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Andy Cohen Slams Howie Mandel’s Tom Sandoval Interview: It Was a “Missed Opportunity’
Andy Cohen is “annoyed” that Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval did his first post-cheating scandal interview with America’s Got Talent judge Howie Mandel, who seemed to be unfamiliar with the Bravo show and the club owner’s affair with costar Raquel Leviss.
During the Wednesday, April 12, episode of Sirius XM’s Andy Cohen Live, guest Jonah Hill questioned why Tom was allowed to do the interview as fans have been eagerly awaiting to hear what he had to say at VPR‘s upcoming reunion show, in addition to being confronted by his castmates.
“This Howie Mandel thing, I don’t know. I found out about it last week. Was annoyed on my behalf, on Bravo’s behalf, on the viewer’s behalf,” Andy explained while saying, “I did a great interview with Tom at the reunion and I’m still looking forward to you all seeing that and hearing his perspective up against Raquel and Ariana is fascinating stuff. So, there’s still more to come.”
“I’m surprised he gave an interview to someone who doesn’t seem to be familiar with the show or watched the show on any level,” the Watch What Happens Live host continued, asking, “I mean, from the clips that I saw, do you think Howie watched a frame of the show?”
Jonah responded, “No,” adding Howie asked, “‘Who’s Scheana?’ as he was reading notes,” referring to costar and Raquel’s former BFF Scheana Shay.
Andy seemed to think Tom chose Howie because he wouldn’t get grilled over how he cheated on his girlfriend of nine years, Ariana Madix, with James Kennedy‘s former fiancée.
“He’s like, ‘I don’t understand why this is a big deal,’ but, you know, maybe that’s what Tom felt he needed from an interview so that he could just be completely unchallenged,” Andy surmised.
“I mean, from the clips I saw, neither Tom nor Howie did themselves any favors and you know, just memo to Howie, Peacock has a list of the episodes that you need to see to catch up on this thing. Just watch those if you don’t have time. Seems like a missed opportunity for both of them. I will kind of leave it at that and I am excited still for y’all to see the reunion, but what a head scratcher,” the Vanderpump Rules executive producer added.
Andy continued to go hard on Howie’s lack of tough and meaningful questions for Tom. “I mean, missed opportunity is the big headline to me because it would be like me doing the exit interview with Tom Brady when he retires. Who wants to hear that? What do I know?”
The father of two also said that if the tables were turned, he would have done his homework on one of Howie’s best-known gigs. “You know, me doing a Deal or No Deal reunion? You know what, if I was doing a Deal or No Deal reunion, you know what I would do? I would watch Deal or No Deal to find out what it’s about.”
Jonah brought up how Howie told Tom, “I feel like people are being too mean to you.” The Wolf of Wall Street star speculated, “I think he went on because he thought it would be, he didn’t know a whole lot.” Andy then revealed the connection as to how Tom ended up on Howie’s podcast. “I think he went on because for sure he thought it was a friendly environment. Tom’s drummer’s wife is the producer of the podcast, so there you go.”
Howie was blasted by Vanderpump Rules fans for not knowing the basics of the show, including the fact that Ariana and Raquel were close friends before the latter had an affair with Tom. He also openly showed sympathy for his guest’s predicament.
“You need to be heard because the narrative is everyone else’s but yours,” Howie told Tom. “I’m not condoning cheating on a partner. … I think some people have to have empathy and compassion,” adding, “I don’t understand the hatred and the vitriol.”
