Raquel Leviss Told Ex She Initially Wanted To Hook Up With Ariana Madix!

Now, this is a huge twist in the Scandoval drama!

For those who need a refresher, there was speculation during Season 10 of Vanderpump Rules that Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix had been in an open relationship. The pair repeatedly shut it down — even going after Katie Maloney for supposedly spreading the rumor around to their friend group.

But when his months-long affair with Raquel Leviss came out, viewers learned that the person who actually started the open relationship whispers was Sandoval himself. Scheana Shay recalled in the finale that Raquel told someone the 40-year-old had shared with her back in April 2022 that he and Ariana were allowed to mess around with other people. That’s when he “started coming onto her” — the open relationship lie was apparently to convince her to be his mistress. Sandoval denied ever saying this during part two of the reunion. But now that mystery person Raquel confided in has come forward to share his side of the story. And he’s dropping a massive bombshell besides!

On her Scheananigans podcast on Friday, Scheana brought on none other than Shahs of Sunset alum Nema Vand — Raquel’s ex-boyfriend! He admitted that not only did the 28-year-old former pageant contestant reveal to him the open relationship rumors started by Sandoval, but she allegedly told him she wanted to hook up with Ariana — and NOT Sandoval! Nema recalled:

“I was like, ‘Oh, would you ever do that, like, would you ever consider that?’ And she’s like, ‘No no no I would never.’ She’s like, ‘I would hook up with Ariana though, I wouldn’t hook up with Tom.’”

WHAT?! The 34-year-old former reality star then claimed that Raquel and Sandoval had this discussion in a hot tub during Coachella last year (which was indeed in April). He remembered seeing the SUR waitress in New York City a month later, and that’s when she told him that the pair “were in the hot tub until like 5 a.m. — we watched the sunrise together.” That’s when Sandoval brought up the open relationship topic, says Nema:

“Tom allegedly was like, ‘You know, we have an open thing, like, we can hook up with whoever we want,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, do they?’”

Noting that Raquel is “smart,” he said she knew Sandoval was “just planting the seed that you and I could hook up here, and it would totally be OK.” Nema added:

“So she knew exactly what he was doing.”

Despite not believing they were in an open relationship, she clearly had no problems hooking up with Ariana’s longtime boyfriend months later — and then carrying on a relationship with Sandoval afterward. But apparently, she wasn’t even interested in him initially! She wanted Ariana! And innerestingly enough, Raquel shared in an interview for the reunion that she asked Sandoval if he and Ariana would enter into a throuple with her. However, he immediately shut down that idea. She said on the episode:

“I mean I even suggested maybe like, ‘What would Ariana think about like having me as an addition?’ And he was like, ‘No no no she would not be into that.’ I love Ariana as a person and then also I’m in love with Tom Sandoval, so yeah it didn’t seem that far-fetched of an idea, but it was not something in question. God he’s gonna kill me I just hate lying so much.”

Talk about a plot twist! It’s no wonder she was so open to the idea of starting a throuple with the former couple, based on Nema’s claims! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below!

[Image via Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen/YouTube, Bravo/YouTube]