All The Drama Surrounding The Vanderpump Rules Season 10 Reunion

Tom Sandoval's affair with Raquel Leviss — leading to the end of his years-long relationship with beloved "Vanderpump Rules" fixture Ariana Madix — has been a reality television scandal like few others. Ever since the news broke in early March, each new day has brought more revelations, more speculation, and more drama, as fans try to figure out A) what happened, and B) how it's all going to play out on the show. It's a scandal that has played out on Instagram Stories and TMZ, across Notes App apologies and "Watch What Happens Live" appearances, making the story feel like a scavenger hunt.

Luckily for Bravo, everything went public mere weeks before the cast was due to film the Season 10 reunion. It quickly became clear that the reunion would be the place for the cast to confront one another, to see each other face-to-face for the first time since the so-called "Scandoval" broke wide open. Fans, naturally, became hooked on each new tidbit of drama, surprising even the cast with just how public everything had become. "Production is actively wanting [the leaks] to stop," Lala Kent revealed on her "Give Them Lala" podcast (via YouTube). "I'll tell you who I think the leaks are: some of my friends love to surround themselves with whoever they f***ing find on the streets!"

The much-anticipated episode has yet to receive a confirmed air date. In the meantime, read on for the drama surrounding the "Vanderpump Rules" Season 10 reunion.

In March 2023, a TMZ headline tore through the Bravo-verse, burning itself into the brain of every Bravo fan: "Tom Sandoval & Ariana Madix Call It Quits ... Allegations He Cheated With Costar Raquel Leviss." The outlet noted that Madix had learned about the affair in the last few days and had immediately ended her relationship with her longtime boyfriend. Cast members raced to social media to condemn the revelations, including Leviss' ex-fiancé James Kennedy. (Leviss infamously gave Kennedy back his engagement ring at the Season 9 reunion). On Instagram (via Yahoo!), he screen-capped the TMZ article and captioned it: "Hope you all feel as sick as I do. This explains everything." The post has since been deleted.

As details were still fuzzy, People soon jumped in to fill in the gaps. Sources told the magazine that Madix had been at Sandoval's Tom Sandoval & the Most Extras concert at TomTom when she discovered an intimate video of Leviss on Sandoval's phone. "Ariana had been there for Raquel when she went through her split with James," a source explained. "She thought they were friends. This isn't something you do to a friend."

"Vanderpump Rules" Season 10 is currently airing, meaning the cast wasn't filming. Bravo changed that, rushing to get the cast in front of cameras to capture the fallout. What ensued was a weeks-long whirlwind of drama leading up to the filming of the Season 10 reunion, and the drama didn't stop there.

In the days following their affair going public, both Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss issued public apologies on Instagram. Perhaps because fans of "Vanderpump Rules" were leaving negative reviews on Schwartz & Sandy's Yelp page, Sandoval was first out the gate, taking to social media to ask his followers to please leave his businesses alone. "Im [sic] so sorry that my partners, Greg, Brett, and Schwartz and our employees have to suffer for my actions," he wrote on Instagram, adding that he would be stepping back from his business obligations. "Sorry for everything," he concluded.

Fans were quick to point out that his apology contained no mention of Ariana Madix, his partner of almost a decade. A second apology followed a few days later, though at that point it may have been too little, too late. "Most of all, I want to apologize to Ariana," the "Touch in Public" singer wrote on Instagram. "I made mistakes, I was selfish, and made reckless decisions that hurt somebody I love."

For her part, Leviss also issued two separate Instagram apologies. "There is no excuse, I am not a victim and must own my actions," the apology read (via Instagram). Interestingly, the second mea culpa hinted that she and Sandoval might be planning to stay together. "My feelings for Tom have always been sincere," she said. "I care for Tom and don't want to predict what lies ahead. Right now I need to heal."

While Ariana Madix was uncovering Tom Sandoval's affair back in California, Raquel Leviss and Scheana Shay were in New York City to appear together on "Watch What Happens Live." As fans attempted to piece together the timeline of who learned what and when, rumors circulated online that Shay and Leviss had gotten into a physical altercation when the news got out. In an exchange with "VPR" cast member Charli Burnett on Twitter, Leviss' sister seemingly confirmed that an assault had taken place, writing that no one deserves to be punched in the face. 

On March 8, Leviss claimed in her Instagram apology: "I have been physically assaulted." The news broke that the SURver had even served her former friend with a restraining order. TMZ shared details of the court document, including photos of Leviss that appeared to show a cut on her eyebrow and a black eye. According to the outlet, Leviss told the courts that Shay "doesn't regret the physical attack on me and would do it again."

The hearing for the protective order was set for after the reunion, meaning the drama between Shay and Leviss will almost certainly come up on "Vanderpump Rules." The order was subsequently dismissed after Leviss didn't show up in court, per the Los Angeles Times. Shay's lawyer, Neama Rahmani, said in a statement: "Rachel filed a false police report, a false medical report, and a frivolous petition for a restraining order."

Fans weren't the only ones scandalized by #Scandoval. The affair sent shockwaves through the entire SUR-centric friend group, which still includes people who are no longer on the show. Kristen Doute was one of the first "VPR" alums to take to social media, documenting that she rushed to be by Ariana Madix's side. "I [heart] Ariana," she captioned an Instagram video of herself embracing and kissing Tom Sandoval's now-ex-girlfriend.

Days after the affair news broke, Page Six reported that Doute was in talks to film for the show she was fired from in 2020. "As someone who's dated Tom and built a strong friendship with Ariana over the years, she has a singular perspective on the situation that producers are interested in," a source revealed. Sure enough, Bravo confirmed on Twitter that Doute was back in front of the "Pump Rules" cameras, a controversial decision sure to make waves at the Season 10 reunion.

Former castmates Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright later appeared on "Watch What Happens Live" (via YouTube) to dish. Taylor was once best friends with Sandoval, but the two had grown apart, making the "VPR" villain seem eager to throw his old friend under the bus. He also answered one of the biggest questions swirling about the affair: Tom Schwartz knew. "I talk to Schwartz every day," Taylor revealed. "So I know for a fact — a hundred percent fact — on my child, he told me he knew."

Never one to shy away from confrontation, Lala Kent hopped on Instagram the second the scandal broke. In a series of since-expired Instagram Stories (via Us Weekly), Kent promised, "Oh Sandoval ... Your problem with me is I'm a little too real for your comfort. I've seen you for who you are for a long time, and you don't like that. But, I think now is the time for you to shut the f*** up. I'm eatin good the next time I see you." She saved some for Leviss, too, posting a recent headline from Us Weekly where Leviss said she "didn't have energy" for her feud with Kent. "I suggest you get some energy for me," Kent wrote. "You're gonna need it."

Leviss served the cast with cease-and-desist notices to make sure the intimate video at the center of the scandal wasn't leaked. Taking once more to Instagram, Kent decried the fact that she got the email herself. "Raquel, tell your little Mickey Mouse lawyer that if he has stuff to send over, he can send things to my lawyer, same with the rest of my friends and cast alright?" she insisted (via Yahoo!). Then she uttered the phrase: "Send it to Darrell!" Soon enough, Kent began selling merch with the catchphrase on it. Darrell even gave an interview about what it was like to be a meme, telling Law360: "This has been the most hilarious thing that I've ever experienced."

On March 20, 2023 — after "Vanderpump Rules" had resumed filming for several weeks in order to capture the fallout of Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss' affair — Bravo dropped a mid-season trailer foreshadowing all the drama still to come. "I was the OG homewrecking wh*** of the group," Scheana Shay jokes to Leviss. "Then came Lala ... and now here you are," she adds, likely referring to Leviss' flirtation with Tom Schwartz. In addition to some portentous shots of Sandoval and Leviss in a pool together, there's a silly-looking effect that turns Katie Maloney into a green-skinned monster while she spits: "I want to light them both on f***ing fire."

Most significantly, the trailer previews a post-affair conversation between Ariana Madix and Sandoval. After he asks her from the kitchen if she wants anything, she replies coolly: "For you to die." The catchphrase instantly joined the pantheon of legendary Bravo quotes, singled out by fans on Twitter and Reddit. "I was like she's a stronger b**** than me because I'd be rage crying while talking to him," one Redditor wrote. Fans also fixated on a quick, silent shot of Madix screaming what appears to be the word "Raquel."  One fan wrote on Twitter: "the scene in the mid season trailer showing Ariana screaming gave me chills."

The trailer was released before the reunion was filmed, meaning there is still even more drama to come.

