Vanderpump Rules has gotten progressively more unhinged with each episode that has aired since the Scandoval broke. And Tom Sandoval’s history as a cheater is showing with the events of the most recent episode. Before he cheated on Ariana Madix with Raquel Leviss, he cheated on Kristen Doute with Ariana. Kristen and Ariana are friends and the former hasn’t held a grudge, calling the two situations completely different. She’s been very involved in the aftermath of Scandoval’s reveal and appeared on Watch What Happens Live this week and revealed that Tom Sandoval has cheated on Ariana before, multiple times.
Tonight was quite the moment for true Vanderpump Rules scholars, as it marks the return of Kristen Doute. The former SUR server started Vanderpump Rules dating Tom Sandoval, only for both of them to cheat on each other and break up. Doute was fired from the show after it came to light that she and Stassi Schroeder had called the cops on former castmate Faith Bowers. Now Doute has returned amid the Scandoval. She told Andy Cohen that since news broke of Sandoval’s affair with Raquel Leviss, multiple other instances of Tom’s cheating have been brought to her attention. Doute commented on the similarities between how Sandoval talked about Madix during his and Doute’s protracted breakup and how he is now talking about Leviss. She referred to a TikTok that did a side-by-side comparison where Tom used the same keywords to describe his attraction: “‘Magnetic, we kissed, the sunrise, best friend,’ blah blah blah. It was verbatim, the same thing.”
Kristen also pointed out that not only did Tom cheat again, but he followed the same pattern when he cheated on Ariana with Raquel as when he cheated with Ariana on Kristen. He sort of gushes about and tries to justify his cheating with flowery language. Ugh, so skeezy. Anyway, considering his history with Ariana and Kristen and recent events with Raquel, it’s not so surprising that Tom cheated on Ariana at other points throughout their nine year relationship. I think the surprising part is (a) how awful he was at hiding it based on the latest episode and (b) the fact that he and Raquel were so flagrant about it. Clearly Ariana had a lot of trust in him and wanted to believe the best of him (and Raquel) which is why he felt comfortable being so obvious, but just because your girlfriend trusts you doesn’t mean everyone else does. It was a huge mistake for him to believe anyone aside from the person that loved him would believe his BS. Anyway, Ariana seems to be doing well. She’s still hanging out with her hottie Coachella hookup and hit a Yankees game with him recently. Enjoy your life sans mustache, girl!
I tried to do a watch-along with my gal friends and *failed miserably* — I’m still way back in season 3, like a person who started a marathon and needed an ambulance five minutes later — but watching has been PAINFUL in light of Scandoval. Obviously Doute is taking her much-deserved victory lap, since the show makes her look ✨unhinged✨ after Sando leaves her to be with Ariana. I find it hard to watch because I dated a narcissist for six years and, unnervingly, he had the same mannerisms and vocal cadence as Sando. I know Doute eventually becomes friends with Ariana, but right now it’s tough to see how they ever get there.
Sandoval thought he could use the same playbook he did with Kristen: gaslight her until she’s emotionally unstable, then blame her emotional instability for your breakup.
I think it’s that exact experience that allows Kristen to be so empathetic to Ariana. She knows how narcissists can put you under a spell and convince you everything is your idea and your fault.
That’s why it’s so weird to me she said it was a totally different situation. The only difference was Kristen also cheated. But the length of the relationship was also significant at six years. And also he’s a gaslighting narcissist. When he got tired of Ariana, he was always going to do this. It’s just crazy it was over a decade later
It is crazy. He really went out of his way to breadcrumb the “Ariana is crazy” “Ariana doesn’t support me” “Ariana is clinging onto me” narrative all while he was telling her they should start couples therapy and going through the process of pretending to fertilize her eggs. The whole thing has transformed from your basic reality TV show that might have been on a bit too long to a documentary of a narcissist attempting to take down (in a very public and humiliating way) someone they pretend to still love while sleeping with one of their close friends.
Well put.
I assume Kristen wants back on the show. Tom, Arianna, and schenna did the same thing to her so ari could get on the show. It was awful. Ari and schenna fought hard for Tom. Now ari has lost him the same way she got him. At least Tom and ari was naturally ending anyway.
I doubt it. Kristen has a long-standing feud with LVP. Per Kristen, she is doing this because Ariana was on board with the approach of her, LaLa, Katie and Scheana all speaking on this on her behalf, and I think Katie is also on board because she personally can’t stand Tom but loves Ariana and wants to support her.
The two stories really aren’t the same, as much as people want to equivocate when things like this happen. Tom was actually sleeping with Raquel who was Ariana’s best friend, for six months, sometimes even in Ariana’s own house that she owned with Tom (her partner of 9 years) while she was asleep, and when she was out of town for her grandmother’s funeral. This was while Raquel was pretending to be Ariana’s friend and giving her advice in the relationship, and while Tom was telling Ariana he wanted to work on the relationship, going to couples therapy, pretending to fertilize eggs, etc. etc.
The level of gaslighting and deceit that went on as concerns Ariana vastly outweighs the levels of gaslighting and deceit that happened with Kristin, as Kristen herself so states. Also, by the time Tom and Kristen broke up, each had cheated on the other multiple times, ironically, including Kristen sleeping with Jax who was Tom’s friend and the boyfriend of Stassi who was at that time Kristen’s bff.
This whole thing is out of control. I don’t think anyone will be satisfied unless Raquel unalives herself. Absolutely ridiculous.
NAfter this last episode, Tom comes across much worse. He keeps giving Raquel sidelong glances while they are all glamping with friends. Raquel doesnt give any hints to me. Also, he and Ariana (really Tom) buy Raquel vintage Versace sunglasses, which is a classic Tom gift. Finally, he wasnt there for Ariana when her grandma died, but was when they werent even together when her dad died because he was trying to get in her pants 10 years ago! Absolutely disgusting!
Obviously Kristen is a layered person and has made some terrible, racist choices, but the more I learn about Sandoval the more her behavior on the show is explained. Yikes, he is abusive.
Tom has accused ari of not supporting him and no sex since before their cocktail book. I believe the show has kept them together. Ofcourse the first few years they wanted to prove Kristin wrong.