Tom Sandoval’s former assistant Ann Maddox has no bone to pick with Ariana Madix.
During episode 2 of Vanderpump Rules’ 11th season, which aired on Tuesday, February 6, Ann acted as an intermediary between Sandoval, 41, and Ariana, 38, as the former couple disagreed over whether Sandoval could host his birthday party at their shared Los Angeles home.
Some viewers didn’t like the way Ariana spoke to Ann when shutting down Sandoval’s idea of getting her a hotel room for the night of the party.
“I hate the way that Ariana is talking to Tom’s assistant. She literally is just doing her damn job dude,” one X user wrote.
However, Ann has no hard feelings about the way the conversation went down.
“I totally thought it was justified,” Ann said during the Wednesday, February 7, episode of her “We Signed an NDA” podcast when cohost Amanda Lifford asked about Ariana’s tone.
She continued: “If I was in that position, I would probably be like, ‘Wow, the audacity of asking me if you could have your birthday party in this house in this situation.’ If there was any frustration, I could tell that it was definitely towards Tom. Like, I didn’t take it personally. … She has every right to feel annoyed at this request.”
Ann also pointed out that the interaction took place in July 2023, four months after Sandoval and Ariana split in the wake of Sandoval’s affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss.
“If there’s any fans out there who are surprised by Ariana’s reaction, I would say this was literally a few months after she found out about the affair and it was not a time to party,” Ann said. “I felt so bad asking Ariana about the party and seeing if it was OK. I remember in between takes I would just apologize profusely to Ariana. I felt so bad.”
Sandoval did end up having a birthday gathering during the episode but agreed to keep it small and have everyone out by midnight after Ariana initially threatened to call the cops if he hosted a bash.
Ann texted Ariana to ask about a scaled-back party and hit send before Sandoval could finish relaying exactly what he wanted the message to say.
“I admittedly quickly texted the question and then told Tom, like, ‘Oh, whoops, I already sent it,’ so that I could get away with asking nicely rather than making the statement that he wanted to,” Ann shared on Wednesday.
“Instead of, ‘Hey, can we do this?’ [Sandoval was] turning [it] into, ‘I will do this’, and that kind of made my heart leap out of my mouth,’” Ann continued. “I knew just, like, gut instincts, it’s probably better for the situation if I come at it with sugar instead of vinegar.”
Despite displaying her knack for navigating awkward moments, it seems that Ann no longer works for Sandoval. During a January appearance on “The Viall Files” podcast, Tom Schwartz revealed that Sandoval’s assistant had recently resigned.
Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day via Peacock.
