How Tom Sandoval Won the World Over*

It's been two years since Scandoval, and the man at the center of it is finally finding his way back into the public's good graces. The Vanderpump Rules alum reveals how he's changed his ways and why he wants all of Us to move on

- POLLY HUDSON & AMANDA WILLIAMS

*Well, except two people...

It's the sentence you never thought you'd read - Tom Sandoval just appeared on a reality show and remained Faithful throughout. The show was The Traitors, filmed over a few weeks in a Scottish castle, rather than the decade of his life documented on Bravo's Vanderpump Rules, but redemption arc-wise, it still counts. And even the people whose fury led to Sandoval being dubbed 'The Most Hated Man in America' by The New York Times last year had to grudgingly admit it must take guts to continue signing up for TV gigs. The kicker? Many of them actually enjoyed seeing Sandoval back on their screens.

Vanderpump Rules viewers were stunned in March 2023 almost exactly two years ago when fan favorite Ariana Madix discovered that Sandoval, her boyfriend of nine years, had been cheating on her for months with friend and castmate Rachel "Raquel" Leviss. The fallout of this betrayal was so intense it became widely known as Scandoval and reached places and people that events from the Bravoverse usually do not get to... as far as the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Everyone had an opinion on Scandoval and none of it was good for the man at the center of it. As support for Madix, 39, soared and exciting job offers poured in, her ex found himself shunned by friends, a hate target online and in a darker emotional place than he'd ever imagined he could get to. Schwartz and Sandy's, the bar he opened with friend and costar Tom Schwartz in November 2022, was bombarded with negative reviews and eventually shuttered. Things with Leviss didn't end well either, with the former pageant queen, 30, eventually accusing Sandoval, 42, of manipulation and love bombing.