‘Winter House’: Danielle Olivera Knew Tom Schwartz Needed a ‘Hug’ Post-Scandoval
Tom Schwartz returns to Winter House for another season, this time without his partner in crime, Tom Sandoval from Vanderpump Rules.
Winter House started filming only days after the explosive scandal broke that Tom Sandoval was having a multi-month affair with close friend Rachel Leviss, while still in a decade-long romance with Ariana Madix. Schwartz and Sandoval were both supposed to appear in the new season of Winter House, but only Schwartz made the journey to Colorado.
Danielle Olivera from Summer House noticed how rattled Schwartz looked when he arrived at the house and said the friends could tell Schwartz just needed a hug.
“He had so much anxiety and so it was like the elephant in the room,” Olivera told E! News. “And he was like, ‘OK, do you guys want to just talk about it?'”
And, yes, they did. “We were like, ‘Do you need a hug?'” she added. “‘Here’s a drink and a hug.'”
Danielle Olivera wondered how Tom Schwartz would be post-Scandoval
Olivera admitted to being pretty curious about how Schwartz would arrive at the house. “I was definitely curious as to how Tom Schwartz was going to be,” said said. Adding, “But I don’t know if that was excitement or just being nosy.”
Sandoval said in one of his podcast episodes that he’d be allowed to still film Winter House if he filmed scenes for Vanderpump Rules alongside Lisa Vanderpump and Madix. He agreed to the scenes but was still banned from going to Colorado for Winter House.
Tom Schwartz hooks up with Katie Flood from ‘Below Deck Med’
Despite being rather anxiety-ridden, Schwartz managed to woo former Below Deck Mediterranean chief stew Katie Flood. “They were vibing pretty early on,” Olivera told US Weekly about Schwartz and Flood.
“[They connected] pretty early, but her name … It was definitely hard for him to get past a lot of things,” Olivera added. Schwartz recently went through a painful divorce from Katie Maloney. So the whole “Tom and Katie” vibe hit differently. Olivera added, “I think it was an arousing success.”
Jordan Emanuel from Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard told Schwartz to just get over the name thing. “We were like, ‘Listen, You need to get over the name thing and just go for it. Have a little fun,’” she said. “We started calling her by her last name just to support it.”
‘Winter House’ tries something new this season
Bravo’s Winter House began as a spinoff series that combined the casts from Summer House and Southern Charm. A few new friends were added to the mix to create a combustible wild time.
But producers decided to expand their Bravo horizons for season 3. In addition to a few Summer House cast members, the house added Malia White, Flood, Rhylee Gerber, Alex Propson, Captain Sandy Yawn, and Aesha Scott from the Below Deck franchise. Brian Benni from Family Karma rounds out the cast.
Winter House is on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
