Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz opened up about how the public’s strong reaction towards Scandoval affected them.
“It’s a weird thing to be publicly shamed,” Schwartz, 41, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, November 3, following the Vanderpump Rules panel at BravoCon. “I was guilty by association or however they want to frame it, but it was very bizarre at times. I could appreciate the absurdity of it, but other times it was very sad and kind of terrifying.”
Schwartz teased that at some point in the future, he and Sandoval, 40, will be able to “go back and look” at all the DMs they received at the height of the scandal.
Earlier that day, Us confirmed that Sandoval was repeatedly booed during the reality series’ panel during the first day of BravoCon in Las Vegas — which goes until Sunday, November 5. While on stage, moderator Karamo Brown asked the cast — which included Ariana Madix, Katie Maloney, Lala Kent, James Kennedy and Scheana Shay in addition to Schwartz and Sandoval — if anyone was nervous to be there. Sandoval subsequently raised his hand, leading to a negative reaction from the crowd.
While the panel ultimately went how Sandoval expected it to go, he joked to Us that it “felt great” to get booed by the audience.
“It gives you a little dose of reality [for] lack of a better term really,” Sandoval exclusively told Us. “Sort of keeps you grounded. I dunno.”
Sandoval cemented himself as a reality TV villain earlier this year when news broke in March that he was having a months-long affair with costar Raquel Leviss while he and Madix, 38, were dating. Sandoval and Madix called it quits after nine years in the wake of the scandal famously dubbed Scandoval.
The public scrutiny was so bad that Sandoval confessed to Us that he thought about not returning to VPR after he wrapped up season 10 but ultimately decided to stay on the series for the next season.
“I think as time went on when I get to times where I find life really hard to deal with, I think it’s good to challenge yourself,” he explained. “Do what’s hard, you know what I mean?”
During day one of BravoCon, the official teaser trailer for the 11th season of VPR dropped — which teased several feuds, fights and fallouts amongst the stars. The show will officially return to TV screens in January 2024.
