Ariana Madix will be seen reacting to claims of Tom Sandoval being a better friend to Scheana Shay on the final episode of the three-part Vanderpump Rules reunion next week.
In a sneak peek at the upcoming episode, Brock Davies defends Scheana, 39, saying that she’s feuded with many of their castmates over the years, and noting that Sandoval, 41, despite his shocking affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, 29, has been the one to “have her back.”
“I think Scheana has really fought with a lot of the women in here from the beginning. She’s been in the pit,” Brock states as Scheana clarifies the backlash was “not from Ariana.”
“Not from Ariana — but from everyone else — and the one person that I have seen firsthand is Sandoval as being there, having her back. I’ve seen her fight for a 15-year friendship and a 10-year friendship and be stuck in the middle and get torn apart online by people that aren’t in this room,” he continues.
When Andy Cohen, 55, then asks Ariana, 38, how she feels, Ariana notes that the entire cast gets “torn apart online” — not just Scheana.
“Lesson learned is stay out of the comments section,” she advises.
“What you’re saying about Scheana’s journey in this group is absolutely true, but I have been in her corner and supported her since day one with that. Obviously, this year was a little bit more difficult for us,” she adds.
Ariana and Scheana’s relationship was also spotlighted after last week’s episode, with Scheana looking back on the barrage of hate she received after being spotted in Sandoval’s hotel room amidst the BravoCon fan convention.
“I think I’m an easy target. I think people think they can just walk all over me because I am so forgiving and I get over everything, and I think people, frankly, just don’t give a sh*t or like me as much as they like Ariana,” Scheana admitted on the May 21 episode of the Vanderpump Rules: After Show.
While Lala Kent, 33, denied feeling like she could walk all over Scheana, she did note that Scheana has a tendency to overexpla in herself.
“Sometimes you just have to say, ‘I went to his room because I wanted to have a good time. Get the f*ck over it,’” she stated.
But according to Scheana, who admitted to feeling “very misunderstood,” she didn’t go to the hotel suite to hang out with Sandoval.
“I was hanging out with the 30 f*cking other people in the room, and before I left, I pulled him aside away from everyone and told him to stop saying sh*t about Ariana on the carpet … [to] stop trying to defend his actions, they’re indefensible, and to shut the f*ck up. But nobody knows that because nobody f*cking asks me before they decide to blast me on a goddamn panel at BravoCon,” Scheana complained. “I’m literally blindsided in front of 2,000 people on a panel. I haven’t even talked to Ariana. I bet if Ariana knew I was in his room putting him in his place in defense of her, she maybe wouldn’t have reacted that way.”
After Lala assured Scheana that Ariana knew she had pure intentions, Scheana pointed out that Ariana “never says that.”
“That’s one thing that frustrates me … because I feel like one comment from her would make a lot of the hate stop or subside just a little bit but she doesn’t do that because she just is worried about herself right now,” Scheana alleged, adding that she “[gets] it.”
“I’m supposed to be this 1,000% loyal person and it’s like, when have you been that to me this whole time?” Scheana wondered. “I moved to Vegas, I come back, you’re best friends with [Stassi Schroeder] … I just wish it was vocalized sometimes is all.”
In her own After Show segment, Ariana was equally frustrated, telling Scheana (who was not with her on the panel), “Don’t bring my name into it as if you were there to defend my honor. And also don’t bring my name into it as if I’m making rules for what you can and can’t do … You’re having a conversation about me with him.”
Speaking of a comment Sandoval had made about people not wanting to be friends with him because they “want to be part of a movement or because they feel like they can’t,” Ariana insisted she never told anyone they “can’t” be his friend.
“It kinda feels a little bit like, figure out what it is that you want, regardless of what other people think, just do that and everyone else will adjust accordingly and we can all just be … Just live in your truth,” she concluded.
The Vanderpump Rules season 11 reunion concludes Tuesday, May 28, at 8/7c on Bravo.