It’s been almost seven months since Scandoval rocked the world, but it feels much longer. It’s hard to remember how shocking the news was at the time. While Ariana Madix has undoubtedly come out the best, Rachel Leviss is doing better than Tom Sandoval as time goes by.
These days, the public perception is that Rachel may not be totally innocent, but she isn’t a pure evil villain either. However, things are getting worse for Tom. Some called for Sandoval to be fired from Vanderpump Rules after the reveal he recorded Rachel’s intimate FaceTime call without her consent. He also may or may not have been banned from his own bar. So, how did they get here?
Rachel Leviss Has Earned More Empathy
Of course, Rachel bears some responsibility for the affair. And her bizarre actions over the past year have hurt a lot of people. But as time goes on, it becomes more and more clear how manipulated she was by Sandoval.
Some viewers changed their mind about Rachel during Part 3 of the Season 10 reunion. Many thought the way the cast spoke to her was unfair or downright cruel. In a post-reunion confessional, she also broke down in tears and indicated she was sick of covering for Sandoval.
When this aired, she was already in a mental health facility, where she remained for the summer. It was quite a different outcome than Sandoval’s tours, Ariana’s brand deals, and the others’ skyrocketing merch sales.
It seemed that Rachel was the only one not to benefit from Scandoval. That didn’t sit right with many Pump Rules fans. And those feelings amplified once the cast appeared to embrace Sandoval again.
Tom Sandoval Is Inescapable
In the months that Rachel spent outside of the public eye, Sandoval begged for more and more attention. It seemed like he would conduct paparazzi interviews every single day. Now, he’s on two different Fox competition shows—if the speculation he’s on The Masked Singer proves correct, that is. But we know for sure he’s on Special Forces.
As if that’s not enough, Sandoval just started a podcast. We’re sure it’s totally not a coincidence he announced it a day after Ariana’s triumphant Dancing With The Stars debut.
Rachel Leviss Left The Show
After months in a mental health facility, and laying low in Arizona, Rachel chose to leave Vanderpump Rules for good. This was clearly the right move for her mental health. Even Rachel haters applauded the decision. After all, why should she return to such a toxic environment?
It was also something of a power move. Now that filming has wrapped, certain cast members are clearly quite bothered she didn’t return. This certainly adds fuel to the speculation that Season 11 will flop without Rachel.
Tom Sandoval Won’t Leave Rachel Leviss Alone
First, he sang the she wasn’t the one for him at his cover band shows. Then he snuck pictures of her into Special Forces. And last month, rather than sending a DM, or a text, or even trying to call, Sandoval decided to wish Rachel a happy birthday by publicly commenting on her Instagram. To say it backfired would be an understatement.
Rachel blocked him and posted that she had on her Instagram story. While some took umbrage with her announcing it publicly, others argued she was responding in the right way to her former affair partner’s cry for attention.
Sandoval’s response proved she did the right thing. He called her “thirsty” and made a crack that her parents threatened to take away her allowance. Considering Sandoval is the thirstiest person alive, and that he took his mom’s retirement money for a bar, his hypocritical insults did not go over well.
Rachel Leviss Is (Slowly) Showing Growth
To be clear, the former pageant girl still has a long way to go. But Rachel is making positive changes now that she’s done with reality TV. She seems much happier in recent social media posts.
Blocking Sandoval showed the biggest growth so far. Even in her podcast interview with Bethenny Frankel, Rachel seemed the least mad at Sandoval. But she clearly saw his birthday comment for what it was. And his subsequent remarks about her proved she made the right move.
No One’s Buying Sandoval’s Redemption Arc (And He’s Taking The Cast Down With Him)
Lately, Lala Kent cannot stop raging about Rachel on her Amazon Lives. Meanwhile, she’s softened on Sandoval, despite once calling him “dangerous.” Like Sandoval, Lala has received a ton of backlash as a result. It shows that the tides have turned a lot since the days where Rachel got the most fan hate. Viewers are also rolling their eyes at Scheana Shay‘s flip-flopper ways.
While we don’t know the whole story, it certainly doesn’t seem like he cares much about any of his co-stars. In fact, he allegedly only filmed a conversation with Scheana because he thought Bravo would let him go on Winter House. Every time a co-star tries to argue he’s actually a good guy who just did a bad thing, it’s kind of embarrassing.
We all know VPR historically lets men get away with everything. The cast being so much angrier towards Rachel is the most undeniable instance yet. Fans siding with her shows they have had enough of that double standard.
TELL US – HAVE YOUR OPINIONS ON RACHEL LEVISS AND/OR TOM SANDOVAL CHANGED OVER TIME? DO YOU THINK SANDOVAL IS ON THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION?