‘Vanderpump Rules’: Tom Schwartz Reveals Why He Wasn’t a Main Cast Member on Seasons 1 and 2 – ‘I Was Wary’
Tom Schwartz insisted he would “never” go on reality TV when Vanderpump Rules Season 1 aired and tried to stay out of the Bravo spotlight in 2013.
At the time Schwartz was dating SURver Katie Maloney and didn’t work at SUR, Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant, which was the central focus of the series. But Schwartz recently said his hesitation wasn’t because he didn’t work at SUR like the rest of the cast, but more that he wasn’t ready to embrace being on reality TV.
Tom Schwartz insisted he’d never do reality TV
After graduating from Florida State University, Schwartz drove out to Los Angeles in pursuit of an acting career. He joked on the Pillows and Beer podcast that he wasn’t great at acting and only landed a few commercials. But he still wasn’t ready to go all in with reality TV either.
“I just never, ever thought I would do reality TV because I used to watch shows like The Hills and I used to say, ‘Man, I would never be on a show like that ever.’ And then, you know, maybe fate has a sense of humor or something like that,” he said. “Because I ended up being on a show with the same showrunner as The Hills.“
Tom pushed back on reality TV because he thought it would ruin his acting career
Schwartz’s Vanderpump Rules castmates threw themselves into the Bravo show, but he needed time before he’d commit to it.
“I was wary,” Schwartz said about the idea of being on reality TV. “And I had to do some soul searching, because in my mind, even though I had no credits aside from like some commercials and stuff, I thought I still had a chance at being an actor, pursuing the arts.”
“And reality at that time, like back in 2010, when the show first started, there was still kind of a stigma attached to reality TV,” he added. “At least more of a stigma than there is now. It was like if you do this now you forfeit any chance you will ever have of being a respected actor. Which you know what? Let’s just be honest. I had almost no chance. I’m not a good actor. I’m not good at auditioning. Maybe I’m OK being myself. But I was lucky to book the few commercials I did.”
It took 2 full ‘Vanderpump Rules’ seasons to hook Schwartz
So while Maloney and Vanderpump Rules cast members drove the majority of the drama, Schwartz dipped in and out of the show. “So I had cameos,” he recalled of Vanderpump Rules Season 1. “Yes, I was filming, but like I had one foot in, one foot out. Because that was a year I still had like an inner dilemma, like, do I do this?”
Schwartz was basically known as Maloney’s boyfriend at the time. But, “I had a few lines, and then season 2, I was in it a little bit more and I started warming up to it,” he recalled. “I started seeing some of the cool opportunities that the cast members were getting after they were done filming, doing appearances in Vegas, getting a little taste of the good life. And I really started warming up to it.”
“Then season 3, I decided just to go all the way and I sort of got sucked into some drama,” Schwartz said. “I was a little bit of a douche. I cheated on Katie that season, and I kind of got sucked into it. But at the same time, I sort of started embracing it and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to go all in on this and see what happens.'”
