While Tom Sandoval has been trying to leave his Vanderpump Rules history behind him by joining The Traitors for season 3, it looks like he can't escape Scandoval entirely.
His co-star on The Traitors Chrishell Stause revealed that the two of them had a mutual connection before joining the show and that she felt like it was the reason for his "personal attack" during one of the season's early round tables. When Chrishell Strause posted the full Traitors cast on Instagram, she had covered up the portait of Tom Sandoval and it looks like fans finally see exactly why.
Chrishell Stause, an actress who is best known for her roles on different soap operas and on Selling Sunset, shared that early in the season, she and Tom Sandoval spoke and Chrishell shared that she was a close friend of Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval's ex. She told PEOPLE that she had approached Tom Sandoval and introduced herself in the hopes that there would be no hard feelings between the two of them due to their shared connection.
In an interview with the publication, she said, "I basically just said, like, 'Oh, hey. Hope this isn't awkward.' I just kind of said, 'Love Ariana,' something like, 'I'd been friends with her.' So I guess I was kind of making conversation, like, 'Hope this isn't you know anything' and he just kind of laughed it off. He was like, 'No, of course not. Of course not.'"
Unfortunately, Chrishell says she thinks that this was the reason that Tom started immediately going after her as being one of the Traitors -- with no real reasoning to back up his claims. According to Chrishell, she felt like Tom immediately targeting her at the round table felt like a "personal attack" because of her friendship with Ariana Madix.
She told PEOPLE, "I had made that comment about Ariana, and being friends with her. So I just felt like, after that moment on, it was personal."
According to Chrishell Strause, she was just trying to break the ice by sharing their mutual connection to Ariana Madix and she didn't actually want her friendship with Tom Sandoval's ex or their breakup to be a major storyline on the show, but Tom Sandoval targeting her immediately after learning of their friendship meant she had no choice but for it to be one.
She said the only reason she brought it back up during the show was to prove that Tom Sandoval was targeting her as a potential Traitor for no reason, but that ultimately, he was the one who had started it and really brought his relationship onto the show.
Chrishell said she's tried to move past the "personal" attack on her, but that she's found it difficult to forgive and forget. "After that, I was done with him. But, it's a game, so it's all good," she told PEOPLE.
New episodes of The Traitors are available for streaming every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, exclusively on Peacock.