Reality TV

Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss may still be a thing -- despite the buzz they've broken up -- and the evidence is literally up in the air!

Tom was on a flight to Pittsburgh Sunday night for a gig, when a fellow passenger snapped a pic of his phone. The screenshot clearly shows there's still a connection between the "Vanderpump Rules" cheatin' duo ... Tom's talking to Raquel.

The passenger who took the shot said it was innocent enough ... Tom had his phone out -- presumably when the plane was on the ground -- so the passenger took the photo, not realizing the person on the other end of the line was Raquel.

The traveler said Tom was trying to speak quietly, but his voice was "highly recognizable." The only thing the passenger heard him say was that he was going to "f***ing Pittsburgh."

There's another side to this ... as we reported, Raquel had been in a mental health facility recently, but typically such facilities restrict the use of phones. The screenshot is evidence she may be out by now.

There have been numerous reports Tom and Raquel are history ... something which Ariana Madix has called BS. Looks like she's right on the mark.

Tom's band is playing at Jergel's Rhythm Grille Monday night.

Ariana Madix is making bank off the heartbreak of her ex-bf Tom Sandoval's cheating scandal -- potentially pulling in a strong 6-figures for each brand deal she inks, according to one expert!

Branding expert, Bernt Ullmann, tells TMZ ... The "Vanderpump Rules" star was probably making roughly $15k to $30k for each brand deal before the explosive cheating scandal came to light -- but he says those numbers have drastically changed now.

The fact that she's the victim of the "Scandoval," instantly makes her a fan favorite, and means her asking price instantly goes way up, too.

Ullman says it's highly likely she's making at least $75k per deal with the well-known brand partnerships -- but adds that number could be $200k ... based on all the media buzz, Bravo's record-setting ratings, and Ariana's skyrocketing social media impressions.

We know Ariana's already done partnerships with many different brands -- including Bloomingdales, UberOne, BIC razors, and MyJoyBurst Cocktails -- since it was revealed Tom blew up their 10-year relationship by cheating on her with their costar Raquel Leviss.

You'll recall, Ariana also recently teamed up with Raising Cane's to promote viewership for part one of the 'VPR' reunion.

On Monday, she pretended to move out of the home she still shares with Tom, but that too, wound up being a sponsored gig with financial services company SoFi.

Clever fake-out, for sure.

Ullmann says as nice as the brand deals are, Ariana should also be thinking long-term -- suggesting if she builds her own brand she can generate revenue and rack up her own assets to sell or license later down the line.

The "Scandoval" drama isn't a total loss for Tom Sandoval -- while his affair with Raquel Leviss is definitely costing him friendships, it's not hurting his finances where his band is concerned.

We're told concerts for "Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras" have been a big hit amid all the drama. For example, their show at the Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort in Connecticut earlier this month had a massive turnout, marking the first time the venue's had people lining up to get into a 350-seat theater.

Tom's crew sold out the Gramercy Theater in NYC the following night, with the line wrapping around the block -- even 'SNL' star Chloe Fineman got to meet Tom backstage after the show. We doubt she waited in line.

Tom's band also sold out shows in Pennsylvania and Texas. Their Houston venue, in particular, expected 1,000 fans to show up, but was instead bombarded with twice that number ... making it one of the club's most successful shows ever.

The band even rocked a fundraiser on May 11 at DC's Howard Theater, where they donated $10k to Drew Strikes Back ... an org that raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

We've also learned Tom hit a big milestone during this recent stretch of shows ... celebrating 50 days sober.

Tom tells TMZ ... his recent fallout with Ariana Madix has been a difficult and emotional thing for him to navigate, adding he's been in "some really dark places at times and music has really helped me get through it."

He says he's grateful for the big turnouts and is excited to keep the second leg of his summer tour going for him and the group.

Of course, Ariana's been doin' pretty well on the other side, too -- not only does she have a new boo, but she's been striking brand deals with SoFi, Raising Cane's, and even a sex toy company!

Todd Chrisley's son, Kyle Chrisley, is no longer facing criminal charges after being arrested for allegedly telling his estranged wife he'd kill her ... TMZ has learned.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, prosecutors in Georgia say the charges against Kyle have been dropped because the alleged victim is no longer cooperating.

The DeKalb County D.A. tells TMZ … "After further investigation, review of the evidence and discussion with the victim, based on all facts and circumstances our office declined to prosecute the case."

