Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss' castmates begin to question just how close the two really are in the latest installment of “Vanderpump Rules.”
Titled “Beach, Don’t Kill My Vibe,” the 12th episode of Season 10 centers around the pair's budding friendship and highlights a rumor that spreads after a revelation Ally Lewber made in last week’s episode.
In case you missed it, Lewber (who is James Kennedy's girlfriend) spotted Sandoval and Leviss dancing at 1 a.m. — while Sandoval’s girlfriend Ariana Madix was nowhere in sight.
This week, Lewber tells Kennedy that Katie Maloney didn't seem phased when she heard that her friend's boyfriend was out with another woman.
"She said something about them not having a lot of rules. Don’t know what that means or what she was implying by that,” she says.
Kennedy thinks he knows what Maloney means. “It sounds to me that Katie is saying that Tom and Ariana are in an open relationship,” he suggests.
Meanwhile, Maloney shares her thoughts in a confessional interview.
“I don’t want to say that Sandoval would ever cheat on Ariana cause I would have to kill him, but what grabbed my attention the most was just that Tom and Raquel were alone. I’ve been friends with Sandoval for years and I’ve never gone out with him alone dancing at 1 a.m.," she says.
Sandoval and Leviss have been embroiled in a scandal called "Scandoval" over the past months since Sandoval was accused of cheating on his girlfriend of nine years, Madix, with his co-star. Both Sandoval and Leviss have since apologized.
During a recent episode of “Watch What Happens Live,” Sandoval's friend Tom Schwartz told Andy Cohen that he learned that Leviss and Sandoval had a “one-night stand” in August 2022, the same month that Shay got married in Mexico. Shay’s wedding occurred in Episode Nine of "Vanderpump Rules."
Now, three episodes later, questions are raised about the nature of Sandoval and Leviss' friendship. Per Kennedy's suggestion, Lewber brings the issue up with Scheana Shay, who refutes the budding rumor that Madix and Sandoval are in an open relationship.
"They’re two of my best friends and this would be the first I’m hearing of it, and I don’t believe it whatsoever. The fact that Katie said that and she put that out there is disgusting,” Shay says.
She goes so far as to say she'd trust her husband, Brock Davies, in bed with Leviss and suggests that she's harmless.
“Everyone just wants to find something wrong with Raquel” she says in a confessional.
At a beach outing, Shay warns Sandoval about the rumors that are starting to spread, and he denies that anything inappropriate happened, explaining that he went out dancing with a group of people that simply included Leviss.
"It’s not a place where I would take a secret f------ rendezvous,” he says.
In a confessional, Sandoval says the suggestion that he's in an open relationship is “the most f------ ridiculous f------ thing ever.” After the beach, he confronts Maloney and says Madix isn't pleased that she would imply that.
In a confessional, a producer asks Sandoval outright if anything physical has happened between him and Leviss, and he denies it.
“No. nothing has happened between Raquel and I, like nothing that wouldn’t happen between, you know, like, me and Katie," he says.
In her own confessional, Maloney says she was just trying to say that Sandoval and Madix are trusting of each other, not that they have an open relationship.
“If Tom and Ariana do have an open relationship, Ariana knows nothing about it,” she says.
At another point during the episode, Sandoval questions his relationship with Madix while talking to Schwartz and explaining that he's going to fertilize Madix's eggs in case they decide they want to have children one day. He says that talking to his girlfriend of nine years has been "frustrating" lately since she thinks he's "dumb or annoying."
"It definitely pulls into question whether Ariana and I are right for each other,” he says.