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Traitor or Faithful: 6 Reasons Why Tom Sandoval Is a Perfect Fit for The Traitors
Fans will have to wait for the competition show's third season to learn if the Vanderpump Rules alum will be a Traitor or a Faithful.
Just raise your glasses (or chalices) high because Season 3 of The Traitors will open its castle doors to some of reality TV’s best, and Tom Sandoval is no exception.
In 2013, the St. Louis-born actor and model splashed onto the reality TV scene as a SURver on Vanderpump Rules — available to watch now on Bravo and Peacock — shaking things up as vigorously as a jalapeño margarita. His profile has only grown since, and the L.A.-based bar owner will now join 20 other contestants as they navigate the tricky waters of the Scottish Highlands, the majestic backdrop of the Emmy Award-winning competition series The Traitors.
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Here’s why Tom will be a worthy contestant on The Traitors, returning to Peacock on January 9, 2025.
Tom Sandoval knows a thing or two about being (un)faithful
Tom found himself at the center of one of TV's most explosive cheating scandals when he confessed in 2023 to being unfaithful to longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix by having an affair with fellow cast member Rachel Leviss, which played out on Season 10 of Vanderpump Rules. News of Tom’s scandal — which widely became known as “Scandoval” — reached far beyond the Bravosphere and shot the series' popularity into the stratosphere.
In The Traitors, Tom and his competitors will vie for a quarter million dollars, though there’s no telling yet whether he will be a “Traitor” or a “Faithful” in the whodunnit-style series.
Tom’s mixology skills may come in handy
Shaken or stirred, Tom’s bartending skills could be an asset on The Traitors. Recall the poisoned chalice plot twist in Season 2, Episode 4?
Tom previously worked as a bartender at West Hollywood’s SUR Restaurant and Lounge and Beverly Hills’ Villa Blanca, establishments owned by Vanderpump Rules star Lisa Vanderpump. He and Madix also co-authored the 2019 cocktail book Fancy Af Cocktails: Recipes from a Couple of Professional Drinkers.
RELATED: Vanderpump Rules Will Return for Season 12 with New SUR-vers: Details
On top of that, Tom and his Vanderpump Rules BFF Tom Schwartz are the proud business partners behind TomTom Restaurant & Bar in West Hollywood (which opened in 2018) and L.A. bar Schwartz & Sandy’s Lounge, the latter of which will be closing its doors by year's end, two years after its grand opening (per the Toms' announcement on Monday, November 25, 2024).
Should Tom be tasked with killing a Faithful in plain sight, as Parvati Shallow did when “murdering” Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu in what became one of The Traitors’ most shocking eliminations, a mixology background certainly can’t hurt!
Tom Sandoval knows how to wear a mask
Fans anticipating The Traitors’ upcoming season know masks are all part of the fun, as evidenced in a recent teaser of what’s to come. Fortunately for Tom, he’s no stranger to wearing one, as evidenced in his jaw-dropping performance on The Masked Singer.
“Being able to come out here and perform behind a mask, not being judged, just being judged on my performance, it was really nice,” Tom said during the episode’s grand reveal.
Of course, hiding your true self is a must on The Traitors, especially when cloaked as a treacherous Traitor. But will he rise to the challenge?
Like Alan Cumming, Tom Sandoval is a man of style
Alan Cumming will return as the Emmy Award-winning host of The Traitors, and he might have found his fashion match (or mismatch) in Tom Sandoval.
Known for his trademark white nail polish and lightning bolt necklace, Tom knows how to turn heads with his fashion-forward ensembles. There’s no telling yet whether he’ll trade in his campy-slash-bad-boy looks for tartan while in Scotland, but he did bring a kilt for the occasion, he said in a November 15, 2024, interview with People, when touching on what it was like joining The Traitors’ exciting cast.
“Traitors was awesome,” Tom said while attending the Vanderpump Dog Foundation Gala in Beverly Hills. “It was so intense.”
It wouldn’t be Tom’s first time rocking the traditional Scottish garb, either. He rocked a denim kilt and blazer when attending BravoCon 2023, as previously reported by Bravo’s The Daily Dish.
Tom Sandoval is a natural-born entertainer
Tom knows how to get a crowd going, especially as the frontman for his cover band, Tom Sandoval and the Most Extras. The lead singer and his bandmates went on tour at the height of his cheating scandal, selling out venues nationwide.
Tom, sometimes performing shirtless with animal-printed pants or wearing any number of glam-rock-style get-ups, is a pro at getting audiences on their feet with his dynamic covers of hits by the likes of Journey and Panic! At The Disco.
RELATED: Tom Sandoval Teases What’s Next for His Band: "Who’s Ready?"
His version of “Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains of Wayne — the lyrics were changed to “Schwartz’s Mom” to represent Tom Schwartz’s mother — is one of the more popular tunes by the singer.
The band just wrapped the fall segment of its Season of Love tour in October 2024, but according to the official website, Tom Sandoval and the Most Extras is scheduled to get back on the road in February 2025 with their first stop in Omaha, Nebraska.
Tom Sandoval marks the first Vanderpump Rules contestant on The Traitors
Tom Sandoval certainly isn’t the first Bravolebrity to join The Traitors, but he is the first from Vanderpump Rules, a series that has produced many competition reality stars.
Tom has seen several of his L.A.-based castmates featured in competition shows outside of Bravo: The matriarch of the series, restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump, competed in Season 16 of Dancing with the Stars (2013) and Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars (2024); The Valley’s Jax Taylor, a regular on Vanderpump Rules for eight seasons, competed on E!’s House of Villains (2023); and Ariana Madix not only participated in Dancing with the Stars and Celebrity Family Feud, but she also became the host of Love Island USA for its sixth season (2024).
Tom also appeared on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test in 2023.
Soon, he’ll face more tough tests on The Traitors, including helicopters, creepy crawlies, and explosions (oh, my!), and Cumming already promised “lots of peaks and troughs” for the murderous Season 3, as previously reported by NBC Insider.
“One word: Brutal,” the host teased of the terrors and treachery to come.
Catch up on Seasons 1 and 2 of The Traitors, now available on Peacock.
The Traitors Season 3 premieres on Peacock on January 9, 2025.
