Three episodes in, and The Traitors season 3 is already brimming with drama. Chrishell Stause and Tom Sandoval butted heads when she accused him of targeting her because of her friendship with his ex-girlfriend Ariana Madix.

Dylan Efron pointed out to Chrishell, 43, that Tom, 43, “mentioned” the Selling Sunset star “like five steps out of there,” in the first episode of the night on Thursday, January 9, and she began to wonder why.

“Do you think it’s because I’m friends with Ariana and he knows that?” Chrishell asked fellow Traitor stars Nikki Garcia and Danielle Reyes. “That’s sabotage!”

Nikki, 41, agreed with the reality star after saying it “probably” was due to her friendship with Ariana, 39.

“Tom is already throwing my name out. First of all, who plays like that?” Chrishell asked during a confessional a little later. “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.”

In the following episode, Tom spoke up about Chrishell’s attitude toward him and said she was “acting very strange to [him].” However, the Netflix star didn’t let his comment slide and shot back that he made her “uncomfortable” and “threw out the most names and caused the most chaos.”

“I told you, before we ever hit the roundtable, a personal connection to you, that I am friends with your ex,” Chrishell explained. “We had a cool conversation. You were like, ‘Let’s not make that awkward.’ I was like, ‘Okay, good, I feel relieved.’ I was so nervous about that.”

The former Vanderpump Rules star’s behavior ultimately led Chrishell to cast her vote for him at the roundtable.

“The Traitors have to be able to lie and cheat and deceive easily. And since I know that you possess all of those skills, I voted for you,” Chrishell quipped.

Nikki later called Tom out for his “creepy watching,” but he defended himself by saying, “That’s just my face.”

After Bachelor in Paradise’s Wells Adams got the boot as the first person eliminated, he was replaced with Survivor’s Rob Mariano. Host Alan Cumming also added Big Brother’s Derrick Levasseur and The Challenge’s Wes Bergmann to the group, as well. Tom decided to warn the three men about Chrishell and said that he thought she might be a Traitor, but he added that “other people had clocked Chrishell,” too.

In November 2024, fans began to speculate that there might be bad blood between Tom and Chrishell when she shared several of the season 3 stars’ official cast photos via Instagram and chose to block the Bravolebrity’s picture out.

“He who shall not be named doesn’t need to be on the poster,” wrote one person in the comments section.

Another Instagram user added, “Now I KNOW Chrishell is team Ariana. Icons supporting icons,” while a third chimed in and said, “Omg if you blocked off Sandoval’s face in the last slide … ICONIC BEHAVIOR.”