Why Chrishell Is Convinced Sandoval Intentionally Sabotaged Her On ‘The Traitors’

On a show called The Traitors, there’s obviously going to be some betrayal. But on season 3 of The Traitors, there may have been an extra layer of backstabbing, at least according to Chrishell Stause. The Selling Sunset star went into the game with the goal to “lay low.” In a game like The Traitors where you either earn trust from your fellow players or get banished, that seems like a solid plan. But you know what they say about the best laid plans, especially when Tom Sandoval is involved. Tom entered the castle with guns blazing for Chrishell, convinced she was a Traitor before she even had time to unpack.

“My name was being brought up at the very first round table,” Chrishell told Us Weekly. “I went in with the best of intentions and had to throw that game plan away,” she recalled. “I had to go with what I could, which was to really defend myself and make sure people felt like I was a Faithful.”

The thing is, Chrishell Stause and Tom Sandoval have a feud that stretches out way beyond the walls of their Scottish castle on Traitors, but it very quickly became a part of the season 3 game. And it looks like Tom may have intentionally sabotaged Chrishell because of that feud.

Chrishell Stause and Tom Sandoval Feud History

All roads lead to Scandoval. Back in 2023, the reality TV landscape was forever changed when Tom cheated on his longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix with their Vanderpump Rules co-star Rachel Leviss. Tom and Rachel were especially messy about the whole situation, and after a lot of drama (and a few dropped lawsuits), Tom apologized to Ariana. But, Chrishell, a real girl’s girl, is still upset on Ariana’s behalf — her and the rest of the country, TBH.

Chrishell and Ariana are friends, and like any good bestie, Chrishell is holding onto a grudge against the guy that hurt her friend. Ahead of the premiere of The Traitors season 3, Chrishell went on Watch What Happens Live and flat-out admitted to leaving Tom out of her Traitors promo post on Instagram on purpose. “No, I don’t want him on my page. I hate him,” Chrishell said. Hey, at least she’s honest about it.

Chrishell and Tom on The Traitors Season 3

While Chrishell made her feelings about Tom very clear on IG, Tom’s the one who brought their feud to the roundtable on The Traitors. During the very first day in the castle, Tom started telling people he was suspicious of Chrishell, even though they’d all barely had enough time to even unpack, let alone start plotting and scheming. Dylan Efron, another Traitors season 3 cast member (and Zac Efron’s brother, but that’s beside the point), told Chrishell Tom mentioned her name as a possible Traitor with little to no evidence to support it. Chrishell responded, “That’s sabotage!” Not to mention, it’s also terrible gameplay.

“Tom is already throwing my name out. First of all, who plays like that?” she said in a confessional interview on The Traitors. “Second of all, I know Tom has a bias against me because I am friends with his ex. Knowing what he did to Ariana, I have an opinion of him already. If the ship’s burning, he’s coming down with me.”

Ultimately, Tom was not successful at turning the castle against Chrishell, and (Spoiler Alert!) she was murdered by the Traitors in season 3, episode 8. But even after leaving the show, Chrishell has feelings about Tom and how poorly she thinks he played the game.

“He just said it so blatantly that he knew I was a Traitor,” she said to Us Weekly. “Of course, he’s going to act like, ‘Oh, I really was just playing the game.’ To me, it felt personal and you probably can’t change your mind at this point. I felt like he was so loud and so wrong.”

Even though Chrishell got booted from the game, she still has the last laugh over Tom. Amidst all the backstabbing and scheming on The Traitors, people are mostly focused on why Tom is so sweaty. Chrishell weighed in on WWHL, saying, “The castle was not cold. I think Sandoval was imbibing in — probably drinking a lot of coke. He had too much sugar in his system.” Are those euphemisms for something… else? None of my business! I’m sure Chrishell will have even more to say about Tom and his pit stains soon.