Although he’s making moves in the world of Made In Chelsea, Sam Vanderpump already has plenty of experience when it comes to the ever-so-dramatic world of reality TV.
In case you hadn’t realised, Sam is actually the nephew of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star/ all-round icon Lisa Vanderpump. Reality TV quite literally runs in his blood.
But while Lisa rose to fame as a housewife, it’s another show that’s been hitting headlines: Vanderpump Rules. The series follows staff at Lisa’s SUR Restaurant & Lounge, filled with plenty of ups and downs.
And the most infamous of those downs is Scandoval – in which Tom Sandoval cheated on long-time partner Ariana Madix with their co-star Raquel Leviss (who had split from fiancé James Kennedy).
Weighing in on the scandal that quite literally rocked the world, Sam revealed, “James Kennedy is a very, very good friend of mine. I see him all the time when I’m out in LA. He’s also very close to my cousin. I think it was a real shame, a bit rubbish in the situation.”
“I think we definitely saw someone that was a social climber in that situation – and that’s essentially what happened. I just feel sorry for James because he was the one who was really hard done by. But he is just a comical genius. My favourite scene of him is where he says his wedding rings were for Bitcoin.”
In case you need a Scandoval update, we’ll bring you up to speed. The scandal, dubbed Scandoval, happened after Tom Sandoval was caught cheating on long-term girlfriend Ariana Madix with yet another Vanderpump co-star, Raquel Leviss, who now goes by Rachel after leaving the show.
The affair with Rachel – who had called off her engagement with Londoner James Kennedy – was exposed after Ariana allegedly saw explicit texts between the pair on Tom’s phone.