Rachel Leviss Says ‘Hell No’ to Returning to Reality Television

By Emma Chance | TV | August 18, 2023 |

By Emma Chance | TV | August 18, 2023 |

If you were as disappointed as I was with part 1 of Bethenny Frankel’s interview with Rachel Leviss, have no fear, because parts 2 and 3 are only slightly less disappointing.

First of all, Leviss is maintaining that Scheana Shay did, in fact, assault her on the night that they appeared on Watch What Happens Live together, which was also the night the Scandoval news first broke. According to Leviss, Shay pushed her against a brick wall and “socked” her in the eye, resulting in a “permanent scar” on her eyebrow.

She made other allegations against her female cast mates, including the claim that LaLa Kent and Kristina Kelly came into her room on their trip to Las Vegas when cameras were down to praise her for the “Good thing you don’t have a man” comment she earlier made to Kent, calling it “reality tv rating goals.” Then, when the cameras went back up, they attacked her, saying things like “How could you” and “I can’t believe what you said last night.”

But the most shocking revelations were about Tom Sandoval and the producers of Vanderpump Rules. First, she said that in the scene between her and Sandoval in her apartment after news of the affair broke, she asked him directly why he made the infamous recording of them having FaceTime sex without her consent. Sandoval confronted her when cameras were down, saying the question made him look bad. He then allegedly “boycotted” filming anymore unless he had editing rights for that scene so he could take out their conversation about consent.

Furthermore, she claimed that Sandoval told her that he was offered a producer credit for season 11, which she interprets as him being rewarded for Scandoval, and also makes her wonder if the whole affair was fabricated with that goal in mind. She also said that executive producer Alex Baskin “went on record” saying the show was going to be canceled after season 10 if it weren’t for Scandoval.

As for returning to reality tv? “Oh, HELL no,” was her response. She considered it, asking for equal pay with Sandoval and Ariana Madix (which seems fair enough), and reimbursement for her mental health treatment expenses, but those requests were denied. She said she didn’t think she would get the redemption arc she feels she deserves, because “other people on the cast are more important.”

She closed out the conversation by saying she had “different options” and felt she could go on to do good. I don’t know about you, but I hear “options” and think “book deal.”