Reality TV provided Us with plenty of entertainment, drama and feuds in 2023.
Vanderpump Rules was already airing season 10 when news broke in March that Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix had called it quits after nearly a decade of dating due to his affair with Raquel “Rachel” Leviss. As a result, cameras captured more footage for a new season finale that included details about the drama.
Sandoval and Raquel subsequently found themselves on the outs with most of their costars as everyone rallied around Ariana. After hashing out their issues at the reunion special later that month, Raquel checked herself into a mental health facility and confirmed her exit from the show.
Lala Kent referred to Raquel’s decision as a “travesty” once they wrapped production on season 11.
“She should have come back. I think she would have been very surprised,” Lala said on an August episode of the “Give Them Lala” podcast. “I don’t think that reality TV is for everyone. It is a very intense environment. If you are not mentally tough as f—k, it can break you. It definitely can. Now to say that Raquel was a victim of something, I don’t know. What I do know is you made a decision to sleep with your best friend’s partner of 10 years. You didn’t need to do that. No one was forcing you to do it and no one asked you to do that.”
Sandoval, for his part, returned for season 11 and seemingly was able to get to a better place with several costars as the tide started to turn. The trailer for the upcoming season, which starts airing on Bravo in January 2024, hinted at a reconciliation between Sandoval and Scheana Shay.
Meanwhile, over at Netflix, various Selling Sunset stars were at odds across two seasons. Chrishell Stause and Nicole Young kicked off their feud during season 6. Nicole accused Chrishell of only getting real estate listings because their boss Jason Oppenheim had a crush on her, which caused Chrishell to fire back.
Fellow Oppenheim Group employees Chelsea Lazkani and Bre Tiesi also had several disagreements when Chelsea shared her concerns about the newcomer raising a child with Nick Cannon — who has multiple children with six different women.
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Both Selling Sunset feuds remained unresolved by the end of the show’s seventh season.
Scroll through for a look back at the biggest reality TV feuds of the year: