So many months after news of Tom Sandoval and Rachel Leviss’ affair broke still there are questions as to how this was missed for so many months. Of course, the biggest onus presumably fell on Ariana Madix’s friends and cast mates who spent the most time with the couple.
But what about the professionals involved with the show who, arguably, knew the cast just as well? Bravo executive producer Natalie Neurauter is sharing her perspective as an insider to Vanderpump Rules.
And just like the rest of us, she admits to seeing things much more clearly in hindsight.
Footage from after the “beach party” was the most suspicious
The head of Bravo’s post-production team for Vanderpump Rules was tasked with re-examining footage for clues as to when Scandoval started.
“Our producers were able to come back on and start searching through footage for more like clues,” Natalie exclusively told The Wrap. “We had all these puzzle pieces. And it felt like they were from different puzzles, and we didn’t know how to put them together. So it was helpful when you know the ending that you’re looking for.”
Natalie revealed that her suspicions were first aroused by the beach day footage. She explained, “We had Rachel come into SUR the next day for brunch. She had stayed the night at Tom Sandoval’s house and [Tom] Schwartz was there. And that was why she was late. The three of them had hung out a lot that year so it didn’t seem strange. But the way they all spoke about it is what made it stand out to us. The fact that the guys lied about it. That didn’t make a lot of sense to us until the affair was revealed.”
Natalie was then asked if anything else jumped out at her when reviewing VPR footage. She recalled a change in Sandoval’s opinion on starting a family with Ariana.
The egg fertilizing incident
“It feels obvious in retrospect, but one thing that I remember vividly not making sense to me is the fact that Tom didn’t want to move forward with fertilizing Ariana’s eggs. Because it was something that he had seemed really keen on in the past. And that the second she started talking about it with him again. He was shutting it down. And that felt strange to me. And it didn’t fit with everything we had known about his desire for children in the past,” Natalie revealed.
Vanderpump Rules maven Lala Kent got a lot of credit from Natalie for her intuition.
“She sometimes sees things that other people miss. And a lot of times she’ll throw out things that sounds so wild and off the wall, that we have to really wonder if she’s saying it for attention or saying it to be funny? We should never think of her that way because she sees things, especially when she’s just slightly removed from them,” the Bravo producer acknowledged.
As for Rachel herself, Natalie said there was “nothing that jumps out at me,” in terms of suspicious behavior.
The Vanderpump Rules cast is currently filming for Season 11.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF NATALIE’S COMMENTS? ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT PRODUCTION DIDN’T CATCH ON TO SANDOVAL AND RACHEL SOONER?
