Mention It All - An Emergency Scandoval Briefing

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

Dylan hits the mic early Monday morning to break down the details of a whirlwind weekend in WeHo. Tom and Ariana are over, Raquel is persona non grata, and Kristen Doute is suddenly relevant again. Meanwhile, there are important questions to be answered: Did Scheana punch Raquel? Can you take the Tom out of TomTom? Why does Jax think anyone cares what he has to say? All that and more, unpacked. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College deal, everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 premium and a year of Xbox GamePass Ultimate

with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at Windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th, turns at AKA.m.m.S. College PC. Betches Media presents. Ha ha, laugh, funny. Mention It All, a Bravo by Betches podcast.

We don't say that, but now we said it. With me, Dylan Hafer. We're going to check me, both. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Mention at All podcast. I am Dylan Hafer, and, oh boy, what a weekend we had. I think you know what we are all here to talk about today. It is the Scandival.

The Scandival of the century, one might say. There's been some debate. know, some dissension about where this ranks among all-time Bravo scandals, but I think it ranks, you know, medium high, pretty high, you know, based on the social media responses I was getting over the weekend, it ranks pretty high, just in terms of what we care about, of what we're seeing, you know, unfold before our eyes. So I had to sit down Monday morning on the microphone, just me, myself and I, and get into all of it, because it has been a whirlwind, one might say. So let's unpack. Let me just rewind the clocks back to Friday afternoon. I'm enjoying my time. A little

peek behind the curtain. That just has half days on Friday. So Friday afternoons are my time to, you know, sometimes I'm working, sometimes I'm finishing things up, but I might see a movie. I might, you know, turn my phone off and go for a little walk. That's rare. I mean, turning my phone off is pretty, uh, pretty unusual for me. But I was actually recording our good friend Sarah Galley's podcast, Andy's girls. I was sitting in her apartment, you know, talking about real houseways of New Jersey, talking about Potomac, talking about Miami, even talking a little bit of Vanderpump rules, not looking at my phone because I am a good, engaged podcast guest. And then we finish our recording. pick up my phone and the absolute first thing that I see is a post from James Kennedy.

And it is a TMZ screenshot. And this is the headline. Tom Sandoval and Ariana Maddox call it quits. Allegations he cheated with co-star Raquel Levis. When I tell you, I didn't know what to do. Like, what do you do? I think the immediate reaction from pretty much everyone is, it's just a state of shock.

Because this is something where if you had told me at any point over the last eight years, hey, Tom and Ariana might not make it. They might not go the distance. Okay, yeah, shit happens. They've had their ups and downs, certainly. You know, there were issues because Ariana didn't want to get married, didn't want to have kids. That was stuff that Tom felt differently about.

You know, these people, Vanderpump Rules, has not been a fertile ground for relationships that stay on the test of time. Let's just say, but if you had told me that this was how it would all go down, that it would be Tom Sandoval, not being able to keep his dick in his pants around Raquel? Oh, boy. James posted this, and the thing is, okay, so this is a TMZ article. When I see a TMZ article, most of the time, there is some truth to it. it might not be a hundred percent of the details with all of the context right away. They're not pulling stuff out of their ass.

It's not fake news. So already that's one strike in the direction of me believing it. And then the fact that I'm seeing this on James's Instagram and not just James's Instagram, but James posts it. He says, I hope you all feel as sick as I do. And then Lala's in the comments. And Jeremy Maddo is in the comments. Tom's try hard having a midlife crisis with his cringy band,

and Raquel has faked her way up to the top, trying to make something of her life, willing to step on whoever to get there, starting with James, sellout type lame shit. Let's all remember that Raquel was a fan of the show before all of this. Does anyone pay attention? So in my mind, you know, if Jeremy is out here leaving this manifesto of a comment on James Kennedy's post, this is real. This is not a drill.

this is, you know, this is full-blown. And before the end of the night on Friday, we're getting more details. They were allegedly having a full-blown affair since July last summer, several months, apparently going to great lengths to keep it secret from everyone, maybe even wearing disguises to go on dates. I've seen, there's more rumors out there. Who knows which details you could pick and pull. They maybe spent Christmas together in St. Louis.

