p.m. ET and will be available to stream on Peacock the next day.
