Tom Schwartz got candid about his makeout sesh with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss on Vanderpump Rules.
Schwartz, 41, opened up about his brief fling with Leviss, 29, during a Tuesday, February 27 episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast, hosted by Amanda Hirsch. “We just don’t have any chemistry,” Schwartz said when Hirsch asked if their kiss was “bad.”
“It was just — by the way, I’m a very good kisser,” he said. “I pride myself on that. … that was just not it. It was just awkward.” When asked if their kiss was “forced,” Schwartz admitted there was alcohol involved at the time. “[It was a] when in Rome, why not, type of situation.”
Schwartz continued, sharing that if he knew Raquel and Tom Sandoval were having an affair at the same time, he “certainly wouldn’t have made out with her.”
“I knew that they had had an encounter, but I didn’t know that they were still going,” he said.
Schwartz and Leviss first made out in August 2022 during Scheana Shay and Brock Davies’ wedding weekend in Mexico. Schwartz was newly single after calling it quits with ex-wife Katie Maloney in March 2022, while Leviss had also recently split from ex James Kennedy in December 2021.
At the time, Sandoval, 40, was having a secret affair with Leviss amid his nine-year relationship with Ariana Madix. The two have since split. Fans have wondered if Leviss’ makeout with Schwartz was a “decoy” to distract from Sandoval’s affair, but Schwartz denied the rumors while on “Not Skinny But Not Fat.” (Schwartz previously claimed Sandoval “made” him kiss Leviss while speaking with ET Canada in March 2023: “[Sandoval] made me do it. I didn’t want to do it. He’s like, ‘If you don’t do it, you’re a wussy.’ He steamrolled me.”)
One month after their hookup aired, a source told Us Weekly that Leviss had “no regrets” about kissing Schwartz — even though Maloney, 37, was unhappy about the liplock.
Schwartz later gushed about his kiss to Us in February 2023, calling it “a transformative moment.”
“There was momentary passion in the air,” he said. “I kind of disappeared into that kiss, I’ll be honest … [but] in terms of any long-term romance with me and Raquel, I don’t know how much chemistry is there.”
Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