There's these matching lightning bolt necklaces. There's photos of, you know, Rick Hell and Tom Sandoval at Coachella together last year. People may be thinking that the whole Schwartz thing was a cover up and that she was getting with Sandoval and they were trying to make it seem like maybe she was getting with Schwartz. We know Tom Schwartz wasn't even at Coachella last year. So maybe it was the wrong Tom that people had been saying she was hooking up with the Coachella. The thing is, we don't know kind of where all of the exact facts lie in all of these rumors. but it was immediately clear that in general, this whole situation is real. Before long, we have Kristen Doty posting.

She posted an Instagram story at first, basically just saying, I don't know why I feel like I need to address this, because lots of people, lots of people right when this was breaking, we're saying, we need eyes on Kristen Doty. She must be so fucking happy. She must, you know, she predicted this. She always knew. She got what she wanted in the end. And Kristen had to hop on Instagram.

You know, when was the last time we were really paying attention to Kristen Doty's Instagram? And she's like, you guys, I am good friends with Ariana. I've been good with her for years now. She said, I'm team Ariana. I stand Ariana. This is, you know, it's really pulling people out of the woodwork in a way that I don't know if we expected it to.

you know, Dana from that dark era season of Vanderpump Rules, she's saying she's team Ariana. Charlie, you know, she's been Raquel's best friend on the show. She's saying she's team Ariana. You know, we've got basically everybody who's ever been even adjacent to this situation is coming out of the woodwork to proclaim their support for Ariana and to shit on Sandoval and Raquel. And I mean, it's not looking great. one of my favorite tidbits from all of this is the rumor that after Sheena and Raquel were on Watch What Happens Live together last Wednesday night, that that is when Sheena found out about this whole situation. They were out after Watch What Happens Live. And the rumor is that Sheena punched Raquel in the face, maybe even gave her a black eye. Again, we don't know all of the exact truth of this. When I first heard this rumor, I'm like, Sheena punched Raquel. punched Raquel, like closed fist, like contact? I don't know. I mean, it's one of those things that sounds like it maybe could be true, but doesn't necessarily sound like it is true, or maybe there's, maybe there was a slap, maybe there was a shove. But then Raquel's sister is in some

Twitter replies implying that it's true. So, you know, make of that what you will. Also, the paparazzi were swarming over the weekend. There were photos on Friday of Tom Sandoval outside his house in Valley Village, putting duffel bags into his car. And of course, people are like, he's moving out. He's been kicked out of the house. And this is my favorite fact check of the whole weekend that Ariana's good friend, Meredith, who was popping up on social media throughout the weekend, kind of giving some updates on the situation.

She said, FYI from someone who has been in the house for the last 24 hours, he wasn't packing bags to leave. Those are suitcases of merch that he expects to sell in Anaheim tonight. Tom Zandval and The Most Exters had a show on Friday night. I cannot believe that they didn't cancel this. Like, really? I don't know how contracts work. Don't come at me with that.

I know nothing about, famously I know nothing about how contracts work. But like, really? Your show in Anaheim is, is. more important than all the, like, heckling you're going to get on stage. But the updates from Meredith and the other people that have been hanging out with Ariana have been important, I guess, because Ariana deactivated her social media when before this broke on Friday.

So we have still, at least as I'm recording this, not had any direct update from Ariana. She clearly has been with Sheena. She's been with Kristen. She's been with this friend Meredith. They, you know, they've kind of been reporting back here and there. They took her out on Friday night. You know, it's, it's, she seems like hopefully I guess she's doing okay. But, oh, God, it just is so rough.

