Tom Sandoval Clashes With Ariana Madix, Tom Schwartz & James Kennedy In Vanderpump Rules Return

Throughout the hour, he clashed with ex-girlfriend Ariana Madix, his sometimes-BFF and business partner, Tom Schwartz, and his former friend James Kennedy, following Sandoval’s affair with Rachel Leviss.

Speaking of Leviss, he did mention her right off the bat — saying he hadn’t heard from her in a few weeks while she was in treatment. “I just miss her, you know, I want to see her and give her a big hug,” he added, saying he was “still very much in love” with her and was hoping they could “give our relationship a real chance” when she was out of the facility.

Of course, we all know that didn’t end up happening … but he was still keeping hope alive when this episode was filmed.

Now, let’s break down those fights, starting with the Ariana of it all.

As we all know, the exes are still living with one another — communicating with each other via Tom’s assistant. Sandoval was hoping to have a birthday party at the home, something Ariana quickly shot down by telling the assistant she would call the cops if he had anyone over.

“Obviously, Ariana’s still very upset with me. I know she thinks what I did makes me a criminal but I doubt the police are gonna agree with that,” Sandoval quipped in a confessional, before suggesting a compromise. Instead of a rager, he asked if he could have 12 people over and promised to have them out by midnight; Madix complied.

When talking to Lala Kent about the party disagreement, Kent asked Madix why she didn’t just move out.

“I’m not here for him trying to assert his dominance, be louder, be more obnoxious, make me uncomfortable and then I cower and let him do whatever,” she responded. “Tom wants to buy me out and stay there and I’m not gonna pack up my clothes and hitchhike down the road because Tom offered me a measly sum of money.”

She also admitted she didn’t want to make his life any easier — saying, “He broke the home, he f–ked this up. He doesn’t get to do that and then keep it.”

As they spoke, she said that dating her new boyfriend, Daniel Wai, also made her start to reconsider having children.

“I think he’s opened my eyes and a lot of possibility I could not see,” she shared. “Tom being my partner affected my feelings on having kids a lot more than I thought it did. I feel like with Dan, I’ve kind of had my eyes opened to the fact that there are different types of partners out there who would actually be a real 50/50 partner. Or if I can only give 10% that day, he’ll be able to give 90.”

Up next: Schwartz!

Schwartz hoped Sandoval would “be more proactive in pitching ideas on how to weather” the mess his affair had on business at their Schwartz & Sandy’s bar. Instead, he took off to film Special Forces and didn’t offer up much help for the damage he’d apparently caused.

While Lisa Vanderpump didn’t think it was fair for Sandoval to take on all the blame, she told Schwartz he had to tell his business partner how he felt … so he did just that. After hearing how hard Sandy had it filming Special Forces, Schwartz said he would have preferred doing that to “just having to deal with s–t at the bar.”

“I know there was collateral damage. I’m really sorry, Schwartz. I can feel that you’re angry at me, but obviously, I f–king had to,” he said, before revealing his reasons for doing the FOX reality show. “My bank account was literally overdrawn. Ariana like hadn’t paid any of the bills for f–king 8 months, man.”

“I’ve been pretty much paying for everything out of all my accounts,” he claimed. “Mortgage, gardening, cleaning, utilities, everything and it’s kind of like pulling teeth to get Ariana to pay me back.”

Sandoval also told Schwartz he was upset with him for dissing him on Jax Taylor’s podcast.

“I was upset because I was dealing with your s–t show back at the bar,” Schwartz told Sandoval. “I know we asked you to step away, you stepped away, but if I was in your situation and I realized the s–t storm I caused, I would have been pitching ideas, pitching solutions.”

“It didn’t feel like you gave a s–t to be honest,” he added, before Sandoval apologized for how he “f–ked up.”

They seemed to kind of settle things and Schwartz did show up at Sandoval’s birthday party at the end of the hour.

Also making a cameo at the bash: James!

Kennedy went to the party hoping to get an apology from Sandoval, or at least an acknowledgement of the “betrayal” he instigated by sleeping with Leviss. Though he pulled up with girlfriend, Ally Lewber, she stayed in the car, showing her allegiance to Team Ariana.

“Tom’s party is like a who’s who … like, who the f–k are you people,” Kennedy said in a confessional of the guest list, which included Schwartz, Billie Lee, Sandoval’s band mates and nobody else from the cast. “Tom used to be like the coolest guy on the block. Now look! Who the f–k is this guy?!”

After showing up, he pulled Tom aside for a “little chat” and confronted Sandoval for not even sending him a text message in the time since the reunion.

“I apologize for that, I should have. I was very overwhelmed,” Tom told him, but James wasn’t having it, saying he had “so many opportunities” to make amends, and saying Sandoval looked “fine” all over Instagram with his band.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I didn’t reach out to you,” said Tom, before James asked, “Are you sorry for like, betraying me? Like the ultimate betrayal.”

When Sandoval tried to bring up how James and his ex Kristen Doute hooked up while they were dating back in the day, Kennedy flipped out. “You’ve got so much growing up to do, it’s sad to me,” he exclaimed, as Tom asked why James wanted him to “take accountability” while he wouldn’t.

“It’s embarrassing Tom. I’m not even going to entertain what you just said,” he said.

“Tom wants to go ahead and bring up the past. I’m looking for an apology for the now,” Kennedy said in a confessional. “Nothing makes it okay for him to have been lying to my face for six months, outcast me from the entire group, make me seem like I’m crazy, all because he was just getting his d–k wet!”

The episode ended with James storming out of the house, before urinating on the shrubs out front as Ally exclaimed, “It’s Ariana’s bush too!”

Vanderpump Rules airs Tuesdays on Bravo.