The latest chapter of the ongoing Scandoval unfolded where one would least expect it should: on this week’s episode of Howie Mandel’s podcast. Tom Sandoval, looking appropriately somber to match his grim surroundings, revealed a number of details about his recent breakup with longtime partner Ariana Madix to Mandel and Mandel’s co-host/daughter Jackelyn Shultz. Among the insights from the interview were Sandoval’s claim that his nine-year relationship was “lacking intimacy [and] connection.†He elaborated, “We would travel more by ourselves than we would together. I would go to weddings by myself,†adding, “I love Ariana. I still love Ariana and I care about her very much so, but we for a while had been sort of having our own lives.†Sandoval also alleged that the couple stayed together in an effort to preserve their “brand.†“We always wanted to make sure and keep the optics that we were a solid and powerful couple,†he said.
Sandoval went on to claim that, following his lack of intimacy with Madix, having sex with him would be like “a 19-year-old [on] his second time. I had no mojo, no game anymore.†Cool! During the interview, he also spoke about his first kiss with Raquel Leviss, which happened in the backyard of the home he (still) shares with Madix. (!) “It was magnetic,†he remembered. “I felt something that I hadn’t felt in so long, like emotionally.†Sandoval additionally corroborated parts of Tom Schwartz’s interview on Watch What Happens Live last week, confirming that Schwartz did indeed find out about the affair in August 2022, but pushing back on his timeline of the breakup. Later in the episode, Mandel tries to shave Sandoval’s mustache for some reason. Watching this interview feels like watching the cursed video from The Ring — if I had to see it, so do you. Watch the full interview above.