And I've seen some people that are quick to sort of jump to the idea of, well, you know, you lose them, how you get them. That going way, way back in Vanderpumpurals history. when Tom and Ariana first got together, Kristen Doty was adamant that Tom had cheated on her with Ariana. That, you know, she would not let it go. She was so insistent, really just believing to her core or saying that she did that they had cheated. We never got confirmation of that. They always denied it.

To my knowledge, you know, let me know in a five-star review if I've missed something. But to my knowledge, that has never been confirmed. But now there's this kind of undercurrent of, well, you know, Tom was a cheater when he got with Ariana. And so he's going to be a cheater on the other end. And okay, if whatever, maybe. But the thing is, to me, that is such an ungenerous take to Ariana, that this relationship that she's been in for like nine years, they bought a house together. They have been through the ups and the downs, the thick and the thin, all of these relationships forming, breaking up on the show. You know, people have had babies, people have gotten fired, people have started businesses.

Like, that is, it's different. It just is. They had, for a long time, what was seen as the most stable relationship on the show. And so even if there was some kind of history of Tom having, you know, shitty behavior in relationships, that doesn't just dismiss the gravity of what's happening right now. And the fact that Ariana, even on this season that is currently airing in the last two weeks of episodes, has been such a good friend to Raquel, so generous with her. And look, going back a few seasons when Raquel was really,

trying to make it in this group. And, you know, on the show, let's be real, that was not always a given for her. She was not embraced with open arms at the beginning. And really, Ariana is one of the only people that has been consistently decent to her at the very least. And, you know, in more recent times, it seems like they've been really close. And so the fact that that is the you know, that's how it's going to end. I just don't understand the instinct from some people to minimize it, really. I mean, if you don't care, that's one thing. Like, if this doesn't spark anything in you and you're like, it's just cheating,

these people suck. Let's talk about something else. That's okay. You can fast forward to the interview with Don. But I think for people who have watched the show for 10 years, it just, feels like really the ultimate betrayal and like there couldn't be anything that cut deeper. And so that I think is, to me, that's kind of the crux of it. And it really is unfortunate. And it makes me sad. And, you know, their relationship, whatever, that's going to end.

Ariana will be fine, I am sure. But just to do it in that way. It's such a, it's such a cowardly move. to have that long of an affair with somebody that your partner is close with, and then to have her find out because your phone fell out of your pocket, and there was, you know, allegedly, reportedly, an explicit image of Raquel on the phone that Ariana saw, and that's how she's going to find out. Like, that's bitch behavior. I mean, come on.

Really? Like, it's 2023, and that's how you're going to do it? I don't know. I mean, I guess there's no, there's no right way to tell your partner of nine years that you've been fucking her best friend for seven months. But, you know, it just, it feels like there is a wrong way. And Tom, Tom Sandoval chose that. You know what also Tom Sandoval chose that just felt wrong to me. He broke his silence on Saturday night with this post on Instagram.

It's a notes app screenshot, of course. Hey, I fully understand it to serve your anger and disappointment towards me, but please leave Schwartz, my friends and family out of this situation. Schwartz specifically only found out about this very recently and most definitely did not condone my actions. This was a very personal thing. Also, Schwartz and Sandys might have my name on it, but also there are three other partners and 20 employees who especially rely on the restaurant for income for them and their families. Just like Tom Tom, I'm a small part of a much bigger thing.

Please direct your anger towards me and not them. They did nothing wrong. I'm so sorry that my partners, Greg, Brett, and Schwartz, and our employees have to suffer for my actions. I will be taking a step back and taking a hiatus out of respect for my employees and partners. I need some time to address everything else. Sorry for everything. Okay, the obvious reaction is Ariana's name is absent from that statement.

Yeah, the sorry for everything at the end just kind of like, you know, it doesn't quite feel adequate, but, you know, he says he needs some time to address everything else. So I guess he can take that time. But the idea of separating Tom Sandoval from these businesses, Tom Tom and Schwartz and Sandys, the thing is you can't because you physically cannot talk about Tom Tom or Schwartz and Sandy's without saying his fucking name. I understand that financially he is a small part of something much larger. But these restaurants, bars, whatever the fuck, would not exist without Tom Sandoval, this show, the fans of the show, the platform, the brand that they have built from being on the show.

