10 "Vanderpump Rules" Moments That Prove Tom Sandoval Has Always Been The Worst

I’m sure, like many of us, you might be thinking: What else is left to say? We know Tom Sandoval is one of the messiest men of 2023, and yes, I agree. But the catch is: He’s always been this way.

You know why we're here. It's the drama heard around the world from Valley Village to the White House Correspondents' Dinner: Scandoval.

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See, in the world of reality TV, everyone plays a role or falls under a specific category, and throughout their duration on the show, they usually are allowed to stay in that box.

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In VPR terms, you have your fan favorites that can do “no wrong” (Ariana, and even Stassi pre-scandal), those you love to hate (Doute pre-scandal, Lala, James), those who are such a train wreck that you can’t stop watching (Scheana, and also at times Doute), and those you absolutely cannot stand (Jax, and maybe even Schwartz IYKYK!). 

But when it comes to Tom Sandoval, he would often fall under the umbrella of fan favorites. To many, he was the least douche-y guy on the cast, was the voice of reason amongst the men, and was — at times — the “good guy” of the group. Ultimately, as we now know, that could not be further from the truth. Sandoval’s good guy role on the show was exactly that — a role. And now that the mask has fallen, we're here to examine how he truly has always been a villain.

There have been many times when Tom Sandoval's true character has been shown throughout the history of this show. Let’s take a deep dive and look at just some of the most compelling evidence that this man is — and always has been — the worst.

1. He’s always been selfish. Like...really, really selfish.

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During Season 4 of Vanderpump Rules, Ariana was opening up more about the passing of her father and how her birthday was a particularly difficult time of the year for her in her grieving process. Of course, she wanted her partner at the time to be there for her. In one of the most awkward scenes in VPR history, Ariana is seen confiding about her dad's death to Sandoval during her unicorn-themed birthday party, and instead of staying on topic and comforting her, he decides to make it about him and his interests and let her know that he is most definitely still going on the boys trip despite her asking him to reconsider. He actually says, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm always going to be here for you. But apparently, he told me we're going to a construction yard, and we're taking bulldozers and, like, crushing shit with bulldozers." 

2. He has routinely exposed Ariana’s private life to impress men.

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On Season 7 Episode 8 of Vanderpump Rules — the episode is entitled "A Housewarming Divided" — Sandoval exposed a hookup between Lala and Ariana to the men of the group in a bragadocious and rather disgusting manner. During a celebration for Tom Sandoval's 36th birthday party, Sandoval tells Peter, Jax, Schwartz, and James Kennedy about the hookup. He said, “I don’t know if I ever told you this. Ariana and Lala had been out all day drinking, and they’re wasted. They’re in my car, and Lala goes, ‘Sorry, Sando, I’m just in love with your girl right now. Ariana, will you come in the back seat? I just want to eat your p—-,'” he said. “Ariana climbs in the back, and Lala just starts going to f—ing town, dude.”

Later, when Ariana finds out that her (shitty) boyfriend of years did this to her on camera and in front of her coworkers and friends, she confronts him and says, “Are you f—ing kidding me? I literally just got a phone call from Lala telling me the f—ing story you told on your birthday to try to sound cool in front of a bunch of guys." OF COURSE, Tom Sandoval responded and said, “It’s not that big of a deal." 

Ariana elaborated in a confessional interview: “I’m not embarrassed or ashamed of what happened between Lala and I, but I do feel like Tom betrayed my trust by telling this story to his guy friends. My sexuality is not something that is meant to sound cool to a bunch of dudes.” Trash.

3. He’s always wanted to be the star of the show. And it shows!

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Vanderpump Rules is one of those shows that has a stacked cast. There are plenty of stars that have come and gone over the years. From Stassi to Scheana, to Ariana and James, there is not a singular person that has made the show into what it is today. Everyone has played a part! However, with the success of his co-stars came moments of jealousy. One example, in particular, is during season 8 when Stassi wanted to host a party for her book at Tom Tom. Sandoval completely went off on her in one of the most bizarre texts I’ve ever seen in my life, threatening to shut down the party as he was “understaffed and completely unaware that the party was taking place.” Back then, many viewers even took Sandoval’s side, understanding that throwing a party at a venue last minute and not consulting one of the owners can be seen as rude. But as a reality TV connoisseur and someone that is more insightful into TV production these days, there’s no way that Sandoval wasn’t aware of an all-cast event, and his reaction was bizarre to say the least. It’s clear to me that he was threatened by the fact that Stassi’s career (at the time) had catapulted into something beyond the show, a feat that he has yet to accomplish.  

