The hits — literally — just keep coming. Vanderpump Rules fans are reeling over footage of Tom Sandoval appearing to slap Raquel Leviss’ butt in front of Ariana Madix.
During the Wednesday, April 12, episode of the Bravo hit, the 40-year-old bartender seemingly playfully tapped the 28-year-old SURver’s behind after a conversation with Ariana, 37, and Scheana Shay about Tom Schwartz kissing Raquel earlier in the evening.
“SANDOVAL DEFINITELY GRABBED RACHEL’S ASS WHEN ARIANA LOOKED AWAY #PumpRules,” one viewer tweeted.
Another wrote: “Sandoval being giddy and psychotic over Raquel making out with Schwartz because he thinks they’re tricking everyone… and then slapping Raquel’s ass as soon as Ariana turns around. Narcissists are f—king evil.”
“Tom smacked Raquel’s butt … when Ariana turned around and said ‘can we have some fun’ 😂 am I the only one who caught that? #PumpRules,” a third social media user tweeted.
Andy Cohen and Lala Kent subsequently addressed the wild moment on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Wednesday.
“[A fan] wants to know if we can discuss Sandoval grabbing Raquel’s butt right next to Ariana and Scheana right when they were walking away from the bar in Scheana’s room discussing Schwartz in his room passed out. Did you clock that?” the host, 54, asked Lala, 32.
The Give Them Lala Beauty founder responded, “I did clock that, but it’s just so — you never suspect it because you’re like, ‘He wouldn’t do that in front of all of us?’”
Us Weekly confirmed in March that Ariana learned Sandoval — whom she started dating in 2014 — and Raquel had been sneaking around behind her back since at least August 2022. He admitted earlier this week that he kissed the waitress for the first time before Schwartz and Raquel had their fling at Scheana’s wedding.
“We just kissed. It was magnetic,” he said on the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast on Tuesday, April 11. “I felt something that I hadn’t felt in so long, like emotionally. … Those feelings that I had started to take over in a sense. Logic went out the window.”
He added: “When we got back [from Scheana’s wedding], I asked him [about the kiss and Schwartz said] it meant nothing. So then I told him what happened.”
Sandoval claimed he broke up with Ariana in February, but she was “in denial” about the split.
“It’s the most upset and angry I’ve ever seen her,” Sandoval said of the moment Ariana found an inappropriate video of Raquel on his phone. “I think she went through my phone to see if anything had happened with someone in Miami, but we were broken up. She knew we were broken up. We didn’t tell anybody.”
Schwartz, meanwhile, called the affair an “open secret” as his best friend was “flagrant” and “brazen” with his actions.
While Ariana has yet to publicly respond to Sandoval’s recent claims, Lala said on Wednesday she was “grossed out” over Schwartz’s remarks. “If I would’ve been Schwartz, I would’ve said, ‘If you don’t tell her, I’m going to tell her.’”
Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET. Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen airs Sundays through Thursday nights on Bravo, and is available next day on Peacock.