Ahead of the reunion taping, Bravo posted the seating chart on Instagram, letting fans dissect the lines that had been drawn between various factions and alliances of the cast. On one side of host, Andy Cohen, would be Lala Kent, James Kennedy, Katie Maloney, and Ariana Madix. They would be sitting opposite Lisa Vanderpump, Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss, and Tom Schwartz. If those were the only castmates willing to sit there, that might mean Vanderpump and Schwartz are the only cast members still speaking to the two who tore the show apart with their affair.

The seating arrangement drew lots of comments on social media as fans picked apart the drama it was likely to cause. One such commenter? Candiace Dillard Bassett, star of "The Real Housewives of Potomac." She wrote: "the people who allegedly cheated are sitting next to each other in front of the woman that was cheated on?! Who is making these decisions? I'm getting heartburn and my edges are falling out just looking at this!"

There was a second seating chart on the infographic as well, swapping Leviss out for Scheana Shay. This likely means they weren't allowed to be on set at the same time, presumably due to the restraining order Leviss hit her co-star with after Shay allegedly struck her upon learning the news of the affair. 

The Scandoval drama reached new heights when TMZ caught Raquel Leviss sitting outside a Los Angeles nail salon, dressed down in a black hoodie and appearing to wear no makeup. They bombarded her with questions likely to be asked at the reunion, and though she declined to answer certain things, she did spill some tea, smiling awkwardly the whole time. 

Perhaps most surprisingly, she showed off a cut on her eyebrow, claiming: "Scheana knows what happened that night. Um, I'm not gonna go into it too much, but I do have a permanent scar on my eyebrow. Um, so. Yeah." Leviss also teased that she would be explaining the timeline of her relationship with Sandoval at the reunion. "It started off as a friendship and it turned into something more," she confessed. "But I'm sure we'll go into detail about all of that tomorrow at the reunion."

While appearing on Jeff Lewis Live (via YouTube), Lala Kent accused her co-star of arranging the whole interview. "She set that TMZ interview up," Kent said, laughing. "That's the same nail salon that Scheana's best friend works at and Ariana goes to ... they were like, 'There's not even a chair out there.' Like, 'No one has ever waited outside.' And her nail appointment was done." She added that Leviss' bare-faced appearance was "the PR plan" making the whole thing seem more impromptu than it was.

Even before a single word was uttered at the "Vanderpump Rules" Season 10 Reunion taping, the cast began sending each other messages. Paparazzi cameras captured Ariana Madix showing up to the filming in a "1-800-Boys-Lie" sweatsuit, which ET identified as sold by Revolve. (The clothing subsequently sold out, no doubt thanks to fans trying to copy Madix's instantly-iconic look). Madix's bestie Scheana Shay wore her own merch as she arrived, posing in an "It Really Is All Happening" sweater, referencing her tattoo with a similar phrase. Andy Cohen also took his Instagram followers behind the scenes, showing off Lala Kent's sharpened manicure. "I have to get my claws into somebody," she said "and I have a couple people in mind."

Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss sent a message with their reunion attire, too. As they arrived at the taping, they were both dressed in black, like they were attending a funeral rather than a reality show filming event. TMZ published photos of the scandalous duo talking and smoking in the parking lot outside the studio. 

As Season 10 of "Vanderpump Rules" winds to a close and the reunion air date draws closer, Bravo has released information about what everyone wore at the shoot, including posting photos of everyone's incredible looks. Madix, it seemed, changed out of her yellow sweatsuit into a stunning red dress, a midriff-baring number that showed Sandoval exactly what he'd lost.

This time around, the "Vanderpump Rules" reunion will take a different form than fans are used to. After the taping had been completed, Bravo mogul Andy Cohen hopped on his Sirius XM radio show, "Radio Andy," to explain the format that fans should expect. First, though, he insisted that he hadn't been over-hyping the rest of the season still to come. Cohen is no longer a producer of the show, merely the reunion host, so he reiterated that fans should believe him when he says the remaining episodes of the season are like nothing else. "Jaw-dropping," he said (via YouTube). "That's the word that I would use. Jaw. Dropping."

Revealing that he had "concerns," Cohen said they began the taping by filming one-on-one interviews with Tom Sandoval, Ariana Madix, and Raquel Leviss. Cohen wanted to hear their stories straight from them, without the rest of the cast jumping in. Then the whole group joined the taping. "It was a real reckoning," Cohen recalled.