4. He has always taken Jax’s side — even when he's cheated in really disgusting ways!

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The Jax and Brittany cheating saga gave us one of the best season premieres in reality TV history at the start of Season 6. However, as the season went on, this, of course, caused a major divide in the group between the women and men. Tom in particular lashed out at Ariana during Season 6 Episode 6 — entitled "See You Next Tuesday" — for sharing a particular audio with Brittany. Brittany heard audio of Jax talking about her in the most gross way possible while also admitting the affair between himself and Faith Stowers. Tom emphasized to Ariana that he thought that she should’ve put a stop to the audio being heard as it was the “wrong time.” Major red flags all around. But it did give us Ariana calling Tom Sandoval "obtuse" which was funny. 

5. He’s always wanted Ariana’s spotlight.

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When Ariana began discussing her book deal in Season 5, Tom began to be visibly annoyed that he was not involved. From belittling the idea of her doing her book to pushing himself in the book deal, Tom wanted every part of what was supposed to be Ariana’s moment. One could argue that Tom thinks he’s the reason why Ariana is on VPR and therefore deserves credit for her success, which by the way is complete bullshit!

6. He’s treated Katie Maloney terribly over the years.

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As we know, Schwartz and Sandoval have been attached at the hip since we’ve seen them on camera together. Besides the fact that I believe he continuously talks down to Schwartz and completely dismisses him as a business partner, it’s more and more evident over the years that Tom has a real disdain for Katie (and honestly women in general). From constantly trying to pick fights with her, telling Schwartz that he isn’t in a happy relationship, and trying to convince anyone with a beating pulse that Katie is an absolute villain, Sandoval has been antagonizing Katie for years.   

7. He very clearly had an affair with Miami Girl and lied to her, lied to Ariana, and lied to viewers about it for years.

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We cannot forget about Miami Girl. If you remember clearly during Season 3 of VPR, Kristen Doute (fully embracing her villain era) exposed a rumor about Tom hooking up with a girl in Miami (while he was in a relationship with Ariana) and went as far as bringing the girl on camera to confront Tom. Of course, Tom denied it. In hindsight, I think all of us owe Miami Girl an apology. Especially Tom Sandoval.

8. He disparaged Kristen and routinely brought up her mental health and weaponized it against her in an effort to remove blame from himself.

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Let's be honest, Kristen can be A LOT at times, but she was also pushed to the edge by Tom Sandoval. He gaslit her, talked down to her, lied to her repeatedly, and then acted as if she was out of her mind for reacting to the things he did to her. He convinced Ariana that Kristen was out of her mind, and now, we are watching him do the sammeeeeeee thing with Ariana and Raquel. 

9. Honestly, his edit has saved him over the years.

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Tom has never been less of a douche than the other men on the cast; he just knows how to play the game. The emotional outbursts were seen as “soft boy moments,” his need to have the last word was seen as him being the “voice of reason,” and his awkward attempts to take the spotlight from his co-stars were always seen as “comedic” or “passionate.” In reality, Sandoval has always been incredibly narcissistic, and unapologetically so. While I do agree that some level of “thirst” is needed to be on reality TV, there comes a time when it becomes incredibly overwhelming to watch, and over the years, I have felt that with Sandoval. 

10. Ultimately, he's probably loving every moment of this scandal.

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While many feel like this could be seen as a “pile up,” I beg to differ. If anything, after a deep dive into his behavior on VPR, I think Tom is loving the attention he is getting from this scandal. From mentions at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, his solo interview on Howie Mandel’s podcast (which he only agreed to do if he wasn’t challenged on anything he said) to the absolute surge of people watching VPR and wanting to try his restaurants, Sandoval’s hunger for attention has finally been satisfied.   

You can relive all of these moments — and more — now on Peacock!