Tom Sandoval got rather worked up while explaining why he cheated on Ariana Madix with their mutual close friend and former Vanderpump Rules co-star, Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, whom he metaphorically compared to the “whipped cream bikini” scene from Varsity Blues.
Sandoval joined his bestie and business partner Tom Schwartz on the latest episode of Nick Viall‘s The Viall Files podcast — which dropped just in time for tonight’s Vanderpump Rules Season 11 premiere.
“Guys, if you want me to be fucking honest,” Sandoval began, “I love Ariana. I do. I really care about her. But like, this person fucking threw out our relationship, talked to me like I was down here all the fucking time.”
He continued, “It’s unfortunate that my way of acting out against that was, like, me also like just getting belittled, belittled, belittled all the fucking time.”
According to Sandoval, he had “such low self-worth” when he struck up his secret months-long romance with Leviss.
“Somebody like Raquel, somebody that’s in their 20s doing essentially the whipped cream bikini thing in Varsity Blues — I was like, ‘Wow, really? Oh, my god. I’m attracted to somebody,’” he said.
The famous scene Sandoval was referring to hails from the 1999 sports comedy in which actress Ali Larter‘s character seduces a player on the high school football team by wearing nothing but a bikini made from whipped cream.
When it was brought to his attention that it sounded like he was blaming his cheating on Madix, Sandoval fired back, “I’m not saying that,” before adding, “She wouldn’t have sex with me for fucking a year!”
Still, he insisted that he “loved” the reality star, who broke up with him after nine years once she uncovered his affair in March 2023.
“I really fucking did [love her],” he said. “The whole process of breaking up with her — this happened over four months.”
Vanderpump Rules Season 11 premieres on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 8/7c.
