Teddi Mellencamp and Lisa Vanderpump-Todd Andy Kropa/Invision/AP/Shutterstock; MediaPunch/Shutterstock
A wild theory. Teddi Mellencamp thinks that her former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills costar Lisa Vanderpump could have orchestrated the Scandoval drama.
The Indiana native, 41, discussed the ongoing Vanderpump Rules scandal of Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval’s affair with Tamra Judge and Melissa Gorga during a March 9 episode of the Real Housewives of New Jersey star’s “On Display” podcast.
“[Lisa] probably paid Raquel [Leviss] to do this,” Mellencamp suggested as the trio speculated what the restaurateur, 62, was going to say during her March 8 appearance on Watch What Happens Live. The podcast episode was recorded before Vanderpump’s episode aired.
Mellencamp, for her part, speculated that Andy Cohen invited the U.K. native to his Bravo talk show after a long hiatus because “nobody’s cared until now.” The Celebrity Big Brother alum went on to guess that Vanderpump would stick up for Sandoval, 41, amid his breakup with ex Ariana Madix. Us Weekly confirmed the pair called it quits after nine years when the Florida native, 37, learned her boyfriend had an affair with Leviss, 28.
“She’s gonna say the same points that I’ve been saying, like, ‘Listen, [Sandoval and Madix] weren’t in a good place for a long time,’” Mellencamp claimed while impersonating Vanderpump. “His needs weren’t met. [Sandoval and Leviss] fell in love. They couldn’t help themselves.’”
Mellencamp and Vanderpump have a feud-filled history of their own. While the two started as friends on RHOBH, they had a falling out during season 9, which aired in 2019. The duo’s friendship hit a snag when Dorit Kemsley adopted a puppy from Vanderpump Dogs, only for the pooch to end up at a kill shelter. Vanderpump exited the reality series after the drama unfolded. Mellencamp, for her part, left the show in September 2020.
Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss. Shutterstock (2)
After hearing Mellencamp’s predictions, Judge, 55, said that she thought that Vanderpump just “wants the best for her cast.” However, the fitness coach retorted, “I think she wants the best for herself, as I would as well. You guys wouldn’t? You’d want your shows to tank?”
While Vanderpump didn’t defend Sandoval on WWHL like Mellencamp originally thought, the entrepreneur did send her support to Madix, 37, amid all the drama.
“I literally had no words. I didn’t see it coming — nobody saw it coming,” the businesswoman confessed to Cohen. “I have seen Ariana and I have [filmed] with her. It’s an integral part of the story now. I would say the word I would use [to describe her] is devastated.”
Meanwhile, the TV personality had some rough and honest words for Leviss following the scandal.
“I clearly didn’t know who Raquel was. She stuck her toe in the Peter [Madrigal] pond, she snagged Oliver [Saunders], she schmoozed with [Tom] Schwartz and she shagged Scandoval,” she retorted, calling the model a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”