TMZ broke the story ... when Kyle was picked up by cops in Oklahoma on drug charges back in May 2019, police also found out he was wanted in Georgia for allegedly threatening to kill his estranged wife.

The woman, Alexus Chrisley, initially told authorities in Georgia, Kyle had made death threats against her in January 2019 via text message.

As we reported ... Alexus claimed Kyle sent her a text, saying ... "[N]ot before I end you. Im going to the streets I will get my s**t and take care of this problem with you because if I'm not with you nobody will be. Bye Alexus."

Alexus told police she texted back, "thats a threat to my life" ... to which Kyle allegedly answered, "yes :Lexi it was. Goodbye."

Cops say Alexus also claimed Kyle sent photos of himself pointing a weapon at his head.

While Kyle is off the hook in this case, he's still got other legal issues ... as we first reported, he was booked for felony aggravated assault in Tennessee back in March after allegedly brandishing a knife during a fight.

Derek Hough says Ariana Madix makes perfect sense for the next season of "Dancing With the Stars" ... he feels it's the right move for her now that she's captured America's attention.

We got Derek at LAX and the 'DWTS' alum told us Ariana follows the formula for the dancing competition show ... the perfect candidate.

That formula, as Derek explains, loosely goes like this, at least for reality stars ... they get their big break and become household names, then go on 'DWTS' to raise their profile.

Ariana's a textbook example ... she's been dominating headlines since March when she found out her longtime boyfriend Tom Sandoval was cheating on her with their "Vanderpump Rules" costar Raquel Leviss.

Derek says he's been consumed with planning his upcoming wedding rather than paying attention to the Scandoval ... but he knows a good story when he hears one, and he quickly endorses the Ariana move.

Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann's divorce war seems to have been triggered by financial woes, and the latest turn -- selling her wigs -- seems to underscore what's behind it all.

Kim has put some of her personal items, including those blonde wigs, up for sale on her online website, The Biermann's Closet. The wigs are pricey ... up to $2,750. There are 7 in all, which start at $1,500.

As you know, the wigs were a signature on her reality show, and now they can be yours.

There have been allegations of gambling, drug use and more in the bitter divorce. Kim wants primary custody of their kids, while Kroy wants sole custody ... with each accusing the other of being an unfit parent.

Their home went into foreclosure back in February ... and there were signs the marriage was in trouble before TMZ broke the story they had both filed for divorce after 11 years of marriage. They also owe more than $1 million in back taxes.

Kim Kardashian is clearly seein' red, at times, when it comes to her ex-husband Kanye West ... ripping into him for publicly talking about her sex tape, and cooking up rumors she was hooking up with Drake behind his back.

KK went off about Ye during the season 3 premiere of "The Kardashians," telling Kris Jenner how "exhausted" she's been with her ex-hubby's behavior ... saying he spread the rumor she was having an extramarital affair with Drake -- with whom Kanye's had beef.

Remember, Kanye put Kim, their family and friends through hell for weeks on social media. Not only did he attack Pete Davidson, but he also took racist shots at Trevor Noah -- eventually getting him suspended from Instagram.

At the time, it seemed like Kanye found a new victim almost daily, but Kim remained his most sought-after target. Something that understandably was weighing on the mother of 4. He also posted videos accusing Kim of keeping the kids from him -- something that just wasn't true.

As Kim sees it ... Ye, who once bragged he's her ultimate protector, is doing the opposite these days, which she says includes uncomfortably bringing up her sex tape with Ray J all those years ago.

Kim goes on to say his "insane" narratives are a common occurrence, but believes all the stuff he's been spewing will mess up their kids more than her tape ever could. She even says Ye wants to approve what she says about him on the show ... which, obviously, didn't go his way.

As we reported, Kim and Ye called it quits in 2021 and finalized their divorce the following year. Since the split, we've seen him call out his ex-wife quite a bit over co-parenting -- especially when she was at the heat of her relationship with Pete Davidson.

Back in December, Kim said she tries her best to keep the parental drama away from her 4 kids' eyes ... jumping to great lengths to keep the noise to a minimum around them.

The "Vanderpump Rules" reunion wound up as expected for Tom Sandoval ... he was turned into a human piñata by fellow cast members angry over his affair with Raquel Leviss, which, as everyone knows, destroyed his longtime relationship with Ariana Madix.

