From left: Howie Mandel, Andy Cohen and Tom Sandoval.Photo:Frazer Harrison/Getty; Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; River Callaway/Variety via Getty
Frazer Harrison/Getty; Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; River Callaway/Variety via Getty
Howie Mandelis setting the record straight on his controversialHowie Mandel Does Stuffpodcast episode withTom Sandovalat theheight of Scandovalin April 2023.
On Thursday’s episode of SiriusXM’sAndy Cohen Live, theAmerica’s Got Talentjudge admitted he “started watching"Vanderpump Rulesafter his podcast interview.
At the time of the episode’s release,Andy Cohenand many Bravo fans called out Mandel for not doing enough prep for Sandoval’s first on-air appearance following the bombshell news of his affair with costarRachel “Raquel” Leviss.
While comparing the experience to “having a deposition and then watching the courtroom,” Mandel, 68, called out the discrepancies in Sandoval’s story after studying up on the hit Bravo show.
“He said he broke up [with girlfriendAriana Madix]. He said, you know, he told her, and he told me a story about how, you know, she wanted to have kids and he went, ‘Are you crazy? I broke up with you,'” Mandel said, referencing Sandoval’s previous claims.
Howie Mandel and Tom Sandoval on ‘Howie Does Stuff’.Howie Mandel Does Stuff
During his podcast appearance, the reality star alleged that he hadattempted to break upwith Madix but she refused. He also claimed that the Something About Her co-founder had asked him about fertilizing her eggs for embryos after their relationship ended.
“She was trying to, like, convince me not to be broken up… she asked me that day as we were leaving about, like — because we had talked about fertilizing eggs, which I never did,” he claimed at the time.
On Cohen’s radio show, Mandel recalled watching Sandoval and “his buddy Schwartz walking into … a fertility thing checking on his jizz, as he put it.”
“I go, ‘Well, that’s not what he told me. He told me that he broke up with her and it was crazy that she wanted to have kids,'” he continued, adding how it was “so much fun” watching everything back afterwards, though he wasn’t a fan of the “hate” he received for " just allowing a guy to have a platform” and effectively “bury himself.”
Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix.Frazer Harrison/Getty
Frazer Harrison/Getty
Mandel addressed Cohen directly and quipped, “Don’t you respect me for that? Why am I a jackhole?”
Contrary to his initial reservations about Mandel’s interview with Sandoval, the Bravo head honcho confessed his “open mic” actually “wound up working out well personally for me because then he could get grilled.”
“It kind of saved the grilling for me later at the reunion, so it actually, as it turns out, maybe I should give you the mazel instead because we do a jackhole and a mazel,” he joked.
“Every time he said something that she disagreed with, she was kicking me under the table,” Mandel recalled. “A couple of times, she wanted to ask a question and challenge, and I kicked her, and I said, ‘Listen, I don’t know this guy. If you challenge him or if you attack him here, he’s just gonna shut down and he’s gonna go away and he’s not gonna talk.”
“I think the reason that he’s here, unlike any other place, is because he knows he’s in an ignorant place where there’s no challenge and he doesn’t have to defend himself,” Mandel concluded.
Tom Sandoval, Ariana Madix (center) and Rachel “Raquel” Leviss in November 2022.Faye Sadou/Media Punch/Alamy
Faye Sadou/Media Punch/Alamy
Sandoval made headlines when he had a secretmonths-long affairwith Leviss while he was still in a committed relationship of nine years with Madix. She laterbroke up with Sandovalafter learning of his infidelity with their former costar and friend, and the news rocked the entire friend group. The fallout of the affair is expected to be showcased on the latest season ofVanderpump Rules.
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Vanderpump Rulesseason 11 premieres on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
source: people.com
