After weeks of back and forth, Raquel Leviss appears not to be rejoining the cast of “Vanderpump Rules.” A key figure in the show’s Season 10 #Scandoval — the cheating scandal that propelled “Vanderpump Rules” to new ratings heights and two Emmy nominations — Leviss has given her first interview about her participation in the 11th season of the Bravo show, which has been filming since June 28.
The discussion took place on Wednesday’s episode of Bethenny Frankel’s “ReWives” podcast, in which the “Real Housewives of New York City” alum covers “Housewives” and Bravo matters. During the interview, Leviss said she did not receive any additional compensation when she was thrust into the spotlight because of #Scandoval, and notably says that she “almost went back” to the show.
“I haven’t seen a single penny,” she said. “It’s not fair. And I feel like a toddler saying, ‘It’s not fair.’ But it really isn’t. And I feel like I’ve been portrayed as the ultimate villain. My mistakes that I’ve made on camera live on forever. And you mentioned something about the addiction of doing reality TV and the way that they always dangle that carrot in front of you, like, ‘Well, you need to tell your side of the story otherwise it’s gonna be written for you.’ And that’s terrifying. So I almost went back, I know just because of that.”
As a regular cast member on Season 10 of “Vanderpump Rules,” Leviss would have been well-compensated, in line with her fellow castmates. Representatives from Bravo did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but TMZ later reported — and Variety confirmed — that Leviss made $350,000 for the show’s 10th season.
In addition to her remarks, Leviss appeared to be making a statement by giving her first interview after the June 7 “Vanderpump Rules” reunion to Frankel, who has recently rebranded herself as an advocate for reality star unionization — taking special aim at Bravo and its parent company NBCUniversal.
On April 14, Leviss voluntarily went into a facility in Arizona for mental health counseling, which she left in early July. Seemingly, the reason for her decision to go into the facility was fallout from the #Scandoval.
Last summer, Leviss and fellow “Vanderpump Rules” cast member Tom Sandoval began a sexual affair. Sandoval and castmate Ariana Madix had been in a nine-year relationship with, and Madix and Leviss were close friends. The affair between Leviss and Sandoval was happening during (and long after) the filming of the show’s 10th season — hiding in plain sight, as it turned out — and a few members of the cast voiced their suspicions of them on camera. But it wasn’t until Madix went through Sandoval’s phone on March 1 and found an intimate video of him and Leviss that the story exploded into the open. Madix called production the next day, cameras went back up on March 3 and TMZ broke the story about the cheating scandal later the same day. The #Scandoval was born.
Despite the scandal making great television, clearly there’s been a human toll. And Leviss, who at 28 is younger than her castmates — who are mostly in their late 30s (Sandoval turned 41 on July 7) — appeared to bear the brunt of the negative publicity, even though she was single when they began the affair, and it was he who was in a committed relationship.
It was Leviss whose confessional interview in the last five minutes of the show’s third reunion episode dropped the season’s final bombshell. Speaking with showrunner Jeremiah Smith, Leviss spilled her guts, and corrected the timeline of the affair. In the interview, Leviss said that she and Sandoval were together consistently after they’d had sex for the first time, and no, it wasn’t just a much-regretted one-night-stand — as Sandoval had screamingly claimed, especially throughout the reunion — until production stopped for the season.
Through tears, Leviss said, “Being so isolated, Tom is my one person I really have,” as she seemingly told the truth about all the lies Sandoval had asserted in his defenses about why he’d cheated on Madix, his life partner with whom he owned a house. Yes, they had sex in Mexico at Scheana Shay’s wedding; yes, they’d had sex in his and Madix’s house (most egregiously when Madix was away because of her grandmother’s funeral).
In an interview with Variety before production began on Season 11, “Vanderpump Rules” executive producer Alex Baskin said, “As far as we’re concerned, at this point, the entire group will be back.” But Baskin also said that Bravo and the production team were sensitive to whatever issues were happening with Leviss that had caused her to go into treatment for her mental health: “She and people around her have to feel OK about it.”
In the end, it turns out they were not OK with it.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with Leviss’ salary information.
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