Bravo Scandals and Controversies! From Scandoval to ‘Housewives’ Stars Going to Prison

Scandoval

After Vanderpump Rules season 10 finished filming, Ariana Madix discovered her longtime boyfriend Tom Sandoval was having an affair with her close friend Rachel “Raquel” Leviss. The duo’s split was first reported on March 3, 2023, just weeks after the show’s newest season had premiered the month prior.

The VPR finale had already been shot, revealing nothing of the cheating scandal. However, fans couldn’t take their eyes off the season once it premiered, knowing what was going on behind the scenes with Tom and Raquel. There were numerous red flags that may have seemed innocent had their affair not been exposed.

The Pump Rules crew had to film an additional episode, which then became the new season finale and showed  Ariana confronting Tom about the affair, as well as the cast’s reactions to it. The Schwartz & Sandy’s co-owner and the SUR waitress also had to decide on how to handle a possible future together after his split from Ariana.

Raquel ended up seeking mental health treatment following the brutal three-part reunion taping in March 2023. She never returned to Vanderpump Rules. Tom complained throughout season 11 that she “ghosted” him despite the fact that he loved her, but they never reunited.

Teresa and Joe Guidice Serve Prison Sentences

The Real Housewives of New Jersey had to film without two of its biggest stars when Teresa and Joe Guidice served federal prison sentences after pleading guilty to bank, mail, wire, and bankruptcy fraud.
So that their four daughters would still have a parent at home, a judge allowed Teresa to serve her time first. She served 11 months of a 15-month sentence at a minimum-security federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, getting released just before Christmas on December 23, 2015.

After her return home, it was Joe’s turn to serve time. Since he was born in Italy and never became a U.S. citizen, the former reality star was placed on an immigration hold after he was done serving his 41-month sentence. Joe was deported back to Italy in 2019, and the former couple’s drama played out on RHONJ season 10. The duo divorced in 2020.

Heather Gay’s Black Eye

In The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City‘s midseason trailer for season 3, released in November 2022, Heather took off her sunglasses to reveal a badly bruised black eye.

Fans kept speculating who might have caused it and finally got a hint during the 12th episode of season 3, which aired on December 21, 2022. Heather said in a confessional, “I didn’t say I don’t remember how it happened. I just said I’m not talking about it. It’s first rule about fight club.”

During the episode, the other ladies speculated that someone might have punched her.

“I don’t wanna get anyone in trouble,” Heather added during a conversation with costar Jen Shah. “I think we all know what happened. I just think we don’t wanna talk about it.”

On the show’s January 3, 2024, season 4 reunion episode, Heather claimed castmate Jen gave her the shiner during the ladies’ 2022 cast trip to San Diego.

“Honestly, it was a lot of drinking. And the next morning, I woke up with a black eye. I knew I had gotten it from Jen. I didn’t know how, but I knew I’d gotten it from Jen,” she explained.

Heather continued, “She was the first person I texted. She came in the room. She said, ‘Did I give that to you?’ And I said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll cover.'”

Below Deck Down Under’s Cast Firings

A night of too much heavy drinking during a crew night out led to two troubling incidents during season 2 that saw both bosun Luke Jones and stew Laura Bileskalne kicked off The Northern Star for making non-consensual sexual advances on castmates.

Luke crawled naked into stew Margot Sisson’s bunk after she was passed out from their night of partying. During the episode that aired on August 7, 2023, producers dramatically tried to pull Luke off a sleeping Margot, and he eventually stumbled back to his cabin and locked the door. After Captain Jason Chambers was alerted to the situation, he sent Luke to a nearby hotel to stay for the rest of the night. When Luke returned to the yacht in the morning, he claimed he was too wasted to remember what happened with Margot and Jason fired him on the spot.

Laura not only showed no sympathy towards Margot, but she told her crewmate she would have been happy to have Luke crawl naked into her bed and didn’t understand why her coworker was rattled by the ordeal.

On the same night as Luke’s incident, Laura climbed into deckhand Adam Kodra‘s bunk and began pouring massage oil on his back, even though he asked her to leave. Producers once again got involved and told Laura she needed to leave his cabin. Adam had repeatedly told the Latvia native that he wasn’t interested in her and her actions were making him uncomfortable.

Captain Jason fired Laura for going against everything he said in the crew meeting about empathy and respecting other’s spaces after Luke’s incident.

Brooks Ayers’ Forged Cancer Documents

Real Housewives of Orange County alum Vicki Gunvalson‘s ex-boyfriend admitted that he forged medical documents from Los Angeles area cancer hospital City of Hope to prove his cancer diagnosis.

Brooks’ claim that he was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was a plot point during season 10 of the show, which was filmed when he was still with Vicki. While her castmates were dubious about him having the disease, Vicki stood by her then-boyfriend.

“Words cannot express the deep regret that I have in fabricating documents to ‘prove’ to the world that I, in fact, have cancer,” Brooks told E! News in a statement in November 2015, after a hospital spokesperson denied treating a patient by his name.

He continued, “What I did was wrong and inexcusable. I acted alone, without Vicki’s knowledge, to produce documents for a reality TV show in hopes of putting doubts about my cancer to rest. I never intended to disclose my actual medical records or details about my private and personal medical history, thus the rationalization of presenting documents that weren’t true simply for a ‘storyline’ for the show.”

Jen Shah Goes to Prison

In March 2021, the RHOSLC star and her assistant, Stuart Smith, were arrested in Salt Lake City, Utah, and were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money-laundering. She was accused of being involved in a nationwide telemarketing scheme that defrauded hundreds of people across the United States.

