The Kristen Doute renaissance (or redemption arc, rather) is fully upon us. A few days after the announcement that the ex-Vanderpump Rules star will compete on a new Freevee reality show called The GOAT, Doute returned to the Watch What Happens Live! clubhouse to discuss the national debt ceiling. Just kidding—the Scandoval, of course! The guest spot marked her first appearance on Bravo since her controversial firing back in 2020.
Since news of Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ explosive affair first broke, WWHL has hosted nearly every Vanderpump Rules cast member (minus the love triangle) and some old ones to give their hot takes. Each time, host Andy Cohen has fired off the same round of questions: When did you find out about the affair? Were you surprised? Did you see any red flags? Have you heard about Sandoval cheating before?
For the last question, the 40-year-old had somewhat of a juicy answer.
“Since the Raquel news broke, I have heard of multiple things now coming out of the woodwork,” said Doute, seated next to a bewildered Annaleigh Ashford.
When Cohen asked for more details, Doute said she didn’t know any of the women he allegedly cheated with personally. Although, she added, “When he and [Tom] Schwartz specifically were doing appearances together, a friend of a friend hooked up with him.”
Jax Taylor also insinuated that Sandoval was a serial cheater during his guest appearance in March. Doute, however, has the insight of being Sandoval’s ex and a once-infamous adulterer. The former SUR staffers dated from 2007 to 2014. Their breakup was the result of the cheating scandal that catapulted the show: when Doute slept with Sandoval’s former BFF Taylor in Season 2. Sandoval also admitted to making out with Ariana Madix during the tail end of his relationship with Doute. (A lot of infidelity, I know!)
On WWHL, Doute made it clear that she had put her and Madix’s rocky past behind her. When Cohen asked what she thought about fans who said Madix deserved to be cheated on for what she did to Doute, the podcast host adamantly disagreed. “No, she replied. “I’m the one that gets to say this. Nobody else’s opinion matters. It is not the same thing. She didn’t deserve it.”
In recent years, Madix and Doute have become friends. Doute even appears in the Season 10 finale to comfort Madix in the wake of the Scandoval. And apparently, the two are close enough now that Doute was actually at the Tom Sandoval and the Most Extras concert where Madix discovered Sandoval and Leviss’ affair.
“I was there the night the phone fell out of the pocket,” Doute said. “I was sitting next to Ariana.”
“Ariana disappeared,” she continued. “And her phone and purse were sitting at the chair next to me. A lot of fans were around. I grabbed them, couldn’t find her for 20 minutes. I wanted to leave, gave it to a friend of hers and didn’t talk to her until Friday morning.”
Given how much the Scandoval have been dissected over the past two months, Doute’s appearance wasn’t exactly the appointment television viewing some fans have been waiting for. The interview was also lacking, given that there was no acknowledgement of why Doute hasn’t been on Bravo over the past three years.
During 2020’s Black Lives Matter protest, Doute and her former co-star Stassi Schroeder were fired for a racism scandal, in which they attempted to frame former cast member Faith Stowers, a Black woman, for a crime.
Now that Bravo is willing to platform Doute again, even temporarily, they could’ve at least addressed the ugly elephant in the room. Overall, the guest appearance was just another attempt to squeeze any leftover drama from this never-ending saga.
If there was any highlight from the evening, it was Doute telling her arch nemesis Lisa Vanderpump to “suck a dick” during one of the night’s games. Some things never change!
