Vanderpump Rules executive producer Alex Baskin confirmed that Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix didn’t film any scenes together during season 11.
“I wouldn’t say that the wounds have healed,” Baskin told TV Insider in an interview published on Tuesday, January 2. “[Tom and Ariana] have not gotten to the other side of what happened.”
The feature noted that Sandoval, 40, and Ariana, 38, “did not film together” despite both appearing in the upcoming season. In the first trailer for the season, which was released in November, Sandoval and Ariana appeared to argue in a group scene.
Season 11 picked up months after Sandoval and Ariana split following nearly a decade of dating due to his affair with Raquel Leviss.
“That’s an oddity we cover in all of its fascination,” Baskin added. “They’re living together but have vastly different faiths and fortunes. In the same house in which Ariana has all sorts of gifts that have been sent to her by sponsors and admirers, Tom has to walk past them every day.”
As the scandal played out in the public eye, Ariana made it clear that she had no plans to film with Sandoval or Raquel, 29. “No. I have nothing to say to either of them,” she told The New York Times in May, two months after her breakup from Sandoval. “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.”
Raquel Leviss, Tom Sandoval, and Ariana Madix. Nicole Weingart/Bravo
Most of the cast members ultimately returned to film season 11 including Ariana, Sandoval, Katie Maloney, Tom Schwartz, Lala Kent, Scheana Shay, James Kennedy, Ally Lewber and Brock Davies.
While some things never change, the cast of Vanderpump Rules is used to a shake-up … and a touch-up. Vanderpump Rules was introduced to Bravo viewers during a special episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in January 2013. Season 1 starred Lisa Vanderpump, who was a Beverly Hills Housewife at the time, Stassi […]
Raquel, however, did not come back to the show following a 90-day stint in a mental health facility. In her first interview after seeking treatment, Raquel also surprised Bravo fans when she downplayed her friendship with Ariana.
“Ariana and I were not best friends. We were acquaintances who became friends through the show,” she said on Bethenny Frankel’s “Just B” podcast in August. “She’s always been somebody who’s been very sweet to me. She would stand up for me and encourage me to pursue whatever I was, I don’t know … pursuing. And that was all great — but we never had, like, a deep conversation that I would have with a best friend.”
Ariana questioned Raquel’s version of events, sharing on Scheana’s “Scheananigans” podcast that same month, “That was very hurtful … [and] a very obvious lie. I was very much under the impression that we were, like, really good friends. And I didn’t come to that impression lightly. … It wasn’t fake to me.”
Ariana has continued to thrive in the aftermath of the scandal. In addition to competing on Dancing With the Stars, Ariana has moved on with boyfriend Daniel Wai and is preparing to make her Broadway debut later this month.
“This situation made me realize that I can do hard things,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2023. “The worst-case scenario literally did happen, and I was OK. Like, look — you can handle what’s thrown at you.”
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