March 3 will, for followers of “Vanderpump Guidelines,” ceaselessly go down in historical past because the day Scandoval broke and the Bravo world stopped, jaws dropped, upon studying that Tom Sandoval cheated on his girlfriend of 9 years, Ariana Madix, with their mutual buddy and fellow solid mate, Raquel Leviss.
However now, because the affair that broke the web begins to play out on our screens within the type of an explosive finale and much-anticipated reunion episodes, a brand new principle is forming: Scandoval is a setup.
Was Scandoval staged?
Bravo sources declare there was no staging of the scandal. The supply advised The New York Publish that producers had been conscious of “rumors” of the affair however brushed them off.
Nevertheless, loyal followers have a distinct perspective.
It’s speculated that the ‘Scandoval’ drama was deliberate to spice up ‘Vanderpump Guidelines’ rankings.
Unsurprisingly, the long-running actuality present has skilled a large enhance in rankings for the reason that scandal broke. Selection reported {that a} March 8 episode, the primary since information of the affair was made public, drew 2.2 million viewers throughout the platform — double the rankings from the earlier week. Followers suppose that was the purpose all alongside.
Proof allegedly reveals producers had been making a storyline round Leviss and Sandoval’s affair.
Anybody maintaining with the VPR solid mates’ many podcast appearances and social media posts would consider the group was “blindsided” however the dishonest debacle. Lala Kent even claimed on her podcast, “Give Them Lala” that producers had no clue what was occurring.
Madix says the identical. She advised the host of TODAY {that a} showrunner on the fact present was, “As devastated as I used to be on some stage.”
However, with the season taking part in out on TV after the daybreak of Scandoval, viewers have watched a complete season of delicate hints that Sandoval, 39, and Leviss, 28, had been courting or — on the very least — a little bit too shut for consolation.
Episodes filmed in September see newcomer Abby Lewber mentioning that she noticed Sandoval and Leviss dancing collectively on the LA bar The Abbey. Suspicion grows amongst Katie Maloney, Kristina Kelly, and James Kennedy. Leviss followers the flames herself when she confesses to, innocently, spending the evening at Sandoval’s whereas Madix is out of city — at her grandmother’s funeral would possibly we add.
The stage is ready however Kent has even doubled down and stated claims that producers re-edited the season to focus on the affair are “not true.”
Hollie Bohorquez, one of many hosts of the “Vanderpump Guidelines Social gathering” podcast advised Insider, “I personally really feel like they had been mapping this out.” Her co-host, Sarah Cee speculated that “Manufacturing no less than knew there was a robust flirtation,” earlier than including. “I feel they had been making an attempt to take advantage of it.”
Cee and Bohorquez additionally point out, as proof that the solid knew the scandal would break, an odd interplay they’d with newly-return solid member Kristen Doute earlier than the affair turned public. Once they advised Sandoval’s earlier ex that they missed her on the present she allegedly advised them to “keep tuned.” Doute returned to the present within the season finale when Madix regarded to her for recommendation following her cut up from the Tom-Tom proprietor. So, did Doute know she’d be known as again to debate a not-yet-known affair?
Podcasters declare that filming permits counsel the present was scheduled to movie lengthy after producers claimed the season had wrapped.
The story Bravo is telling is that, after the affair broke, cameras resumed filming to seize that fallout. However Cee and Bohorquez declare a filming allow discovered outdoors one of many solid member’s buildings said that the allow was in impact till April 2, lengthy after the unique wrap date and after the affair turned public.
“So earlier than Scandoval even broke, they’d the filming permits in place to file with when cameras went again,” says Cee.
This, together with the suspicion that some clips had been shot after the scandal broke and reinserted earlier within the season — specifically a scene through which Kent and Kennedy query Leviss and Sandoval’s friendship — have followers questioning whether or not the solid and producers have, on the very least, labored additional time to drum up further drama.
No matter they’re doing, it’s working as a result of we will’t get sufficient of the drama — even whether it is considerably ramped up.
Alice Kelly is YourTango’s Deputy Information and Leisure Editor. Primarily based in Brooklyn, New York, her work covers all issues social justice, popular culture, and human curiosity.
