If there’s one other person, besides Ariana Madix, that was really affected by Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ affair, it was Scheana Shay. She spent all of Season 10 defending both parties, not knowing that they were carrying on in an illicit affair. And the Good As Gold singer was close with all three members of this heartbreaking fiasco.
Scheana questioned her judgment of character. She also felt betrayed going to bat for Raquel against the likes of Katie Maloney and Lala Kent. As a friend to both Sandoval and his mistress, Scheana was put in a very uncomfortable position. Bravo executives had her film with Sandoval after news of his affair broke. The conversation takes place during the finale. A teaser for the episode went public Tuesday, May 2.
Scheana insists Tom Sandoval had a ‘game plan’
Scheana gave an interview to Us Weekly May 3rd, reacting to the footage from her confrontation with Sandoval.
“Every single thing we spoke of in that conversation [on the show] felt so important,” the Vanderpump Rules star said. “It was one of the harder conversations and scenes I’ve ever filmed, to be honest.”
After the affair broke, Bravo cameras rushed to film cast reactions. And Scheana’s conversation with the Schwartz & Sandy’s co-owner still brings her to tears.
“That’ll be definitely hard to watch back because this was a 13-year friendship that ended not because of anything he did to me, but because of what he did to someone else and because of his actions,” the VPR star said. “And that doesn’t align with how I live my life. It was a really challenging scene to get through. It was really, really tough.”
Sandoval and Raquel went to great lengths to conceal their months-long affair. Some speculate that Tom Schwartz was used as a decoy, and that Raquel played up her affections for him.
In retrospect, Scheana is certain that “there was a game plan,” but was not free to share all the details at the time of her sit-down.
“I know in our conversation [that] you see in the trailer, [when] he’s like, ‘I was gonna break up with Ariana regardless.’ The game plan was given to me then,” Scheana explained. “I just don’t know how much of that you’ll see. He had a game plan. Her, I don’t know.”
“These were two of my absolute best friends, so to lose both of them at the same time [was hard],” the Scheananigans podcast host added.
Scheana has taken on many conflicts during her time on VPR, but this is the first time she felt so strongly about cutting all ties. It was just too toxic.
“It was immediate disconnect, like, we were done that night in New York. I was done with both of them,” she said. “I could never see continuing a friendship after what I found out.”
“This is just on such a different level,” Scheana continued. “I mean, this was someone who was in their home … the three of them would do stuff together all of the time. Ariana was the only one not clued into what was actually going on.”
Meanwhile, Ariana has sidestepped all the drama. After making out with Daniel Wai at Coachella in April, the two are now a hot item.
Catch the Vanderpump Rules finale on Wednesday, May 17th.
TELL US – WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO SCHEANA LOSING SANDOVAL AND RAQUEL? ARE YOU SURPRISED SHE AGREED TO FILM WITH SANDOVAL? DO YOU FEEL DIFFERENTLY ABOUT HER SUPPORT OF RAQUEL PRE-SANDOVAL?
