Tom Sandoval was brought to tears over an interaction with his Vanderpump Rules cast members — and that moment is now the butt of a joke.
During the Vanderpump Rules After Show on Tuesday, February 27, Tom Schwartz and Sandoval, 41, recalled running into the rest of their costars ahead of their trip to Lake Tahoe.
“I felt delicate but optimistic [before the getaway]. When we were in the airport waiting to board our flight, I think that was the first time anyone in that group had actually acknowledged Tom as a human being since the affair [with Rachel ‘Raquel’ Leviss],” Schwartz, also 41, shared. “I think he was super touched by it. I think he cried.”
Bravo then played a clip from the newest episode where Sandoval was seen tearing up. He continued to get emotional on the aftershow, which caused an offscreen producer to ask why he was crying again.
“That moment was so powerful for me. It was so needed,” Sandoval noted. “Just the casualness with the way Scheana [Shay] was like, ‘Hey, we’re over here.’ It was something that I never thought I would hear again in such a casual way.”
He continued: “I guess I wasn’t prepared for that. It was something I didn’t see coming. It’s something I will never forget.”
Scheana, 38, and Lala Kent, however, viewed the interaction very differently. In their individual confessional with James Kennedy, Scheana said they “just said hi” to Sandoval.
“Instead of ignoring his presence when he’s in front of us, I was like, ‘We’re going to be staying in the same house in a few hours.’ We just say hi,” she quipped.
Lala, 33, agreed that the group just “acknowledged that he existed” without much fanfare.
According to Schwartz, the response to Sandoval immediately after his infidelity could be compared to leprosy. Schwartz was hopeful that the tide has since changed.
Scheana, meanwhile, continued to poke fun at Sandoval’s dramatic reaction, adding, “That was enough for him to cry.”
Despite her lukewarm response to Sandoval now, Scheana previously faced backlash when Vanderpump Rules fans assumed she forgave him too soon instead of supporting her friend Ariana Madix. (Ariana, 38, and Sandoval called it quits before news broke of his cheating scandal with Rachel, 29.)
In a preview for next week’s episode, Scheana hinted to Ariana that she might want to rekindle her friendship with Sandoval after their cast trip.
“I’m mad that he did all of this and I miss my friend,” Scheana told Ariana, who chose to miss the getaway. “I can’t keep hating him for you.”
The infamous Lake Tahoe trip might be familiar to Bravo fans who remember the photos that surfaced of Scheana hugging Sandoval in a fan photo. She subsequently defended her actions after being called out on social media.
“I don’t know why I feel the need to defend taking a photo with my hand like this [in a fist] in the back of someone,” Scheana said via Instagram Stories in July 2023 while in bed with Lala, who added that “people are so stupid.”
Ariana came to Scheana’s defense as well, writing via Instagram Stories that same month, “@Scheana is an amazing friend who took a photo with a fan for their birthday. There’s been so many mean comments towards her for it and she was just doing something nice. We always try to stop for photos and when the whole cast is present, it’s common for the whole cast to be in the photo regardless of what is going on between any of us at the time.”
More recently, Scheana exclusively told Us Weekly that she didn’t regret sharing scenes with Sandoval in season 11.
“He had always been a good friend to me, and that’s what was the hardest part about this is because I’ve always been someone who’s like, ‘Well, you didn’t do it to me, but there was just something different about this where it did feel more personal,’” she shared in October 2023. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, you didn’t cheat on me, but you did betray me [and] you did lie to me.’ There were other things. To lose him because of his actions, it was really hard for me.”
Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET and is available to stream on Peacock the next day.