Part 1 of Season 10's reunion kicked off Wednesday night as Bravo host Andy Cohen sat down to hash it all out with the entire cast of 'VPR' -- Tom, Ariana, Lisa Vanderpump, Lala Kent, Scheana Shay, James Kennedy, Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz.

Interestingly, Raquel was squirreled away in a private room watching from a TV monitor because, at the time the reunion was shot, she had a restraining order against Scheana, who allegedly punched her during an argument. The order has since been dismissed.

With the cast seated around Andy, the insults began flying almost immediately ... and as usual, Tom was the primary target, but Lisa was clearly in his corner.

In one back and forth, Ariana voiced her disgust at Tom for cheating on her, saying, "I think he caused the divide in the relationship because he was f***ing other people.”

Lisa stopped Ariana and asked, "Other people is very different [than just] Raquel."

Ariana replied, "He’s f***ed more than Raquel.”

Then Lala jumped in, calling Tom "a dangerous human being." But Lisa again ran to Tom's defense, dismissing Lala's statement as "ridiculous." Lala responded, "I didn’t ask for anyone else’s opinion."

James had several fiery exchanges with Tom, labeling him a "clown" and mocking him as he cried while apologizing to Ariana. At one point, James, who was once engaged to Raquel, left his seat and got up in Tom's face, leading to both men almost coming to blows.

After Andy calmed the situation down, he asked Tom the most pivotal question of the night: Why didn’t Tom come clean to Ariana about his affair with Raquel from the get-go?

Tom said, "I was obviously scared to. Also she was going through a lot during that time, and I didn’t want to add anything," referring to the death of Ariana's grandmother.

The rest of the show was more of the same ... meaning Tom playing the piñata and his detractors hitting him with sticks, but in a verbal -- not physical -- sense, of course.

Round 2 of the 3 part reunion will kick off next Wednesday at 9 PM ET. Bring the popcorn.

"Selling Sunset" newbie Nicole Young is feeling some serious fallout from her feud with costar Chrishell Stause -- we're told Nicole's getting brutal death threats, now that their battle is out in the show's latest season.

Sources close to Nicole tell TMZ ... aside from the death threats, she's been getting hit with meth addict accusations and loads of hateful speech from crazed fans -- some of whom found her address and phone number.

Nicole's been getting stuff like "Watch out on the streets….whores die," "You’re a c***. A bully. I hope you die honestly," and "No one likes you because you’re a crackhead. You should leave the O Group you f***ing methhead."

Not only is she taking a beating, but we're told folks have been calling out her family ... and it's now impacting her mental health. She's backed out of appearances and podcast tapings because of the hateful reactions.

If you haven't seen the new season ... tensions got high after Nicole claimed Chrishell stole the credit for a listing they were working on together. She also claimed Chrishell was handed listings from head honcho Jason Oppenheim because they used to date.

Sparks flew quite a bit, with Chrishell even calling Nicole a "b****" straight to her face ... but despite all the anger coming her way, sources say Nicole's standing by her comments on the new season -- claiming not enough context was shown in the final edit.

Mama June's daughter Anna "Chickadee" Cardwell is still in the middle of her cancer treatments, but she just got a reason to smile -- her daughter's elementary school graduation.

Anna posted a series of photos from the special moment and sang the praises of her 11-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn. Anna took pics with both of her kiddos and her boyfriend, Eldridge Toney, during the special occasion.

She wrote, "I am one proud mama right now and I also can’t believe I am going to have a middle schooler and a second grader give me a minute while I go cry my eyes out. I am so proud of my girls and everything they have accomplished.”

Anna was wearing a light-pink scarf on her head -- remember we broke the story, she was losing her hair due to her treatments to combat stage 4 cancer.

It goes without saying ... it's been a tough several months for Anna, but she has been keeping a positive outlook ever since she was diagnosed with adrenal carcinoma at the top of the year.

In the words of Mama June, they are all just taking it day by day.

Tom Sandoval can't catch a break from a single one of his castmates, including Tom Schwartz ... who's now revealed he knew about his friend's affair much sooner than Sandoval let on.

Andy Cohen got down to the nitty gritty with the "Vanderpump Rules" cast Wednesday on part 1 of the show's highly-anticipated reunion ... asking Schwartz when Sandoval told him about his affair with Raquel Leviss.

Schwartz says August, which seems to catch Sandoval by surprise because he'd maintained a different timeline. But, the folks at Bravo were quick to cut to a prior sit-down interview between Andy and Sandoval, where he says he told his friend in January ... a whole 5 months later.