To ensure that fans can see every "aggressive" and "confrontational" moment, Cohen teased that NBC streaming service Peacock will be releasing what he called "extended versions" of the reunion episodes. "I think you're going to get extras on Peacock," he said. "And let me tell you, there is a lot of reckoning to get ... You're going to get what you're looking for."

After the taping, rumors about the reunion began to circulate online instantly. According to Us Weekly, Raquel Leviss' ex-fiancé James Kennedy led the charge along with Lala Kent, reportedly screaming at Sandoval and Leviss for "hours."  A source told the outlet: "The cast was out of control and Lala Kent and James Kennedy went crazy. James took on Tom Sandoval while Lala took on Raquel Leviss and they both just lit them on fire and burned them alive with their shade."

Kent seemingly confirmed the reporting while appearing on Jeff Lewis Live (via YouTube). "My mind is fried," she admitted. "I completely blacked out. I was, like, enraged." She noted that an interaction with a producer after filming indicated she may have gone a bit over the top. "Normally, I get, like, a pat on the back, like 'You did great today, we're so proud of you.' I said, 'I feel like I went a little too crazy,' and they said, 'I think we'll be able to pull you back a bit when we edit this down.'"

On an episode of her podcast "Give Them Lala" (via YouTube), the reality star confessed that she even got emotional while they taped the reunion. "I only cried one time, and you guys will see why I cried, but the rest of the time, I mean ... I was in fight mode ... I felt like a lion who had just made the most epic kill."

After the reunion taped, TMZ reported that tensions between the cast got so high that things nearly got physical. "It was like a nuclear bomb went off in the studio," an insider told the outlet, describing reunion host Andy Cohen as having to get in between two cast members to prevent a fight. Lala Kent confirmed that security had to step in, revealing on Amazon Live's TikTok account: "I'm not gonna say who it was. I will say Andy got involved. He could hardly control it, so security got involved."

Jax Taylor confirmed the near-brawl but stopped just short of spoiling which cast members almost came to blows. While speaking with Extra, he said: "I don't know what I'm allowed to say ... I have a feeling it's the two boys ... In fact, I know that because I talked to him." Presumably, Taylor was suggesting that Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz were the ones who almost fought. However, after a fan reposted the rumor on Instagram, Schwartz's ex-wife Katie Maloney commented simply, "Lol."

SUR manager (and one-time Raquel Leviss make-out partner) Peter Madrigal has his own suspicions as to who had to be stopped from physically fighting at the reunion. "I personally think James [Kennedy] was involved," he told Hollywood Life. "Because think about it — he's affected by this thing too. He was used, just like I was used." It seems that we'll just have to wait and see.

One of the biggest questions fans have ahead of the reunion is whether or not Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss will stay together now that their affair is no longer a secret. It seems that they're going to try at least, according to TMZ, who published photos of the troubled twosome at dinner together after the reunion taping. The source who snapped the pics of the co-stars at Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard said that they overheard Leviss recapping the reunion drama, including the phrase: "I can't believe she said that." It's unclear which cast member she was referring to, but a statement like this certainly hints at an explosive reunion.

Another question related to Sandoval and Leviss is whether they will continue to be on the show, considering how their affair has burned bridges with much of the cast. According to a source who spoke with Us Weekly, Leviss' participation in "Vanderpump Rules" was on the "chopping block," considering how few castmates were willing to film scenes with the former beauty pageant model. "It would be impossible to begin filming next season and act like the bombshell affair never happened and Tom and Raquel are still together," the source said. It seems that only time will tell.

After the reunion, a videographer published by Page Six found Ariana Madix at a shopping plaza in Los Angeles, looking chic in a black jacket embroidered with NASA patches. The interviewer asked what she thought about Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss getting dinner after filming. "I don't know what they do," she replied. "At this point, I don't care about anything that either of them does."

Instead, Madix said she has turned her attention to the next steps in her life, namely a focus on her acting career. Madix will have a role in the upcoming Lifetime film "Buying Back My Daughter," about a sex trafficking situation. "[I'm] very excited," Madix said. "I leave tomorrow. I'm playing a police officer. Like a detective kind of situation." Though she's primarily known as a reality star, Madix has dabbled in acting before. She's had roles on shows like "Anger Management," "Paradise City," and "The Other Two," where she played herself.

Madix's friends and co-stars continue to support her, even after the reunion taping. On Instagram, Scheana Shay shared a snap of herself hanging out with her friend, captioned simply: "Ride or die."