The drama is already high in the Vanderpump Rules season 8 premiere, setting the scene for what seems to be a rocky road between some of the best friend pairings in the group. Alliances will be tested. Allegiances will change. Weddings will be missed. Except... will they really? Because a lot of this seems like it's not real at all. Especially when we know that Jax and Tom Sandoval are still friends after Vanderpump Rules season 8.
In the season 8 premiere, Jax is carrying on and on about how he doesn't want Sandoval to be his best man anymore because he seems "too busy" and couldn't attend Jax's pre-bachelor party party. (Jax insists that's a thing.) Sandoval been out of communication, not returning texts, and he doesn't care — allegedly. Sandoval, to his credit, explained that said party took place the only weekend he could see his family, so he had to bow out of one single event. And also, he had been texting Jax — Jax just happened to miss Sandoval's apology messages. So, as soon as Jax sees the texts and the guys talk, it's pretty much all over. This feud is moot. Jax and Sandoval are on more solid footing.
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The only problem with this whole saga is that fans, should they follow Vanderpump Rules gossip, already knew that Jax and Sandoval were buds again because of social media. These cast members talk to the press, they talk to fans on Twitter and on Instagram. There are no secrets here, so essentially, Jax, Sandoval, and the Vanderpump players have been spoiling plot points as filming is occurring. It begs the question — what's the point of even watching if we already know what's going to happen?
Back in September 2019, Jax told Us Weekly that he had blocked Sandoval and Ariana on Instagram not because he was angry with them, but because he needed a break from them. "We see each other more when we don’t film because, when we film, sometimes there’s different settings for different groups of people," he said. "But we all hang out together all the time, normally. So just like when you hang out with your brother and sister, you start to get annoyed after a while, you need a break.”
In November 2019, Jax echoed the same sentiments to Hollywood Life, saying that he and Sandoval are basically family, and that's it's natural for them to butt heads. Sometimes, it's better for them both to walk away than to fight, because eventually, the friends find each other again. "We’re all going our own ways, so you know, we grow apart, but that’s okay. As long as we all know how to come back," Jax said. Sandoval said much the same in his own Hollywood Life interview — none of this is really that big a deal.
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Given how quickly Sandoval and Jax's fight was and the fact that Sandoval was clearly still in Jax's July 2019 wedding to Brittany, I'd say that this fight was manufactured to be much bigger than it was. The OG girls on Vanderpump Rules — Kristen, Katie, and Stassi — are currently at odds, so maybe producers (or Jax and Sandoval) thought it good for them to have a little tiff going, too. Being on reality television together makes you maintain a symbiotic relationship — Jax and Sandoval depend on each other to create both comedy and drama. Without one man, there is not the other. They need each other to stay on the show and survive, and there came that lil' fight we all just witnessed.
Granted, some of the big reality TV show blowouts are real — think Lisa Vanderpump and her Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills crew or even the fight currently going on between Kristen and Katie and Stassi — but this one between Jax and Sandoval is a non-starter. Let's get to the real drama, Vanderpump Rules — and not what we've already seen on our feeds.
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