Despite initially pleading not guilty to the charges, the Bravo personality decided to plead guilty in July 2022. Jen’s arrest played out during season 2 of RHOSLC. During the season 3 premiere episode in September 2022, the reality star admitted to being fearful of what lay ahead for her

Jen was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison, which is 6.5 years, in January 2023. She reported to FPC Bryan in Bryan, Texas, to begin serving her sentence, Life & Style confirmed on February 17, 2023.

Madison LeCroy and Alex Rodriguez’s Flirtation

The Southern Charm star was dragged into the former New York Yankees star and then-fiancée Jennifer Lopez‘s relationship drama in 2021.

During part one of Southern Charm‘s season 7 reunion, which aired in January 2021, Madison’s costar Craig Conover called her out over an alleged affair while she was still with former fiancé Austen Kroll amid the COVID-10 pandemic. “You were flying around the country sleeping with men, married men. Ex-MLB players,” he claimed. “That’s what you were doing during quarantine.”

After speculation swirled that Alex was one of the former baseball players, Madison told Page Six on February 3, 2021, that the pair “never met up” but had “spoken on the phone.”

“That’s the truth,” she said, adding they had “never been physical … never had any kind of anything. Just an acquaintance.” Madison told the outlet that, “He’s never physically cheated on his fiancée with me,” while she “talked to him randomly, but not consistent,” calling their conversations “innocent.” Sources close to Alex claimed he “never met” Madison.

Alex and J. Lo called off their engagement and four-year relationship in April 2021 following the revelations.

Madison elaborated further on what allegedly went down during a May 2023 episode of Austen’s “Pillows and Beer” podcast . She initially thought she was being “catfished,” saying to herself, “The dude who’s dating [Jennifer Lopez] is not in my DMs right now.”

Austen noted, “He kept on FaceTiming you ad nauseam. You were like, ‘This motherf–ker’s FaceTimed me three or four times today.’ And then he, like, got mad at Madison because she didn’t answer when she was on the boat or something. And she was like, ‘I’m not at your beck and call.’”

Madison added, “I told [Alex], I said, ‘If you’re looking for a side chick,’ which clearly he was, ‘it wasn’t gonna be me.’ I’m wifey material.”

Below Deck’s Paternity Scandal

Stew Dani Soares and deckhand Jean-Luc Cerza Lanaux had an adorable romance on season 2 of Below Deck Sailing Yacht. Once the charter season ended, Dani found out she was pregnant, which she revealed to fans via Instagram in April 2021 while their season of the show was still airing on Bravo.

JL – who was eight years younger than Dani and had never been in a serious relationship – didn’t want to commit to fatherhood until a paternity test was done, which apparently took quite a while to do internationally.

He didn’t admit to being the father of Dani’s daughter Lilly Rose until a January 19, 2022, Instagram post. Jean-Luc pledged that even though he would be away for extended periods at sea while Dani lived in Sydney, Australia, raising Lilly, he would do his best to be there “for the sake of our daughter as she needs both parents in her life.”

Dani posted in September 2022 that she was struggling to balance finances while working, going to nursing school and trying to raise her daughter as a “single” mom. She went on to graduate from nursing school in April 2024. Dani has never given any online indications that Jean-Luc has been part of their daughter’s life, and he has not posted about their girl.

Thomas Ravenel’s Sexual Assault Allegations

The Southern Charm star was accused of sexual assault by his children’s former nanny, Dawn Ledwell. She filed a police report in June 2018 and Bravo and the show’s production company launched an investigation.

Thomas wasn’t allowed to participate in the Southern Charm season 5 reunion, which taped in June 2018, and said in a private Instagram post in August 2018 that he was leaving the show amid the sexual misconduct allegations.

The former reality star was arrested in September 2018 and charged with assault and battery in the second degree.

Thomas pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and battery in September 2019 in Charleston County, South Carolina. He received a $500 fine and a 30-day suspended jail sentence, in addition to probation.

Luann de Lesseps’ Arrest

The former Real Housewives of New York star was arrested in the early morning hours of December 24, 2017, in Palm Beach, Florida after reportedly attacking a police officer. She was charged with disorderly intoxication, battery on an officer/firefighter/EMT, resisting arrest with violence and threatening a public servant. She was released on her own recognizance later that day.

Luann said that being back in Palm Beach after marrying her ex Tom D’Agostino there on New Year’s Eve 2016 caused her to go over the edge. “I want to offer my most sincere apologies to anyone that I might have offended with my behavior,” she tweeted at the time. “This was my first time in Palm Beach since my wedding and being here brought up buried emotions. I am committed to a transformative and hopeful 2018.”

The Bravolebrity checked into a 30-day rehab program following her arrest. She told fans it was “good to be home” in a January 23, 2018, tweet.

Luann entered treatment again in July 2018 after an intervention led by castmate Bethenny Frankel. As a result, she missed the July 17, 2018, season 10 reunion taping.

“Bravo supports Luann’s decision to focus on her health. She is part of the Bravo family, and we continue to stand by her as she copes with this challenging situation,” the network told Us Weekly at the time.

Luann accepted a plea deal for her arrest. She was given one-year probation, ordered to complete 50 hours of community service, attend two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week and attend a victim impact class.

The cabaret singer failed an alcohol test in April 2019, violating her probation. While a judge initially wanted to send Luann to jail, she struck another plea deal that included maintaining a “breathalyzer monitoring device” as directed by her probation officer, in court documents obtained Us Weekly.

She was also required to have “weekly telephone counseling sessions” and “monthly in-person sessions” with her treating psychiatrist. Luann was instructed to take the alcoholism medication Antabuse, as prescribed by her doctor.

Luann told fans in August 2019 that she completed her probation. “I’m happy to say after a long difficult year … I’ve made it through!” she wrote on Instagram. “I’m humbled and grateful for this life lesson and ready to put the past behind me and move on with my life. Wish me luck! Thank you for your undying support over the years! Love always, Luann.”