And a big part of Tom Sandoval's brand that he's built being on the show over the last eight seasons is being with Ariana and being like mostly seemingly a good guy. and people like him based on that. So I understand, first of all, I think it's weird to go on like a business page and spam them with comments. That is like loser behavior. So if, I just don't, like it's stupid. Don't go on Yelp and leave a one-star review.

First of all, like, who's leaving Yelp reviews anyway? Like, sure, fine. Leave the business out of it. They've got employees, whatever. But for Tom to be the one to kind of be like, guys, guys, please. And the really funny thing about that is he's like directed at me, not at anybody else. And then he turned off his comments on that post.

It's like if people are bad and they want to comment somewhere, where do you think they're going to comment? If you have your comments turned off, Tom, use your brain. It's disappointing to say the least. Lisa Vanderpump also surfaced on Twitter on Saturday in a reply to Andy. He asked how many parts is too many for the Vanderpump Rules reunion. And she said, just one. I don't think my heart can take it.

And she is scheduled for a solo Watch What Happens Live appearance this Wednesday. What are the ratings for that going to look like? Damn. What a miracle of Watch What Happens Live booking that the week after all of this is scheduled to go down. or the week after all of this goes down, Lisa Vaynerpump has that chair to herself for 30 whole minutes on what happens live. Like, what is it going to happen? What are they going to do? What is she going to say? What can she say? If she says, I saw a comment online that was like, I better not hear a fucking word of boys will be boys out of her mouth. And I totally agree with that. I think Lisa in the past has had, you know, some questionable takes on things that have happened within the group. I think there are situations where there are. you know, differing opinions on what is the correct course of action. I'm sorry, this is not one of them. If she's not out there on Wednesday with some fuck Tom Sandoval type of energy, ma'am, that's all I'm

going to say. Lisa, come correct. Have you ever rearranged your furniture and discovered the carpet underneath looks brand new while the rest of it looks, well, not so new? It's time for a carpet upgrade. At the Home Depot, we have stylish choices at simple prices from all the top brands. Best of all, we can install it for you, starting at only 49 cents per square foot. So all you have to do is pick your perfect floor. Start your carpet project today at the Home Depot. How doers get more done. Exclusions apply for licenses, see Home Depot.com slash license numbers. So good, so good. Everything you want for summer is at Nordstrom rack stores now and up to 60% off. Stock up and save on the brands you love like Vince, Sam Edelman, frame, and free people.

Join the Nordy Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Girl, winter is so last season. And now Springs got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders.

That perfect hang on the patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night And you've had enough of shopping from your couch Done hoping it looks anything like the picture When you tear open that envelope It's time for a little in-person spring treat It's time for a trip to Ross Work your magic

The last thing I really want to talk about On an information level is this Dumois post from Sunday About Raquel's supposed crisis PR strategy That she had fired her reps from before who also happened to rep Sandeval. And she had hired a new team. Hopefully it's like Olivia Pope or something, because that's the level she's going to need at this point.

But their strategy that they were crafting for her was that when she filmed with Sandal, later in the day on Sunday, because, oh yeah, the cameras are back up. We're going to get all of this on the show. Thank the fucking Lord. That she was going to break things off at Sanofal. And then she was going to craft this narrative

that she was taken advantage of. And she didn't really know what was happening. and she was the victim and all of this. And the, you know, the explicit image that I mentioned before that was on Sanneval's phone, that he had actually screened recorded that without her knowledge, which, you know, that could be true. If that's true, again, another shitty thing that Tom Sanneval did. Whatever. But if they were having a seven-month affair, there is no chance that this was like something that Raquel was unaware was wrong or didn't know what was going on.

