‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star Tom Sandoval ‘Nervous’ to Attend BravoCon

Tom Sandoval is admittedly “a little nervous” to appear at BravoCon 2023 following the “Scandoval” scandal that stemmed from his affair with Vanderpump Rules co-star Rachel “Raquel” Leviss. The Bravo personality opened up on his Everybody Loves Tom podcast about reuniting on the same stage as his ex, Ariana Madix, at the fan convention in Las Vegas this weekend.

Sandoval told his best friend and co-star Tom Schwartz that he expected fans to show their support for Madix, especially when they appear together on the Vanderpump Rules panel Friday with Scheana Shay, Katie Maloney, James Kennedy and Lala Kent. “If she comes out, it’s like, ‘Yay,’ [or] whatever. Then I come out and people are going to want to show their loyalty to Team Ariana or whatever, and I’m a little nervous about it,” Sandoval explained. 

The restaurant owner previously opened up about the fallout he’s faced since he cheated on his girlfriend of nine years with their friend on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, saying that their months-long affair had completely changed the way fans viewed him. “I had an affair, and it just blew up,” he said on the FOX reality show. “People were messaging me paragraphs of just like, vicious, like, so visceral, like, hatred.” He continued, “Before this whole scandal, I would meet people who had probably seen me on Vanderpump Rules, and they’d be like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s so cool.’ And then now, people think I’m a complete narcissist, creeper vibes.”

Madix also has been open about the impact of the affair on her life, sharing on the current season of Dancing With the Stars, “My boyfriend of nine years and one of my best gal friends betrayed me in ways that went so far beyond just cheating together that is so hard for me to even explain.” In the aftermath of the affair and its fallout in March, Madix said, “Watching my entire life implode in public, my anxiety and depression were at an all-time high, I wasn’t eating or sleeping.” Despite how difficult the past year has been, Madix said it’s taught her a valuable lesson about herself. “When something is really hard, I can get through it,” she explained on the ABC dancing competition.