Ariana Madix: I won't film 'Vanderpump Rules' with "deceitful" Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss again

Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix has revealed she won't film another season of the Bravo reality series with Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss after the pair's devastating affair.


"No, [I will not film with them]. I have nothing to say to either of them," Ariana told The New York Times in a recent interview.

"Our show is very real and follows a real group of friends, and neither of them are in the group of friends, so, good luck."

Tom and Ariana, who dated for nearly a decade, appeared to break up in early March after Tom's six-month affair with Ariana's former best friend, Raquel, came to light and made headlines.

Ariana insisted that the people involved in the cheating scandal "were so duplicitous and deceitful."


"[Tom] was also someone who was constantly preaching about integrity when it came to other people taking accountability and I think that shift in him -- having no integrity -- is something that shocked people," she said.

Ariana also doesn't believe there is room for redemption for Tom or Raquel, even though the pair had publicly apologized in March for their actions and Ariana also entered a treatment facility to check her mental health and personal issues in April.

"I think any chance that either of them separately had for that ended when they started giving trash interviews victimizing themselves, her TMZ [interview] and his Howie Mandel [interview]," Ariana said.

"I think had they not done or said all of those horrible things, maybe one day, but I think the answer ultimately is no. In our friend group, the answer is no."

Vanderpump Rules fans watched a heated confrontation between Ariana and Tom about his betrayal on the show's Season 10 finale that aired on Wednesday, May 17.


Ariana lashed out at Tom, saying she regretted ever loving him, and viewers also witnessed Tom and Raquel -- who essentially gushed about their life-altering sex -- say, "I love you," to each other.

When thinking back on her exchange with Tom about his affair, Ariana criticized her ex-boyfriend for trying to "give the sad sack act" on the finale.

"When he sat down on that couch [during filming]... I knew he was going to try to sell a bit. I knew he was trying to be that [sad sack] person so that I would be the angry person; I could see what was happening in front of my face, and it was really frustrating," Ariana admitted.

"Honestly, when he started yelling at me, I felt a little bit satisfied that he was finally going to be the real him."

And she said filming the reunion -- which taped on March 23 and begins airing Part 1 on Wednesday, May 24 on Bravo -- was also "kind of a weird day."


"I feel like most of the time in any other reunion, we go through the whole season. But in this reunion, it was really just everybody against one or against two [cast members]. We've never been united like that ever," she said.

Ariana recognizes her professional success -- and all the fame she's recently received -- cost the reality TV star her personal life.

"I'm just trying to remain centered in myself and make sure that I'm just being me and living life, and sometimes that's going to mean making mistakes and not doing what everybody wants me to do," Ariana shared.

"But it is really incredible to have that support and I feel as though it did come at a cost, a very unexpected cost."

But the experience apparently hasn't changed Ariana's desire to starring on reality television.


"The worst possible things that could happen to somebody happened to me on this show: the loss of Charlotte, my dog of 18 years, [and] the loss of my grandma," she noted.

"This whole thing happening very publicly. Part of me feels like, What's the worst that can happen? The worst already did. So going forward, it feels a little bit like, What can I not handle at this point?"

In fact, Ariana said Tom -- who allegedly cheated on her more than once -- admitted to her that he and Raquel had sex in Raquel's car while Ariana was grieving her dog's imminent death.

And Ariana seems happy, especially since she's moved on by "banging a fine-looking man," according to co-star Lala Kent.

Ariana has been spotted, multiple times, packing on PDA with fitness coach Daniel Wai in the aftermath of her breakup with Tom. Ariana and Daniel apparently began seeing each other in mid-April.


A source recently told Us Weekly that Ariana is "definitely open to seeing where things go" with Daniel but she "isn't totally ready to jump into a serious relationship."

Meanwhile, Tom told TMZ in late April that he was "really happy" to see Ariana doing well.

An insider source told Us on March 3 that Tom and Ariana had been "having problems for a while." The insider claimed the pair's relationship "only came to a breaking point" the day prior to their split on March 1.

But Tom claimed he officially broke up with Ariana on Valentine's Day in February but she was basically in denial and wouldn't accept it.

Tom also shared on the April 11 episode of the "Howie Mandel Does Stuff" podcast how his romance with Raquel started with a kiss in August 2022 that felt "magnetic."

"I felt something that I hadn't felt in so long emotionally," Tom explained. "The feelings were something very, very strong."


Tom claimed that he had attempted to break up with Ariana once he realized he had strong feelings for Raquel.

"Like many relationships, it felt like it became more of like a best friends, family [thing] -- sometimes roommates," Tom continued.

"There were a lot of ways where the relationship was just lacking the intimacy, the connection. We would travel more by ourselves than we would together. I would go to weddings by myself."

Tom said he was seeing and FaceTiming with Raquel "as often" as he could," even though that "sounds horrible."

"And Ariana didn't even notice because that's just how separate our lives were," Tom claimed. "I had to actually tell her, 'How have you not noticed how distant I've been lately?'"

Ariana joined the cast of Vanderpump Rules in November 2013, and then she and Tom announced they were officially dating during the Season 2 reunion that aired in February 2014.


Raquel began dating James Kennedy in 2016, and the pair got engaged in May 2021. However, the couple broke up in December of that year.

Raquel proceeded to go on dates with Peter Madrigal in Summer 2022 before hooking up with Tom Schwartz, who had split from Katie during August of that year.







About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski