Speaker 1: This is the most dramatic podcast ever and I heart
Speaker 1: radio podcast. Welcome to this breaking news edition of the
Speaker 1: most dramatic podcast ever. I'm Chris Harrison, and this is
Speaker 1: my breaking news voice, a voice I haven't had to
Speaker 1: use in many years. But this is a story that
Speaker 1: we're about to talk about that is so big, so scandalous.
Speaker 1: It's taken me back to my breaking news days. And
Speaker 1: this is the vander Pump Rules affair. Joining me is
Speaker 1: entertainment reporter as well as Bravo a holic Lorenzima. I
Speaker 1: love your breaking news voice. You know it's the Vanderpump
Speaker 1: vander Dump everybody. We spoke to you a little bit
Speaker 1: about the Vanderpump Rules saga that is sweeping the nation.
Speaker 1: On Monday. We got into the characters, the real life
Speaker 1: people from this reality show on Bravo, Tom Sandoval, arian
Speaker 1: Amatox and Raquel Levis whose real name turns out to
Speaker 1: be Rachel, and the fact that Tom and Raquel were
Speaker 1: apparently having an affair behind the back end in the
Speaker 1: home of Tom and Arianna and Roquel and Arianna are
Speaker 1: very good friends. So we've been talking about it all
Speaker 1: week and we just decided to do another episode of
Speaker 1: the podcast, because this has overtaken everything. I mean, the
Speaker 1: New York Times wrote about this. If you want to
Speaker 1: talk drama nation, this is the nation in the drama.
Speaker 1: This has been so I usually don't timestamp these things,
Speaker 1: but it's Tuesday night. There's so much tea that Lord
Speaker 1: and I have actually had to pour a cocktail to
Speaker 1: get through this breaking news. What'd you go with? You
Speaker 1: want the tequila? Tequila what I call a sent tequilia.
Speaker 1: It's Saint Germain and tequila. I went with a nice
Speaker 1: Napa cap. So we're going to enjoy a cocktail on
Speaker 1: this Tuesday evening, and we're going to get through what
Speaker 1: has become such a captivating story. And I guess we
Speaker 1: start with that. Why there's been cheating scandals? There's all
Speaker 1: kinds of cheating scandals all the time on TV and
Speaker 1: off TV. Why has this one captured our imagination, our eyeballs.
Speaker 1: It's really captivated this country. I think that's a question
Speaker 1: for you, because you have twenty years of experience in
Speaker 1: drama in reality TV. Why has this one become? And
Speaker 1: by the way, vanderpumb Rules been on almost a decade, right,
Speaker 1: and you know I've been watching it on and off
Speaker 1: for the past ten years. I've skipped a couple of seasons,
Speaker 1: watched a lot of them, but it's not a show that, like,
Speaker 1: like my mom watches Real House, so I've che didn't
Speaker 1: watch Vanderpum Rules. It's not a show that everybody had
Speaker 1: this level of household name familiarity to it. But now
Speaker 1: all that has changed. What do you think has made
Speaker 1: the difference? I think there is Maybe it's post pandemic.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but there has been a lack of
Speaker 1: a social relevant show. And I was looking tonight there
Speaker 1: are what ten stories on US magazine and People Magazine.
Speaker 1: It's all Vader Pump Rules. Do you mean a gap
Speaker 1: in a socially relevant reality show? Right? And I hate
Speaker 1: to throw gasoline on what's already a big fire, but
Speaker 1: I'll tell you when The Bachelor is in season, which
Speaker 1: it is now five six, seven of the biggest headlines
Speaker 1: would have been about the Bachelor. It's just not socially
Speaker 1: relevant anymore. It's not filling that gap. It's not creating
Speaker 1: storylines that anybody cares about. And when a story like
Speaker 1: this comes along, we still have that insatiable appetite. You
Speaker 1: still have that insatiable appetite. So when this story broke,
Speaker 1: I think it's just a perfect storm of what we
Speaker 1: used to count on to be good and to be
Speaker 1: socially relevant, to be exciting, is not anymore. We still
Speaker 1: want it, and now we got it, and it's Vanderpump rules.
Speaker 1: I did have somebody text me today. They were like,
Speaker 1: I used I used to see the Bachelor news stories
Speaker 1: as the top on, you know, the number one news story,
Speaker 1: and nobody's talking nobody, Well they're talking about this, and look,
Speaker 1: I think everybody relates to a cheating scandal. But I,
Speaker 1: like we've said, not everything blows up the way this has,
Speaker 1: and it certainly has. So we are going to give
Speaker 1: you all the latest information and we're going to analyze it.
Speaker 1: So we'll go bit by bit here. We have tried
Speaker 1: to keep on top of everything, and the latest where
Speaker 1: we sit on Tuesday night is that the show has
Speaker 1: started filming again. That Tom Sandoval and Raquel Levis Levis
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. Also, you know what her real name is, Rachel,
Speaker 1: So Tom and Rachel it Chell have filmed scenes together,
Speaker 1: but according to a report on Entertainment Tonight, Tom didn't
Speaker 1: like the way their seems were coming across. He thought
Speaker 1: he was painted and too negative of a life, you think,
Speaker 1: and he asked, or rather demanded, even that producers let
Speaker 1: him refilm it, but they did not, and now he's
Speaker 1: threatening to not film anymore. Hey, guys, I don't look
Speaker 1: great in this cheating scandal. Is there any way we
Speaker 1: can spend this or I look like a really good guy.
Speaker 1: I don't look like a predator hitting on this twenty
Speaker 1: eight year old woman cheating on her in my own bed.
Speaker 1: We should note that Tom is forty years old. Tom's
Speaker 1: forty rock Riquel's twenty. We're going to get into the
Speaker 1: age difference, because the age difference isn't a big deal
Speaker 1: as far as the relationship goes. That doesn't matter at all,
Speaker 1: but we will talk about Raquel. I think Raquel's age matters.
Speaker 1: It matters to her and where she is in all this.
Speaker 1: And by the way, the latest report is they did
Speaker 1: start filming, of course, but Riquel has allegedly left. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's a People magazine report that she's gone home to
Speaker 1: be with her family. This has been so overwhelming. The
Speaker 1: report is that she has no friends on set, on
Speaker 1: the cast, social media, It is all against her right now,
Speaker 1: and you can imagine why. But it's just been so
Speaker 1: much that she has left now. Has a camera crew
Speaker 1: gone with her? Did they follow her home? Very possible.
Speaker 1: The other thing is maybe a producer got to her
Speaker 1: and said, hey, just every now and then check in
Speaker 1: on your own phone. Just roll a camera every now
Speaker 1: and then in check. By the way, I have to say,
Speaker 1: I believe that it is overwhelming for her. I mean,
Speaker 1: like we were just saying, this is sweeping the nation now,
Speaker 1: and I want to be clear, we're discussing, we're having fun.
Speaker 1: I don't want to come at them with cruelty, with hate,
Speaker 1: with vitriol, because social media is very overwhelming. And yes,
Speaker 1: they signed on to be on a reality show, but
Speaker 1: the human brain can only take so much. I mean,
Speaker 1: you and I certainly know about a world of people
Speaker 1: coming after you well, and we were talking just at
Speaker 1: dinner moment ago that Again, this isn't to forgive anything,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't make her the victim. But for Raquel
Speaker 1: being so young, she jumped into a show that had already,
Speaker 1: as you said, it'd been going for a decade. She
Speaker 1: jumped in a few seasons ago she joined, but this
Speaker 1: at her age would be a lot to be unloaded on.
Speaker 1: I mean this, Yeah, she's had a little bit of
Speaker 1: a taste of this reality show. Let's just get into it.
Speaker 1: We're not we're defending Raquel a little bit. I am,
Speaker 1: and I'll say this, I'll say why. I'm not defending
Speaker 1: what she did. I am defending her as a person
Speaker 1: only in that I think she's twenty seven, twenty eight
Speaker 1: years old, Thomas forty, Arianna's in her late thirties. The
Speaker 1: women Arianna is friends with on the show, the other
Speaker 1: cast members are in their mid late thirties. And I
Speaker 1: am not saying that anything that Raquel did here was okay,
Speaker 1: But I do think when you're twenty seven, twenty eight,
Speaker 1: I think she's missing some of the life perspective, the
Speaker 1: relationship perspective that people ten years and more older than
Speaker 1: her have. And I also think they've been on reality
Speaker 1: TV longer, they're savvier, they're they're friends with like, I
Speaker 1: just think Raquel's in over her head. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: what she did was okay, but I don't. But I
Speaker 1: worry about her mental It's a very fair assessment, very
Speaker 1: fair thing to say that she's over her head and
Speaker 1: all this, yes, and again it's not to forgive anything,
Speaker 1: but I actually was glad to read that report tonight
Speaker 1: that she's left and she's gone home to surround herself
Speaker 1: with some people, because there was the reports of she
Speaker 1: had a crisis management PR team. Do not get Lauren
Speaker 1: and I started on crisis PR people as a big
Speaker 1: waiste of money and how useless they are. The best
Speaker 1: thing I've heard is that she fired them. I don't
Speaker 1: know if she's hired another one or not. Sorry, that
Speaker 1: just opened up a big wound for us and triggered
Speaker 1: us the places. Why because the current media environment changes
Speaker 1: so quickly and everything happens so quickly, Like a crisis
Speaker 1: PR team is a thing of twenty years ago. It's
Speaker 1: not a thing that matters anymore. Like there's always groundbreaking
Speaker 1: new changes in the way things are being covered and
Speaker 1: all that thing about this we're talking about, Oh, this
Speaker 1: is the first time a show like vander Pump Rules
Speaker 1: has like made national news in this way. These people,
Speaker 1: they don't know how to handle it. Hey, maybe we'll
Speaker 1: sneak a story into People magazine for you. It's like great, thanks,
Speaker 1: but yeah, so they're useless. I'm glad she fired them.
Speaker 1: But this is what she's going through, is getting advice
Speaker 1: from crisis PR people agents, I'm sure, managers. I'm sure
Speaker 1: it has been just a tidal wave of noise for her.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad to hear that mentally health wise, she
Speaker 1: is removing herself, gonna go home, surround herself with some
Speaker 1: people she can trust and figure this thing out and
Speaker 1: get some perspective. So what's unclear here is there were
Speaker 1: different reports. Again, this is completely like, I don't know
Speaker 1: the sources on this. These are just reports, but let's
Speaker 1: bring it up for discussions sake, that the crisis PR
Speaker 1: team advised her to break up with Tom, to say
Speaker 1: she was the victim here that you know, she was
Speaker 1: kind of under Tom's spell or you know, bamboozled by Tom,
Speaker 1: and she was gonna have to break up with him. Look,
Speaker 1: she knew it wasn't a situation where and I've heard
Speaker 1: of this for real, that people find out later they're
Speaker 1: sleeping with someone who's married because that person lied and
Speaker 1: said they were divorced or lied and said they were
Speaker 1: in an open relationship. Raquel was friends with Marianna. She
Speaker 1: knew she was going to Tom's bands shows with Arianna
Speaker 1: and cheering him on with her with her alleged friend
Speaker 1: from the crowd, so she knew. So I am not
Speaker 1: applauding her. I am not defending what she did, and
Speaker 1: I don't think she's a victim here. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: that I have empathy or worry about her being a
Speaker 1: twenty seven, twenty eight year old because we all do
Speaker 1: super dumb stuff. Then that once we have the perspective
Speaker 1: of age, we look back on and regret. And I
Speaker 1: don't know. Maybe it's because I'm the guy, maybe it's
Speaker 1: because I'm an older guy. But I just look at
Speaker 1: Tom and I think Tom's the problem here. You knew better, Bud.
Speaker 1: Tom's forty. Tom was in a relationship of almost a
Speaker 1: decade with Arianna. Tom has been on the show longer.
Speaker 1: Tom is the problem and the excuse he laid out
Speaker 1: of why he didn't tell Arianna okay, because this has
Speaker 1: been a long time affair. This isn't a hey, we
Speaker 1: just started to hang last summer. Been awhile And he
Speaker 1: said about Arianna and why he didn't break up with her. Yes,
Speaker 1: according to a report, Tom said that or Tom didn't
Speaker 1: break up with Arianna yet because he was worried about
Speaker 1: her mental health, so worried about her mental health that
Speaker 1: he cheated on her with her friend. And and because
Speaker 1: this is maybe my favorite part, because they had a
Speaker 1: house together and he thought it would be complicated, and
Speaker 1: you could maybe possibly believe that, BS, if it weren't
Speaker 1: for how brazen they were. You posted a video from Halloween. Yes,
Speaker 1: I did well. Raquel still has in her highlights on
Speaker 1: her Instagram these videos from Halloween, where you, guys, this
Speaker 1: is what I think. This really sick and twisted. I
Speaker 1: think this is part of why it's blown up on
Speaker 1: a nationwide scale because of these strange, gruesome little details.
Speaker 1: On Halloween, Tom dressed up as Raquel. They are in
Speaker 1: videos together Raquel and with Tom dressed up as her. Raquel,
Speaker 1: Tom and Ariana we're all going to this same party.
Speaker 1: They all went to this party and Tom thought it's
Speaker 1: going to be cute if I dress up like the
Speaker 1: girl I'm sleeping with. Yes, that is fed up in
Speaker 1: front of my girlfriend is level fed up it is,
Speaker 1: so that is a signal again, they and we had
Speaker 1: already talked about this on the show this week where
Speaker 1: they had the little lightning bolt matching necklaces. They did
Speaker 1: these things that are next level ft up the Harry
Speaker 1: Potter nerd in me and my friend Um who I
Speaker 1: follow follow the Lightning Bolt. Yes, follow the account best
Speaker 1: of Bravo if you want all the Bravo updates. I
Speaker 1: love Maggie. She's great and she's really been on the
Speaker 1: ground collecting all the Reddit news and all that and
Speaker 1: just curating it. She said, like, what in the Harry
Speaker 1: Potter is this about the lightning bowl necklaces? And I said,
Speaker 1: it makes sense because you know who did the lightning bolt,
Speaker 1: Scar Baltimart. No, boy, don't go, don't do it. Don't
Speaker 1: do it lightning bolts. So that that to me, and
Speaker 1: you're right, maybe that's what struck a chord with everybody
Speaker 1: is this isn't your garden variety affair. It's a really dark,
Speaker 1: sick just a whole things that they they've done together.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if it's Tom or whatever, but yeah,
Speaker 1: Tom dressed up as Raquel. That's just messed dress up
Speaker 1: as Rachel and went and hung out with his girlfriend.
Speaker 1: And then in this video, this highlight you're talking about,
Speaker 1: there's like Raquel making a toast in front of Arianna
Speaker 1: and Tom. It's just again, it's just so disgusting because
Speaker 1: you know what's going on now that you look at
Speaker 1: it through this lens, you just know how sick and
Speaker 1: twisted it really is. And then there's then there's this video.
Speaker 1: The whole way this thing got played out was there
Speaker 1: at a concert, and we're not sure how she got
Speaker 1: the phone, but Tom's phone ended up on the floor,
Speaker 1: maybe it fell out during the concert. Whatever, she ends
Speaker 1: up with the phone and sees this video. Yes, apparently
Speaker 1: it's unclear the specifics, but Arianna allegedly saw a video
Speaker 1: on Tom's phone, her boyfriend's phone, of Raquel pleasuring herself,
Speaker 1: and so obviously pretty quickly she knew something was going
Speaker 1: on there. So now there's a sex tape in all
Speaker 1: this the new version of a sex tape. So apparently
Speaker 1: allegedly this was a screen recorded FaceTime, a FaceTime screen
Speaker 1: recorded by Tom. And now Raquel has apparently had a
Speaker 1: lawyer send out like cease and assist to the whole
Speaker 1: cast saying do not distribute this video. You can't exchange it,
Speaker 1: it can't go public. The other because it was recorded
Speaker 1: without her consent, and this videos out there now look
Speaker 1: I believe by the way. I mean, people have cheated
Speaker 1: on me before, and I have found the cheating on
Speaker 1: their phones before. The first thing I did was texted
Speaker 1: that evidence to myself because I'm like, I gotta have
Speaker 1: this so I know because the person I was with,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I know this person is a gas lighting narcissist,
Speaker 1: and if I don't have the visual proof, they will
Speaker 1: try to deny it or lie their way out of it.
Speaker 1: I needed the proof from my own sanity. So if
Speaker 1: Ariana texted that to herself, you have to I get it,
Speaker 1: because he would have tried to deny it or whatever.
Speaker 1: So she had to do that. But I also, look,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's fair to Rockhell if that video
Speaker 1: ends up, you know, posted online and that every that's
Speaker 1: not fair to her either. Because that's so I get
Speaker 1: the season desist. But you pointed out something interesting about
Speaker 1: the season desist in the warning of it. Well, the
Speaker 1: season desist is she obviously didn't comply, She didn't give
Speaker 1: her consent to be recorded. That is what the loyal argument,
Speaker 1: that's the legal argument. That's the only way they can
Speaker 1: get that season desist is she says, look, I did
Speaker 1: not consent to this video being taken. Tom did it
Speaker 1: behind my back while I was doing my thing, and
Speaker 1: he recorded it. And so if that's true, then why
Speaker 1: are they still in good graces? Why are they still together?
Speaker 1: Because allegedly after all of this, bottom line is when
Speaker 1: Bravo started shooting, they were going to continue as if
Speaker 1: Tom and now Raquel are together, kind of figure this
Speaker 1: thing out going forward as a couple. And look, if
Speaker 1: someone had just recorded me against my will and this
Speaker 1: thing without asking, without asking, we're not still dating. Very
Speaker 1: good point. They're finding you in a ditch, noted. So
Speaker 1: do you think that she was just saying it was
Speaker 1: without her consent? Well, I think they go to a
Speaker 1: lawyer and they're like, how do we stop this? They're like,
Speaker 1: the only way you stop this is say I didn't
Speaker 1: consent to it, because that because this has already gone.
Speaker 1: I promise you media outlets have this, TMZ, whoever it is,
Speaker 1: trust me they have. If two or more people have this,
Speaker 1: it's out in the industry. It's out in this world,
Speaker 1: and these are reality stars, so now it's really out there.
Speaker 1: So it's already out there at established places, whether it's
Speaker 1: people or US Magazine, TMZ whatever they have it. Now,
Speaker 1: it's just can the lawyers keep this under wraps? Will
Speaker 1: it end up on Reddit? Will end up on one
Speaker 1: of the dark web places? Unfortunately, it probably will. But
Speaker 1: this lawyer apparently is doing his damn just to shut
Speaker 1: it down, and good good for him, by the way. Truly,
Speaker 1: I know I have to say, no matter what she
Speaker 1: went through, I don't think it's fair of that video.
Speaker 1: I don't deserve that. But so there's all these reports
Speaker 1: about you know, what her PR strategy is going to
Speaker 1: be that one you know, the one team that she's
Speaker 1: maybe not working with anymore, said play the victim, break
Speaker 1: up with him. Then maybe the PR strategy is that
Speaker 1: they're together and that they're going to be like, we're
Speaker 1: in love and this is real and get behind it
Speaker 1: in that way and try to get people on their
Speaker 1: side in that way. And I just like, what do
Speaker 1: you think? Because I think the truth is probably somewhere
Speaker 1: in the middle. Like if I were her, I'm trying
Speaker 1: to put myself in her shoes, I would be sort
Speaker 1: of questioning everything. I would be like, well, should I
Speaker 1: break up with them? I mean, especially if he did
Speaker 1: record that without her consent? Should I are we together?
Speaker 1: Are we in love? Do? I? I mean it also
Speaker 1: goes back to can you trust someone in a relationship
Speaker 1: when they start with that relationship with you as a cheater? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's a difficult question. I would just say
Speaker 1: moreover a bigger umbrella for your question. You just ask,
Speaker 1: because I think, yes, there are circumstances where we know
Speaker 1: when affairs happen, look at Amy Robot, TJ. Holmes. But
Speaker 1: I think what matters more is the foundation. The foundation
Speaker 1: that this relationship was built on is not good. And
Speaker 1: if I could give this girl advice, I would get
Speaker 1: her alone. And I hope that this space she's taken
Speaker 1: now by leaving the show and getting away, she will
Speaker 1: look back at some of this stuff going on and
Speaker 1: say this is not a good dude, this is a
Speaker 1: bad situation. And I hope my dream is that all
Speaker 1: of this will continue except now Arianna and somehow Raquel
Speaker 1: will make up and it's everyone against Tom. That's what
Speaker 1: you want. Yes, I'm team everybody except for Tom. And
Speaker 1: Raquel did say in this statement, um, that was to
Speaker 1: make a statement. Well, it was said, sorry allegedly in
Speaker 1: the statement that was really released tonight that it said
Speaker 1: that she left and went home. Was that she doesn't
Speaker 1: know how to apologize. To Ariana, Oh, that's you're talking
Speaker 1: about the People magazine articles saying sources saying sh she
Speaker 1: just well, she apologetic, she has no idea how. And again,
Speaker 1: to me, that goes back to, yeah, you're twenty seven,
Speaker 1: you're twenty eight years old, and I know that's not
Speaker 1: so young, and it's not an excuse, but I get it.
Speaker 1: I get how she has found herself in this hole
Speaker 1: and now it's not so cute. It's not so fun,
Speaker 1: it's not so sexy, it's not sex timing each other.
Speaker 1: It's not the cute little fun you know. Thunderbolt, Roquel,
Speaker 1: here's your And I wish I could sit her down
Speaker 1: and be like, get yourself out of this. If you're
Speaker 1: with Tom again, get yourself out of this, because you
Speaker 1: you're your biggest thing. Okay, you just brought up the
Speaker 1: Amy Robot t J. Holmes thing. You and I both
Speaker 1: know people who've there's Yeah, I'm thinking of one couple
Speaker 1: who they are together and married now their relationship started
Speaker 1: as each of them having affairs on their spouses. I
Speaker 1: am not saying this is okay, but I treat every
Speaker 1: relationship that I might talk about or hear about on
Speaker 1: the nature of that specific relationship. And maybe somebody's in
Speaker 1: a horribly unhappy marriage where there being mentally and emotionally abused.
Speaker 1: Maybe they stick it out for the kids. Maybe they
Speaker 1: got a cheat to state saying, and they finally get
Speaker 1: out of it. I don't know. But in this situation,
Speaker 1: Tom's biggest thing was was what what did Ariana? What
Speaker 1: was he so unhappy with with Arianna? What was what
Speaker 1: was she doing wrong? What was she doing to him? Nothing?
Speaker 1: From anything we've heard, if he had some big smoking
Speaker 1: gun on Arianna and how horrible she'd been to him,
Speaker 1: I'm sure he'd be rolling it out. We'd be hearing
Speaker 1: about it. Yeah, we got nothing. All we know his
Speaker 1: The only argument that we have is why he didn't
Speaker 1: tell her about the cheating, and it's because of her
Speaker 1: mental health. I mean, come on, Roquel, look at this guy.
Speaker 1: You're a bigger fan than I am. Clearly I'm gaining
Speaker 1: I'm gaining on you. But obviously you are entrenched in this,
Speaker 1: in this Bravo nation. So you've been watching Vanderpump rules.
Speaker 1: From what I have read and understood in the last
Speaker 1: several days. Tom loves this. Tom loves not maybe not this,
Speaker 1: but I just mean the attention, maybe a little narcissistic.
Speaker 1: These are the things I'm kind of gleaning off of
Speaker 1: what I'm reading online. Is he that guy? That's that's
Speaker 1: I can't pull myself away from this. I love this
Speaker 1: too much. You mean just the attention and everyone talking
Speaker 1: about him. I mean, he certainly loves attention. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think when you're watching reality TV, you're kind of
Speaker 1: like everybody on a reality show loves they're on a
Speaker 1: reality show. And you know, I have to say, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of talk right now about potentially cimates who
Speaker 1: are no longer on the show, Stacey Schroeder, Jack's Brittany,
Speaker 1: Kristen Dodi coming back to the show because they've been
Speaker 1: firing up on social media saying they always knew this
Speaker 1: about Tom. They called it before. What kind of guy
Speaker 1: Tom was? He came across as the nice guy for
Speaker 1: a while, but they always had his number. I have
Speaker 1: a question, Yes, didn't you read something about other people
Speaker 1: knowing about this as well, not just them? But like, okay,
Speaker 1: let's get into that. But I do, but quickly, I
Speaker 1: would love for these OG cast members to come back.
Speaker 1: It reminds me of a superhero movie like where they're
Speaker 1: like activate, yes, activate, and then like they're being there.
Speaker 1: I just see this thing where like they flip a
Speaker 1: switch and like Stas and all these like classics get
Speaker 1: up and they're like, yeah, we must go back. It's
Speaker 1: like how Michael Keaton's coming back as Batman, like THEE
Speaker 1: the old Batman's and the OG all the Spider Man's
Speaker 1: are coming together and the multi scared, be very scared. Well,
Speaker 1: I would love and for the fans out there, they know.
Speaker 1: The way that Vanderpump Rules started, the way the show
Speaker 1: first premiered ten years ago, was that after an episode
Speaker 1: of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Lisa Vanderpump cast member
Speaker 1: on Beverly Hills is in her restaurants, sir, and it
Speaker 1: just transitioned. You were almost confused. You're almost like, did
Speaker 1: I flip the channel? What just happened? Is this a commercial?
Speaker 1: And it transitioned into the series premiere of Vanderpump Rules
Speaker 1: from an episode of Real Houses of Beverly Hills. So
Speaker 1: here's what I want to happen. OG cast members come
Speaker 1: to the reunion. The Vanderpump Rules Reunion is taping in
Speaker 1: two weeks. They come to the reunion. Jack's stas Kristen
Speaker 1: and I should say Kristen dated Tom in the past
Speaker 1: and Arianna dated Tom after, so Kristen has a lot
Speaker 1: to say. They come to the reunion, they say everything.
Speaker 1: The reunion then transitions into a surprise bonus episode of
Speaker 1: this season of vander Pump Rules that reveals that the
Speaker 1: Ogs are back in the cast. Who hosts the ure,
Speaker 1: Andy Cohenbay, he's just learning about everybody. He's just no.
Speaker 1: I guess he does do all the Bravo. I know
Speaker 1: he did all his stuff. I did, and I will
Speaker 1: say that mucky bastard. That's a god. That's a good
Speaker 1: seat to have a great and well, it's interesting pressure,
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure, and he's really been leaning into
Speaker 1: this like this has also been a bit groundbreaking, and
Speaker 1: that like all the cast members are talking about it
Speaker 1: live on social media as it's happening. Andy Cohen's been
Speaker 1: weighing and we're really breaking the fourth wall because it's
Speaker 1: all they're not like holding it for this like that.
Speaker 1: So again, one thing we did wrong many times on
Speaker 1: our show is that we tried to save it all,
Speaker 1: and first of all, you're not going to save anything anymore.
Speaker 1: There's no such thing as gets out. Social media has
Speaker 1: ruined that the long one of the days where we
Speaker 1: used to have big secret on a show and in
Speaker 1: episode eight it would be revealed and you're like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, no, you've heard about it eight months before.
Speaker 1: So those days are gone. Instead of pretending like it's
Speaker 1: not out there, lean into it. And I love what
Speaker 1: Bravo is doing and as a network, as producers, so far,
Speaker 1: I think they've handled this well. Because you and I
Speaker 1: were talking about this, This will not air for quite
Speaker 1: some time. What would be three four episodes into this
Speaker 1: new season. I imagine the rewatches, the downloads right now
Speaker 1: for the first few episodes are going to be huge.
Speaker 1: And now all of us, including myself, we'll be watching
Speaker 1: looking at this through this new lens. Every time we
Speaker 1: see Tom, every time we see Arianna, every time we
Speaker 1: see Raquel, is she wearing the necklace? Are they giving
Speaker 1: the little touches? Are they looking at each other when
Speaker 1: Arianna is not looking? I mean, all of this is
Speaker 1: going to be huge and picked apart. Now. I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you. Some people DMed me on Instagram and said, oh,
Speaker 1: but I think this is all fake. I think it's
Speaker 1: just for ratings. And you know, because the show didn't
Speaker 1: have good ratings last season, they faked this to give
Speaker 1: a story. No, I don't think so any I mean
Speaker 1: I will defend, you know, as bad as things are going,
Speaker 1: you know on the Bachelor and Bachelorette, and yeah, it's
Speaker 1: not socially relevant anymore. And no one's talking about it.
Speaker 1: There's no magic bullet. It's not like you can say,
Speaker 1: you know what we should do. We should do another
Speaker 1: Culton fence jump, we should do another Ari swap and
Speaker 1: Jason Mesnick, you know something electric, you can't really produce that.
Speaker 1: It comes off canned, It comes off produced. People are
Speaker 1: too savvy. Now, people are smart. People that are watching Bravo,
Speaker 1: people that watch our show. They are very in tune
Speaker 1: now and again social media. These people are going to
Speaker 1: leave the show and they would they would tell you
Speaker 1: that it's fake. And so look, did Bravo produce this? No? Now,
Speaker 1: how they produce it from here on out, how they
Speaker 1: handle it is the genius. This affair was. I hate
Speaker 1: to say it, but as a sick producer, Manna from
Speaker 1: Heaven for these producers, they are licking their chops. But
Speaker 1: now how they treat this and how they handle it
Speaker 1: when they, like you said, bringing their former cast members,
Speaker 1: coming up with creative, good ideas of how now to
Speaker 1: I hate to say exploited, but well exploited. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: use this and to produce it. Well, this is where
Speaker 1: the producing will come in. No, they didn't create a
Speaker 1: fake affair, So what is the difference. You can produce
Speaker 1: a moment but not create a moment. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: people always asked me, okay, what was real? What was fake?
