Tom Sandoval and Raquel Reportedly Planned to Tell Ariana About Affair as Schwartz Was Used as “Decoy” to Cover Up, Plus Sandoval Cancels Press Amid Scandal

1.8K

Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss were reportedly considering telling Ariana Madix about their alleged affair “for weeks” before she ultimately uncovered the news herself during one of his band’s shows in Los Angeles last Wednesday.

Before Ariana reportedly discovered a sexual video of Raquel on Sandoval’s phone at the event, Sandoval and Raquel, who allegedly “want to be together” now that he and Ariana have split, planned to break the news themselves.

Multiple sources confirmed this news to Page Six, noting that it wasn’t clear if they planned to do so off-camera or on-camera for Pump Rules.

As the fate of Sandoval and Ariana’s living arrangement remains unconfirmed, with Sandoval’s rep denying he moved out after he was spotted loading suitcases into a friend’s car on Friday, an insider has revealed that the polarization of Raquel’s fling with Tom Schwartz last summer was used to distract from her and Sandoval’s reported rendezvous.

“Raquel deliberately played up the Tom Schwartz romance to drive attention away from the real story,” a source told OK! on March 4. “This was calculated on her behalf.”

And according to the insider, Ariana isn’t the only one who feels “burned” by the apparent affair.

“Tom Schwartz feels like he’s been used as a decoy. Everyone has been left shellshocked by Raquel’s behavior. They feel her true colors and shadiness have come out,” the source explained.

Meanwhile, according to another report, Sandoval has been hiding from the press in the days since he and Raquel were exposed and has canceled a number of interviews pertaining to his partnership with Hydroxycut.

“We’ve been told to pause on any immediate PR for the moment,” a source connected to the project explained to Radar Online on March 3. “This doesn’t impact our partnership with either Tom.”

As the outlet explained, they had a pre-planned, joint interview with Sandoval and Schwartz scheduled for this Wednesday, March 8. However, after the Pump Rules cheating scandal broke on Friday, they learned, via email, that the interview had been “put on pause” and would have to be rescheduled “in a few weeks.”

The insider also noted that the reason for the cancellation of the interview wasn’t the scandal itself, but rather, it was the fact that Sandoval and other members of the show had returned to production to capture the fallout of their split.

Vanderpump Rules season 10 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.