Knockout punches, would-be three-ways, and "home-wreckers"!
Who threw it all away for a roll in the hay?
O.G.'s to rookies, it's just another day at the office for "Vanderpump Rules!"
On Season 2 of the show, rumor got out that Kristen Doute and Jax Taylor slept together.
At the time, Kristen was not only in a relationship with Jax's longtime bestie Tom Sandoval, but
she was also friends with Jax's ex-girlfriend, Stassi Schroeder.
After trying to play it cool, Jax eventually admitted that he hooked up with Kristen while
Tom was sleeping in the next room.
For their troubles, Stassi smacked Kristen across the face and dumped a drink on her,
and then Tom attacked Jax in one of the most notorious — and bloodiest — fights of
the entire series.
"I f—ing lied to your face.
Yes.
I did have sex with him one time."
Though everyone moved past the jaw-dropping incident to some degree, Kristen grappled
with the fallout for years, writing in her book, "He's Making You Crazy,"
"I felt so much guilt about my mistake that I didn't feel that I really deserved any sort
of platform to speak my mind about it or say my piece."
As far as Stassi is concerned, this scandal doesn't hold a candle to the Tom Sandoval
and Raquel Leviss cheating drama that surfaced in 2023.
She said on "Straight Up With Stassi,"
"You can't even compare it to the whole Kristen and Jax situation because this is four trillion
times worse.
A 10-year relationship where you own a home together — they are married."
"I never hooked up with Faith.
I never hooked up with anybody."
Season 6 kicked off with a bang when it was revealed that Jax had cheated on his future
wife, Brittany Cartwright, with their coworker Faith Stowers.
Taylor had been sliding into Faith's DMs before anything happened.
As she told ET,
"I mean, at one point he did proposition a threesome with him and Brittany, that was
when they were dating, and I literally laughed that off 'cause I would never.
It was just interesting to see how far he went when he had a new girlfriend who was
fresh; Brittany was fresh at this time."
"How many times did it happen with Faith?"
"Once, honey.
That's it."
"No, tell me the truth."
According to Faith, she and Jax definitely hooked up.
Things got even messier when the rest of the cast got their hands on an audio recording
of Jax telling Faith that he wasn't even into Brittany.
Though the show didn't play the audio of the recording, Kristen recalled Jax saying,
"He doesn't want to marry Brittany, he's never going to have children with her, and he's
not even attracted to her anymore."
Jax apologized, telling Us Weekly,
"I wasn't thinking.
Yeah.
I wish — I really really really really regret what I did."
Jax and Brittany got married in 2019 and welcomed their adorable son, Cruz, in 2021.
Way back in the "Vanderpump" series, Jax and Stassi ruled the world.
May we never forget how Jax once inked Stassi's name on his arm, only to later cover it up.
But by Season 2, their relationship had ended once and for all.
"It's a breakup, Jax.
For the love of God, take it seriously."
Before the two called it quits, their rollercoaster romance saw its fair share of scandals.
The pair briefly broke up in Season 1 over constant fighting and jealousy.
Stassi rebounded with fellow SUR employee Frank Herlihy only to reconcile with Jax.
During their time together throughout Season 1, rumors swirled about Jax being unfaithful
on a trip to Vegas.
In the season finale, he finally fessed up to not only cheating but getting another woman
pregnant, which was the nail in the coffin for the pair.
Years after their breakup, however, Stassi revealed that Taylor wasn't the only one stepping
out on their relationship.
On a special "Uncensored" episode of the show, she revealed that she hooked up with Frank
before she cut things off with Jax.
She said on a special for the show,
"This is so awful — I lied to Andy Cohen.
I just had to say no and fight to the death."
"Vanderpump Rules" kicked off with a Bravo crossover.
On the first episode, "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Brandi Glanville sat down
at SUR to talk to Scheana Shay about their messy connection.
When Brandi was still married to actor Eddie Cibrian, he had multiple affairs — including
one with Scheana, who quickly apologized.
But while Brandi didn't blame Scheana for Eddie's behavior, she wasn't having the tears.
"Don't cry.
I lost my family.
I lost everything that I had.
So if anyone's going to cry here, it's not going to be you."
But Brandi later admitted that Eddie's fling with Scheana was a blessing in disguise, sharing,
"I thought LeAnn was just the one-time thing.
But when I found out about her, she saved me because I left him."
While the two Bravolebrities didn't become the best of friends after that conversation,
they're leaving the past in the dust.
On a January 2023 episode of "Scheananigans," Scheana shared that she and Brandi are in
a good place, adding,
"So crazy how things come full-circle and then, you know, I'm hanging out with Brandi
at BravoCon and we're trying to plan doing each other's podcasts."
Ariana Madix joined the cast in Season 2.
After she began working at SUR alongside Tom Sandoval, viewers learned that they originally
became friends while bartending at Lisa Vanderpump's now-defunct Villa Blanca.
And at the time, Tom was still dating Kristen.
Tom soon broke up with Kristen and eventually went public with Ariana.
But Kristen was suspicious about the timeline, even accusing her ex of cheating with Ariana.
Eventually, Tom came clean, admitting he had kissed Ariana in Vegas before he broke things
off with Kristen.
"I have a connection with Ariana unlike anything I have ever had before."
Though Kristen and Ariana are now friends, it wasn't always that way.
In a Bravo blog post from November 2013, Kristen wrote,
"Ariana is a home wrecking w—- and doesn't deserve to be spoken of."
Tom Schwartz had some serious explaining to do on Season 6 when he cheated on his future
ex-wife, Katie Maloney.
The details are foggy, since Tom apparently got too drunk the night of the incident and
has no memory of what happened.
But according to Lala Kent, Tom made out with one of her friends.
"Your man made out with my friend."
As Tom recalled to Us Weekly,
"First of all, I don't even know how that happened and it's so regrettable, I'm so embarrassed.
It's not that big of a deal in the big scope of things, but it's still completely unacceptable
and, you know, really douchey."
But it wasn't the only time Tom stepped out on his wife.
As he admitted on "Watch What Happens Live,"
"I strayed a few times.
There were times where I thought the relationship was gonna come to an end and I was a sloppy douchebag."
Tom and Katie broke off their marriage in 2022 after 12 years together.
Katie told the "You're Gonna Love Me" podcast,
"I love Tom, we built a life together, and he was my person and I wanted to be with him forever.
But ultimately, I just wasn't happy."
James Kennedy and Kristen's relationship was explosive.
The two got together on Season 3 after Kristen broke up with Tom.
But the odd couple's romance was full of fights and accusations.
Kristen even ended up punching James in the mouth at Scheana's first wedding.
"That's what happens when you love someone."
Tensions reached a high by Season 4 when it was revealed that James had cheated on Kristen
with her friend, Jenna.
This information came to light while Kristen was scrolling through James' Uber receipts.
Still, James insisted on the show,
"I've never had sex with anybody but you in the whole relationship, we've been together
or not together.
I haven't.
I still want you to be my girlfriend, Kristen."
But his confessional was a completely different story.
"At this point, I'm just lying to Kristen for her own good, but I know if I tell her
the entire truth it's just going to devastate her.
The truth is, you know, Jenna and I were definitely boning."
The pair called it quits in 2015.
And at the time, Kristen suspected he had used her to get on the show.
She told Bravo,
"He just did his homework and he knew exactly what he was doing.
And he played me right up to the point that he got through one whole season, became a
primary and then dropped me."
Lala made her debut on Season 4 of "Vanderpump Rules."
She started her reality TV journey as a single gal, but that quickly changed.
In 2018, she and film producer Randall Emmett finally went public with their relationship.
Lala didn't know it at the time, but Randall hadn't totally separated from his ex-wife
when they started dating.
Lala shared with "Jeff Lewis Live,"
"I got a screenshot message that was dated January 2017 that he was working on his marriage."
The pair got engaged in 2018 and welcomed their daughter, Ocean, in 2021.
But just months later, Lala discovered that Randall allegedly cheated on her with multiple
women while on a trip to Nashville.
She revealed on Instagram:
"He started a relationship with a 23-year-old in march of 2021- the same month I gave birth."
On the "Genuinely GG" podcast, Randall stayed relatively tight-lipped about what he did
or didn't do, sharing,
"I just can't talk badly about the mother of my child.
I just can't do it.
No matter what is said about me."
James hooked up with Lala while they were both in relationships at the time — and
they kept it under wraps for years.
At the time of their indiscretion, Lala was seeing Randall and James was with Raquel.
Lala defended the incident, posting on Instagram Stories,
"Since so many wanna point out James and I hooking up.
Let's not forget that reunion where R*quel said 'We really started our relationship after
I moved in with him.'
And we now know R*ndall was indeed married at the time (& lied about it), and you can't
cheat on a married person — so as far as I'm concerned, James and I were two single
people having a goooood time."
"I thought that James never cheated on me, but this just like clarified that he has definitely
cheated on me multiple times."
Andy Cohen broached the subject on "Watch What Happens Live" in 2023, asking James'
current girlfriend Ally Lewber if she thought James could ever be faithful.
Ally replied,
"I didn't enjoy hearing the news.
But we've worked through that.
We've come a long way, and I trust him."
Though he claimed he and his wife were separated at the time, Oliver Saunders was technically
a married man when he locked lips with Raquel.
Oliver is the oldest son of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Garcelle Beauvais and
an employee at Vanderpump à Paris in Las Vegas.
"Oliver is so charismatic and he's got this swagger to him that's very intriguing."
In Season 10 of "Vanderpump Rules," Raquel and Oliver made out at a nightclub in Las Vegas.
Almost immediately, Oliver's wife, Samantha Saunders, told ET,
"We were together.
He was the married man.
He chose to lie and cheat.
[…] We had an amazing marriage and were best friends.
He was a great stepdad and dad."
Oliver filed for divorce in January 2023.
And as far as he was concerned, he told the outlet,
"I was separated from Samantha when the show shot.
I had my own place and I'm trying to get divorced ASAP.
The only thing that matters to me is taking care of my son."
"Are you still with your wife?"
"No, we're separated."
When asked about the kiss at BravoCon 2022, Raquel told Page Six,
"I did not know Oliver had a wife.
He misled me."
Just when we thought we'd seen it all in the "Vanderpump Rules" universe, the Tom Sandoval
and Raquel scandal happened.
For over nine years, Tom was in a serious relationship with Ariana.
But in March 2023, news broke that Tom had been cheating with Raquel for months.
Kristen recalled the moment Ariana found out, telling "Sex, Love, and What Else Matters"
that Ariana had been holding Tom's phone while his band performed and discovered a recording
of an explicit FaceTime call with Raquel.
Tom has since apologized, writing on Instagram,
"I want to apologize to Ariana.
I made mistakes, I was selfish, and made reckless decisions that hurt somebody I love.
No one deserves to feel that pain so traumatically and publicly."
Raquel also issued her own statement, writing,
"There is no excuse, I am not a victim and I must own my actions and I deeply regret
hurting Ariana."
"I'm just trying to live my life and I'm sorry if that offends people, but it's not gonna
stop me from doing what I want to do."