Speaker 1: And all shows are different. There is a spectrum of
Speaker 1: reality shows. The Kardashians and certain things like that. Duck
Speaker 1: Dynasty is a great example. It's off the air, so
Speaker 1: we can talk about that one hundred percent produced, one
Speaker 1: hundred percent written, one hundred percent created. None of that
Speaker 1: was just impromptu, just so happened. So there are shows
Speaker 1: like that, and then there shows like vander Pump or
Speaker 1: whatever that are probably pretty heavily produced. The moments are created.
Speaker 1: And I always said, what we did a good job
Speaker 1: of was creating the fishbowl environment. You create the environment.
Speaker 1: Now what happens within that environment is what's real. So
Speaker 1: look we knew that me and Bob love Lauren Ziema.
Speaker 1: It's not an accident. We ended up on the two
Speaker 1: on one date. God, we both love you. We hate
Speaker 1: each other. Not a shocker. We ended up on that date. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's just good producing. And look what happens on that
Speaker 1: date and how you react is what's real. And sure,
Speaker 1: by the way, both Bachelor and vander Pump rolls people
Speaker 1: have noticed like outfits being wrong in different points over
Speaker 1: the years. Or I mean Tom Sandoval ask can we
Speaker 1: refilm that. I'm sure they've reshot a scene or two
Speaker 1: if they needed too for But I do believe this
Speaker 1: is real. I believe this affair is real. Here's my
Speaker 1: biggest clue. They didn't have an even on camera yet.
Speaker 1: If it was produced like they they didn't have it.
Speaker 1: It's been going on since last July. They didn't have
Speaker 1: any even on camera yet. So I do think it
Speaker 1: was It was real, and it was hidden because they're
Speaker 1: pissed off. They missed a lot of Yes another running
Speaker 1: with the cameras because get it. As good as this is,
Speaker 1: we're Bravo and it's really good. They're kicking themselves because
Speaker 1: this is not going to be on TV a lot
Speaker 1: of this seventy percent of the affair. He's not on
Speaker 1: TV by the way, if I mean, they won't do it,
Speaker 1: and they don't need to because everyone will watch every episode.
Speaker 1: But now I'm just like ready to jump to that moment, Like,
Speaker 1: do you as a producer, do you say, let's scrap
Speaker 1: a couple episodes and just get to this. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: the anticipation's gonna be so good. We're all in you
Speaker 1: you have the IV in the vein, because now I
Speaker 1: do want to watch what's going on between these three. Okay,
Speaker 1: let me ask you a question. We mentioned old cast
Speaker 1: members coming back. Kristin Dody's going to come back, hopefully.
Speaker 1: I've wanted to. Kristen was dating Tom for about six years. Actually,
Speaker 1: Arianna and Tom there was a bit of crossover a
Speaker 1: few years ago and maybe they started getting together before
Speaker 1: Kristen and Tom had fully broken up. Now they didn't
Speaker 1: have this friendship Kristen and Arianna. But here's a question.
Speaker 1: Do you think once a cheater, always a cheater? Like
Speaker 1: should Arianna have gone into the relationship with Tom thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: he's a cheater. I don't believe in that. I don't
Speaker 1: even I and again, if you had asked me when
Speaker 1: I was twenty twenty seven years old, like Raquel, I
Speaker 1: might have said that life is you know, life is
Speaker 1: very black and white when you're younger. Well, obviously Raquel
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily Well, I just mean like, when you're younger,
Speaker 1: you have these strong, demonstrative statements and you live by them.
Speaker 1: It's my way or the highway. The older you get,
Speaker 1: the wiser you get, the more experienced you get, and
Speaker 1: you realize stuff happens. Things happen, and so I don't
Speaker 1: believe in the old adage once a cheater, always a cheater.
Speaker 1: I think life can change. I think relationships are so different.
Speaker 1: I mean, there is so many differences between my first
Speaker 1: marriage and this relationship and our soon to be marriage.
Speaker 1: So you can't compare those. You're when you're a decade
Speaker 1: two decades older. You're a different human being. You're a
Speaker 1: different man, you're a different woman completely. I think what's
Speaker 1: frustrating for people about this situation is again Tom didn't
Speaker 1: like Okay, again, I'm thinking, say, somebody has just this
Speaker 1: was not a complicated enough situation to justify Tom's cheating, Like,
Speaker 1: just break up with Arianna, Just break up with her,
Speaker 1: the alleged report about always like we have a house,
Speaker 1: so it's gonna be hard. Oh my gosh, what about
Speaker 1: a view of kids like come on, man, just end it.
Speaker 1: And if he loves reality TV, which he does, and
Speaker 1: he loves to be the center of it, what better
Speaker 1: than a great breakup story of I'm breaking up with
Speaker 1: you and I'm gonna be with Raquel. This is what
Speaker 1: leads me to something about the psychology and the pathology
Speaker 1: of this whole thing with him. He loved some form
Speaker 1: of this. Maybe he doesn't now because again, once everything
Speaker 1: blows up, it's not so pretty anymore. But there was
Speaker 1: a sick, twisted high that he was getting off of this,
Speaker 1: of both of them being at his show, both of
Speaker 1: them being at the Halloween party, her wearing the little
Speaker 1: trinket that he's wearing, and only they know. But you
Speaker 1: notice in all these little sick twisted moments, Arianna had
Speaker 1: to be a part of it. He wanted the voyeurism.
Speaker 1: It wasn't even the danger there was And again I
Speaker 1: got to look more into the psychology of this, but
Speaker 1: there's definitely a deep seated thing where he wanted Arianna
Speaker 1: always in these moments where he had Raquel, Oh, I
Speaker 1: had not thought about that. I gotta take a sip
Speaker 1: of my tequila. That's a good point. They were. I mean,
Speaker 1: the cheating happened allegedly in heart when Arianna was asleep
Speaker 1: in the next room, like Roquel. It's unclear completely why
Speaker 1: Raquel stayed at their house. Maybe they were all drinking
Speaker 1: and so she slept in their guests. It happens people
Speaker 1: from my show stayed here at the house. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: that's what I mean. I'm saying she wasn't, like to
Speaker 1: be clear, she wasn't living with them or something, but
Speaker 1: she stayed at their house for some reason. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure it happened more than that, but she she was
Speaker 1: asleep in the next room. Asleep in the next room.
Speaker 1: You're right again, there's there's something there when you consider
Speaker 1: the concert, the Halloween, there's so many little stories that
Speaker 1: have gotten out, and Arianna was a part of them all.
Speaker 1: And that's just what is messed up. Right, where's the guilt?
Speaker 1: As we talked about on Monday, his statement didn't say
Speaker 1: I hope he releases another statement, but that first one
Speaker 1: didn't have an apology to Arianna. Where's the guilt? Where
Speaker 1: is the Yeah. So, now we had mentioned that other
Speaker 1: people were involved in this, So let's talk about the
Speaker 1: report that Tom and Raquel reportedly spent Christmas in Saint Louis,
Speaker 1: where Tom is from, with his family. What so the
Speaker 1: family again, you know, there's former cast members that kind
Speaker 1: of had an inkling of this, but there's family that
Speaker 1: knew about this. They they've spent time together with families.
Speaker 1: Some screenshots of surfaced of Raquel's sister allegedly posting a
Speaker 1: photo of them and like making kind of an if
Speaker 1: you know, you know comment that quote so and so
Speaker 1: should really be together? Like it was the hiding in
Speaker 1: plain sight, the fact that the family was involved. Look,
Speaker 1: it raises the question when do you you know? When
Speaker 1: do you like And it's also become a question with
Speaker 1: Tom's best friend, Tom Schwartz, confusingly both named Tom. But
Speaker 1: if Tom Schwartz knew about this, he's also friends with Ariana,
Speaker 1: Like does he When do you have an obligation or
Speaker 1: a duty to out someone one who you love on
Speaker 1: something they're doing wrong? I would venture to guess maybe
Speaker 1: not everybody, but I don't I bet I'm not off
Speaker 1: by saying ninety percent of the people listening to this
Speaker 1: have either been cheated on or half cheated. You're in
Speaker 1: one of those two camps, maybe both, Oh for sure,
Speaker 1: maybe many have done probably one hundred. If you've gone
Speaker 1: through this life unscathed, the nearer a grown adult and
Speaker 1: you haven't been cheated on or have cheated God bless you. Congratulations.
Speaker 1: But what you're saying about the obligation is very interesting
Speaker 1: because it depends on who's camp you're in. So let's
Speaker 1: say it's Raquel's family. My own personal stance on this
Speaker 1: is I appreciate those that maybe they're not going to
Speaker 1: run to Arianna. Maybe that's a step too far, but
Speaker 1: maybe they would take a stance to Arianna and Tom.
Speaker 1: Maybe they would go to Ariana and say, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to say anything, but you got to do something.
Speaker 1: You know this isn't right. Oh you mean did Tom
Speaker 1: and Raquel right? I'm sorry? Yeah? Did I get getting
Speaker 1: everyone mixed up? Yes? To Raquel. Say you're in Riquel's
Speaker 1: family and you're at Christmas and Tom shows up. You
Speaker 1: go to your sister, your daughter, you're whatever, she is,
Speaker 1: your friend and say, hey, babe, I love you, you're
Speaker 1: my girl. I'm not going to bury you. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to sell you out, but this has got to stop.
Speaker 1: You're better than this. You need to be better than this.
Speaker 1: Same thing with Tom and the other Tom, whoever his
Speaker 1: friends or whoever his people that knew and at least
Speaker 1: didn't say, hey, man, if you don't put a stop
Speaker 1: to this, I will. You need to. This is sick.
Speaker 1: I agree. It's all about not it's about drawing a line.
Speaker 1: I'm saying I can't support this. I can't partake in this.
Speaker 1: I can't be a part of it. The ideal that
Speaker 1: you think, you know someone's going to write in and
Speaker 1: be like I'm gonna go to Arianna, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to tell you, by the way, that's a little too much.
Speaker 1: That's not reality, right. I don't expect Tom's family to
Speaker 1: go to Arianna. I actually think that would be I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know how close she is
Speaker 1: with them, but I don't think you welcome them in.
Speaker 1: How do you like, Hey, welcome for Christmas? Guys, where's
Speaker 1: the woman you live with and own a home with
Speaker 1: that have been with for almost ten years? In lighter
Speaker 1: dark meat? What would you like? Do you want? Do
Speaker 1: you like marshmallows and your ste potato castroll Like what, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's I have drawn that line in the sand with
Speaker 1: friends before. I've I've said, look, I can't talk to
Speaker 1: you about this part of your life anymore because it's
Speaker 1: not healthy for you. It's not right. It's until you
Speaker 1: and like I've had pauses and friendships before that. Then
Speaker 1: they've come back months later once that person wasn't doing
Speaker 1: that thing anymore. But that's why it's wild to me.
Speaker 1: And again, what's if the sister did really post these
Speaker 1: screenshots and photos. The fact that she was reveling in
Speaker 1: it a little bit too is like did she love
Speaker 1: the reality TV of it all? Did she love you? Know?
Speaker 1: It's it's a tough call, but in all things being equal,
Speaker 1: you would hope someone in their camps would have stood
Speaker 1: up and said, hey, guys, you got to put a
Speaker 1: stop to this. Speaking of putting a stop to this,
Speaker 1: are there any other major headlines before we put a
Speaker 1: pin in this tonight? Okay, I'm gonna throw one more
Speaker 1: weird thing at you. Okay, I wouldn't, by the way,
Speaker 1: well I want to sorry. Okay, two more things. One,
Speaker 1: the ogs coming back. Some people are like they were
Speaker 1: fired for a reason. Stacy Schroeder was in some controversy
Speaker 1: herself a couple of years ago. My stance on this
Speaker 1: has always been one I don't think punishment lasts forever.
Speaker 1: So they've done the time for doing the crime, and
Speaker 1: two problematic people are on reality television. Like, I'm not
Speaker 1: saying it's okay. I'm not saying they should get away
Speaker 1: with everything, and I do. I think there's a line
Speaker 1: and that there should be punishment for offenses. But reality
Speaker 1: TV is about I mean dramatic reality TV. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: done well is about Yeah, it involves problematic. When our
Speaker 1: show over the last twenty years was at its best,
Speaker 1: when it was the greatest, what are you going to
Speaker 1: talk about? It was those crazy moments. It was Yes,
Speaker 1: there were some loving moments, but it was those crazy moments.
Speaker 1: And as a producer with my producer had on with
Speaker 1: what I love about the Ogs coming back is they're producible,
Speaker 1: they want to come back. They're very producible, good at
Speaker 1: being on TV. They're good at being on TV. They're
Speaker 1: going to be so for Andy Cohen, they're essentially plants,
Speaker 1: and he's going to have plants in there that they
Speaker 1: will be ready to fire the questions that Andy can
Speaker 1: ask places he doesn't want to go. I mean, Andy
Speaker 1: doesn't shy away from anything, but he's not on the show, right,
Speaker 1: He's not on the show, and they can go places
Speaker 1: and they know things. So they are essentially producers on
Speaker 1: the set that can really stir things up. All right,
Speaker 1: So the last thing, I'm gonna give you the last twisted,
Speaker 1: weird little thing. So we were talking about the family
Speaker 1: condoniate or Tom Schwartz and all that. So there's also,
Speaker 1: you know, so many interviews that are now being looked
Speaker 1: at just like we're looking at these episodes because these
Speaker 1: people went on press tours for the new season. I
Speaker 1: talked about the interview where Roquel is with Sheena, another
Speaker 1: cast member, and Roquel saying, oh, Arianna is my true friend.
Speaker 1: She's welcomed me to the show. Tom Schwartz and Tom
Speaker 1: Sandoval have done interviews together and Tom Schwartz is kind
Speaker 1: of standing there. You know, we should note what was
Speaker 1: going to be the storyline this season was Tom Schwartz
Speaker 1: and Riquel allegedly hooking up. Oh gosh, it is now
Speaker 1: thought that that was maybe a total red herring of
Speaker 1: Tom Schwartz trying to cover the truth, which is that
Speaker 1: his friend Tom Sandoval was hooking up with Riquel. Now
Speaker 1: that's really that's messed up too. Chris is, Oh, my
Speaker 1: mind is blown. His eyes just got so wide. I'm
Speaker 1: just dropping this on your I mean, there's one thing
Speaker 1: about covering for your boy and like, you know, bro code,
Speaker 1: But come on, man, that's do you think that's what
Speaker 1: do you think? That's juicy? That's good. That is so
Speaker 1: all these interviews are being analyzed, right, So we're gonna
Speaker 1: Monday morning quarterback this now and go back and watch.
Speaker 1: That's again, That's why I'm glad they're not throwing this
Speaker 1: on this right now. I want to look at all
Speaker 1: of this through this lens, I knowing what I know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: go back and now watch these future episodes that are
Speaker 1: going to lead up to the cheating scandal. So the
Speaker 1: last weird little thing I'm gonna leave you with is
Speaker 1: a moment from an interview where roquell Is asked, well,
Speaker 1: who did you get close with this season? First of all,
Speaker 1: Raquel is like, oh, yeah, you know, this was supposed
Speaker 1: to be this redemption season for her. She was going
Speaker 1: to come into her own Oh gosh, and she says
Speaker 1: that she's gotten close with like Sheena and Arianna and
Speaker 1: Tom Sandoval. And she says, Tom Sandoval has really been
Speaker 1: a good for me. He's really treated me like a
Speaker 1: little sister. Yeah what, what's no words on that one?
Speaker 1: Maybe bad, poor choice of words. I get what she
Speaker 1: was probably trying to do to deflect all of this attention.
Speaker 1: But that and that's why Tom Sandoval is the real
Speaker 1: problem here for me. He is. And I'm not again,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying Raquel's a victim and she knew what
Speaker 1: she was doing was wrong. But Tom Sandoval is. He's
Speaker 1: the real problem here for me. So this has been
Speaker 1: a much needed episode. This has been drink in hand
Speaker 1: the vander Dump, the most dramatic podcast. We have to
Speaker 1: put a pin in it tonight because my wine, because
Speaker 1: you've blown my mind so many times. My wineglass is empty. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I love John the little sister. I need to run
Speaker 1: to the wine celler get more cabernet. But just know
Speaker 1: that I don't think this story is going anywhere, and
Speaker 1: neither are we. We will keep you up to date
Speaker 1: on everything that's going on with this vander Pump Rules affair.
Speaker 1: We'll start bringing people on We will follow this because
Speaker 1: it is captivating and it has captivated all of us. Yes,
Speaker 1: and follow us because we're talking about it more. I'm
Speaker 1: at Lauren Ziema, Chris is at Crispy Harrison Chris B. Harrison,
Speaker 1: middle name Brian, and the podcast is at the Most
Speaker 1: Dramatic pot Ever. Like subscribe and please leave a good
Speaker 1: rating and cheers, beers cheers to Arianna. We love you, Arianna.
Speaker 1: This has been a special breaking news edition of the
Speaker 1: Most Dramatic Podcast Ever. We'll talk to you next time
Speaker 1: because we have a lot more to talk about. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the Most Dramatic
Speaker 1: Pod Ever and make sure to write us a review
Speaker 1: and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you next time.