Howie Mandel Invites Tom Sandoval to Tell His Side of the Story and Gets Dragged for ‘Justifying’ His Behavior
Comedian and TV host Howie Mandel launched his successful podcast Howie Mandel Does Stuff with his daughter Jackelyn Shultz in April 2021. In an April 2023 episode of the show, Mandel invited Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval to tell his side of the story in his affair with Raquel Leviss and breakup with longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix. Mandel got caught in the crossfire by some fans who believed he was platforming someone with a history of bad behavior.
Tom Sandoval has been at the center of ‘Scandoval’
Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix began dating in 2014 while they both starred on Vanderpump Rules in the show’s infancy. They remained fixtures on the show for much of the next decade.
Everything changed in 2022. After Sandoval turned 40 in July 2022, he began to take stock of everything in his life. He told Mandel that it led him to reconsider his relationship with Madix.
“As I turned 40, I started to look at my life and it looked very bleak,” Sandoval told the Deal or No Deal host. “I started to lose my optimism in life and my drive. I started to feel trapped. I started thinking like, ‘I don’t need this house, I don’t need this s***, but I feel like I need to make a change to feel motivated, to feel optimistic again.'”
Sandoval reportedly first began his romance with Raquel Leviss in August 2022. The news of the affair broke in March 2023.
Fans dragged Howie Mandel for speaking to Tom Sandoval
Mandel inviting Sandoval on his podcast resulted in a backlash not just against Sandoval, but on Mandel himself. Fans were quick to express their anger.
“Why is Howie justifying this?????” commented one viewer. “Omg Howie. Stop,” wrote another. “Omg Howie, you’re embarrassing yourself,” commented another.
Other commenters were upset with Mandel’s lack of knowledge around the situation, including not knowing that Madix and Leviss were best friends before the affair came to light.
“Howie has no idea who he is or anything about the show, shut [up] and let your daughter do the interview,” wrote one commenter. “You should not be doing this interview! You don’t know anything, Howie!” another wrote.
At one point in the interview, Mandel stood up for Sandoval and ironically called for fans to have “empathy and compassion” for him.
“You need to be heard because the narrative is everyone else’s but but yours,” Mandel told the VPR star. “I’m not condoning cheating on a partner. … I think some people have to have empathy and compassion.”
“I don’t understand the hatred and the vitriol,” Mandel added.
Viewers, naturally, weren’t pleased. “Ok I’m done. F*** this piece of vile trash. Howie, lost all respect for you for kissing his vile a**,” one wrote. “Howie, you need to wake up to what’s really going on here. Tom is a liar,” commented another.
One Twitter user called for Mandel himself to join Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live. Cohen was frank with his answer: “Or not.” Cohen went on to name Mandel “Jackhole of the Day” on WWHL.
The ‘Vanderpump Rules’ reunion will be unforgettable
The season 10 reunion of Vanderpump Rules was filmed just weeks after “Scandoval” became public. The drama between the cast at the time led Leviss to get a temporary restraining order against co-star Scheana Shay, which caused the reunion to have a unique seating arrangement. It had to use two separate seating charts to avoid the two stars being on stage at the same time.
Vanderpump Rules airs Wednesdays on Bravo.
