Say It Ain’t So! Reality TV Villain Is Rumored to Be on DWTS Season 33 — and He’s Got Ties to Last Season’s Finalist
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Following Ariana Madix’s impressive run on Season 32 of Dancing With the Stars, rumors began circulating that her ex and Vanderpump Rules co-star Tom Sandoval could follow suit and join the competition show. Is Tom Sandoval joining Dancing With the Stars Season 33? Keep reading to find out.
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Is Tom Sandoval joining Dancing With the Stars Season 33
The official cast for Season 33 of Dancing With the Stars has not yet been revealed, but Vanderpump Rules villain Tom Sandoval has voiced his desire to join the cast following his ex-girlfriend Ariana Madix‘s Season 32 run.
During a Season 11 episode of the Bravo reality show, Madix described her casting on DWTS as a “f—- you” to her former boyfriend of 1o years, because he always wanted to do the show. “It’s been a dream of mine too,” Sandoval explained. “I actually took ballroom lessons and everything.”
More: Meet the Dancing With the Stars Pros’ Partners in Real Life
Madix was partnered with pro dancer Pasha Pashkov for Season 32 and the pair consistently earned high scores, ultimately placing in third. Her casting on the show came shortly after Sandoval cheated on her with her then-friend and fellow Vanderpump Rules co-star Raquel Leviss. The six-month affair, which fans have dubbed Scandoval, broke the internet and remains a topic of discussion in pop culture to this day.
Despite her heartbreak, Madix did not want her DWTS performances to focus on her and Sandoval’s messy split. “Aside from Week 1 and [Most Memorable Year Night] I had a big music rule for myself which was NO songs on that subject matter,” Madix wrote on her Instagram Story in November 2023 when asked why she didn’t dance to “Vigilante S—” on Taylor Swift Night. “Even my MMY [Most Memorable Year] was supposed to be about losses in 2022 and an amazing support system,” she added.
While Sandoval would certainly be a controversial choice for the show, DWTS has a history of giving fallen-from-grace celebrities a shot at redemption, such as former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Olympian Ryan Lochte. Sandoval also has experience with competition shows, having competed on both The Masked Singer and Special Forces.
During a June 7 episode of her podcast Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans, former pro and two-time Mirrorball champion Cheryl Burke said she wouldn’t be “shocked” to see Sandoval in the ballroom this season. Her guest, contributing Soaps editor Kristyn Burtt, on the other hand, disagreed. “I feel like we’re so over the Scandoval of it all,” Burtt said, adding that the reality star is better suited for Peacock’s Traitors, which he was casted on for Season 3. “I think he’s perfect for Traitors because he’s been a villain on Vanderpump Rules for so long. But, I feel that just after Ariana just did this particular season, we’ve moved on.”
More: See If Tom Sandoval Has What It Takes to Win Traitors
Burtt also noted that two former VPR cast members, Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright, who currently star on Bravo’s The Valley, would make better cast additions because of their “crazy separation” drama. “I feel they’re more newsworthy than Sandoval actually is,” she said. Shortly after The Valley wrapped filming on Season 1, the couple announced their separation, and their relationship status is still up in the air.
Filming for Season 3 of Traitors has already begun, and production on Vanderpump Rules has been put on pause indefinitely, so Sandoval’s schedule this fall could still be open for DWTS. The official cast won’t be announced until this September, but it is rumored to include Survivor alum Parvati Shallow, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Sutton Stracke, and former Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner, among others.
Episodes of Dancing With the Stars can be streamed on Disney+.
Watch ‘Dancing With the Stars’ on Disney Plus
Check out our predictions for the Dancing With the Stars Season 33 cast in the gallery below.
