Lala Kent claims Tom Sandoval attempted to talk Ariana Madix into keeping his affair with Raquel Leviss a secret before it was shared publicly in early March.
During the latest episode of her podcast, the Vanderpump Rules star slammed Raquel, who is currently seeking treatment in a mental health facility, as “broken” while also revealing a clue she noticed amid filming and reacting to claims of scenes being “staged.”
“This is not a staged thing. Ariana didn’t sit with a producer and go, ‘Yeah, I’m OK with my life blowing up for ratings,'” Lala insisted on the May 10 episode of Give Them Lala, per Entertainment Tonight.
According to Lala, producers had to make edits to the season because they couldn’t simply drop the bomb known as “Scandoval” as a standalone segment.
“You have to fit it into the story somehow,” Lala explained. “[There were] Easter eggs the whole time that may have been insignificant at the time that are actually very pertinent to this case.”
“[And now] we’re starting to have scenes that may not have made it, that were absolutely filmed pre-Scandoval, that were maybe insignificant at the time, that became very significant,” she continued, noting that if the added footage wasn’t included in season 10, the series would’ve concluded on May 10.
“Lucky for all of us viewers, you get two finales!” she said.
At another moment on her podcast, via Us Weekly, Lala admitted that while she previously said there was no “editing placed in the episode until Scandoval happened,” she “[spoke] too soon.”
In reality, Pump Rules producers began making edits after the Labor Day party, where Sandoval was caught lying to Ariana about why he couldn’t leave after her grandmother’s passing.
“What was added in after Scandoval is they had me narrate what happened [during the gathering],” she revealed. “This Labor Day thing mattered enough for me to pull Ariana aside and have that conversation with her. But it wasn’t a mind-blowing [scene].”
After taking note of the “strange” behavior between Sandoval and Raquel, Lala went to the producers.
“I watched them with no cameras and no Ariana around. And then it became a thing after Scandoval happened where they didn’t have any footage. They got footage [from Scheana Shay‘s vlog] to add to the scene,” she explained.
Throughout Sandoval and Raquel’s months-long affair, Lala noted several questionable moments between her castmates, including Raquel’s choice of beverage.
“Another [clue about their affair] is Raquel drinking a Coors Light while they are hanging out at the picnic table when they get to the glamping spot,” she shared. “When have you ever had a Coors Light, b-tch? When you started f-cking Sandoval probably. Just like when you took [interest] in the weird [galaxy] lights… When a woman starts adopting things it is a red flag if I have ever seen one.”
Although Lala certainly doesn’t think too highly of Raquel, by any means, she said she would’ve “won the season” if it weren’t for her affair with Sandoval.
“She would have been the No. 1 chick as she is sobbing about making up for lost time,” Lala noted. “Do we think she was crying so heavily because she was feeling guilty? The line was crossed well before they had sex. The emotional affair had already started.”
“As much as I slam her every chance I get, beyond that, I do see a broken person. I do not think she is heartless and soulless,” she added.
As for the claims of producers staging the scene in which Ken Todd revealed to Lisa Vanderpump and Katie Maloney that Raquel had slept at Sandoval’s house when Ariana was out of town, Lala believes his blunt delivery is simply his style — and that he could have been doing Lisa’s dirty work.
“I know Ken well, and he has told me some piping hot tea at times. He just rolls in and he drops something [and leaves],” Lala said. “Or [I think] Lisa loves to maintain that she is out of the drama. … She is the top dog, so she is not getting involved in the messiness of the peasants. So who is the sacrificial lamb? Ken.”
Also in the episode, Lala said that after Ariana caught Sandoval cheating, he tried to convince her to keep his affair under wraps.
“He was trying to actively manipulate her in the car after she found out about the affair. As he was doing that, she was texting everyone. She said, ‘You are not going to have time to manipulate me into keeping this quiet. I am going to tell everyone while I am feeling strong,'” Lala revealed. “Men like him are very good at what they do. Given enough time, he may have been able to get her to be quiet about it.”
Vanderpump Rules season 10 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.