It's like you literally were doing interviews last week talking about how you're such a great friend and da-da-da-da-da. you almost she almost came on this podcast. There were scheduling issues, whatever. But this was kind of going to be the strategy to be like, essentially, don't take responsibility, just say that you sort of weren't in control of the situation. Maybe this would work if it were, you know, if she didn't really know Ariana that well, or if we hadn't watched this unfold for 10 years on TV, this is a bad idea. And Lala responded to this on Instagram, which I posted on the Bravo by Metsch's feed.

Lala basically saying that how funny that for years I was the one telling everyone that Raquel was dumb. And she was like, I'm not dumb. And then now the second that she kind of gets caught in a situation, her immediate PR pivot is going to be like I was dumb. I didn't. I, it wasn't. I didn't like I couldn't. What do you want for me? And Lala says it's not going to work.

It's not going to work. And I, you know, as much as people have said a lot about, you know, Lala, people like Lala and James don't have the moral high ground here. They've been cheaters too. They have done their fair share of bad things. And look, that's true. But not every situation needs to be compared. This is a situation where we're dealing with it right now. It is affecting everyone in the group and everyone in the group has feelings.

And I, in this case, agree with Lala. You know, maybe she doesn't have room to gloat. I mean, Jacks Taylor is on Twitter saying I called it. Like, shut the fuck up. Nobody wants to hear from you ever. But, like, Raquel's strategy of being like, I'm the victim. Like, it's not. It's not going to work.

I don't see why anybody watching this show would have any reason to ever be like, you know what? I think what Raquel, I think Raquel did the best she could. Because at the end of the day, Raquel broke up with James last year. And if she really just needed to go focus on herself or whatever we've seen on this season, she's struggling, you know, maybe she wants to make out with Peter, maybe she wants to make out with Schwartz. If she needs to find herself, she says, I don't know who I've been, who I am lately,

go on like a meditation retreat. babe. Like, take some time for yourself. Do, uh, you know, learn yoga. Get yourself a therapist for the love of God. You don't, that, there's no excuse to crawl into bed with the long-term boyfriend of one of your good friends who you are in the same group with socially and also filmed the same TV show with for four months out of the year and then do press together and then are grouped together in every situation imaginable. You're going on trips with them. Katie was just inviting you on her divorce girls trip, whatever, because she felt bad and she was giving you the benefit of the doubt because she didn't think that you knew what was going on with Schwartz and that it was really all

Sheena's fault. Get the fuck out of here. Like, do you think we're all stupid? Because, I mean, I don't know if Cal is like the sharpest tool in the shed. But like, it's just, it's rough. It's rough. It's rough. It's rough. I am sure we will have more to talk about in the coming days because this situation is still unfolding, has still been unfolding. We still haven't heard from Ariana.

We've got, you know, stuff. We've got Vanner Pump coming up on Wednesday. We've got Watch What Happens Live coming up on Wednesday. There will be lots to talk about. But, you know, these are my Monday morning thoughts. Thank you so much for listening, everyone. Obviously, this was a little bit of an emergency episode situation. So we will have lots more content coming this week.

So make sure you subscribe, follow the show, wherever you listen. So you don't miss any of our episodes that we have coming up. You can follow us on Instagram at Bravo by Betches. There is so much Scand of all content happening on Instagram. I don't even know what to do with myself. You know, people are sending things. People are tagging in things. There's tweets.

There's stories. There's, oh, it's so much to keep up with. So make sure you're following at Bravo by Betches. So you never miss an update. You can follow me on Instagram at Dylan Hafer. And until next time, be cool. Don't be all like uncool. Mentioned at all is produced by Dylan Hafer,

Sean Kilby, Jorge Morales Pico, and Rebecca Sousa McCat. Editing by Jorge Morales Pico. Social media by Dylan Hafer. Guest booking by Dylan Hafer and Ali Friedlander. Be sure to follow at Bravo by Betches on Instagram and Twitter. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel

is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock

of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavat Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. Betches. Thank you.