The entire 'VPR' gang was sure to call out Sandoval on his lie. Lala Kent straight up asked, "What you guys didn't get your timelines straight before this?!"

As we reported, Sandoval got destroyed on Wednesday's episode for blowing up his 10-year relationship with Ariana and cheating with Raquel.

What's more interesting about the timeline mix-up ... in front of cameras, Sandoval had urged Schwartz to hook up with Raquel, despite the fact he'd already had sex with her -- and Raquel and Schwartz actually did kiss in August.

Sandoval tried making it clear, he and Raquel had only had a "one night stand" at that point, and later rekindled their flame. Strange turn of events, to say the least ... and there are 2 more parts of this reunion to come!

Jen Shah's hitting the panic button, metaphorically, because photogs were able to snapshots of her behind bars -- and she wants the prison to find out how it happened.

If you missed it, a photo agency got pics earlier this month of Jen walking in the yard at FPC Bryan in Texas. Jen, through her rep Chris Giovanni, tells TMZ, "When I saw the photo and recognized the angle and location of where that photo was captured, I became immediately frightened."

Jen adds, "I strongly believe the photo was not taken from the outside near the exterior gates, but rather deep inside the compound at FPC- Bryan."

We're told Jen is now paranoid that whoever took the pic could do something worse next time ... "I am so worried that the next photo secretly taken of me could be in the shower, using the bathroom, or possibly changing my clothes."

Her insinuation is prison personnel took the photos, or prison staff is giving photogs access to take them.

Jen says she's grateful her husband Sharrieff plans to contact the Bureau of Prisons to ask for an investigation. We're told he's currently in the process of writing a letter expressing their concerns.

As for how she saw the photos ... we're told prison inmates use video monitors to speak with their families, and a neighboring inmate's family showed Jen the photos on the screen.

Ariana Madix has been serving up plenty of revenge lately ... and now she's serving up chicken and fries thanks to a gig with Raising Cane's!!!

The "Vanderpump Rules" star was all decked out in Cane's work attire Wednesday during her hour-long shift. She was super upbeat as she greeted customers from the drive-thru window and handed out chicken fingers, fries, slaw, toast and of course, the company's special sauce.

The customers seemed equally as excited to get their food from the reality star ... snapping pics and videos, even offering her words of encouragement.

As you know, Ariana's become a fan favorite ever since her explosive breakup with Tom Sandoval. Remember, he blew up their 10-year relationship by cheating on her with their costar Raquel Leviss ... and more and more details have been aired out of just how nasty things got.

Since all the fallout, Ariana has been picking up gigs left and right. You'll recall, she recently made it seem like she was moving out of their shared home, but it wound up being another brand deal.

Ariana Madix says Tom Sandoval cheated on her with Raquel Leviss while they were all in the same house -- and even when Ariana was sleeping in another room!!!

The "Vanderpump Rules" star made the stunning revelation in her new interview with host Alexandra Cooper on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast.

In Wednesday's episode, Ariana explains Tom -- her former boyfriend -- and Raquel -- her ex-best friend -- were sneaking around behind her back and jumping into the sack with each other. And it was all secretly going on as the three were filming 'VPR' this past season.

Ariana put it like this ... "I think they had sex in my guest room while I was sleeping in my own bed that he and I went to bed in together and then he left the bed and went to the guest room and f***ed her."

Ariana also addressed speculation she and Tom had an open 9-year relationship. She said, "Honestly, I think [that rumor] came from him," meaning Tom.

She added Tom never told her they were not monogamous ... and, according to Ariana, they were still romantic, sleeping in the same bed and going out on dates -- even on Valentine's Day.

Then Ariana tackled Tom's claim he repeatedly tried to put the kibosh on their relationship. She says the two discussed calling it quits during an "hours-long" convo in which she threatened to abandon the reality show, move out of L.A. and deactivate her Instagram account.

And Ariana made one point abundantly clear ... she never wanted to kill herself even though Tom claimed she threatened suicide after their breakup. She said, "I was saying that this life will be over for me, because I'll go do something else... I'm not talking about physically harming myself."

Despite warning signs, Ariana admitted she ignored the fact Tom was hanging out more with friends at bars while she was sitting home alone.

"Selling Sunset" star Chelsea Lazkani thinks she might've gone overboard when it came to talking smack about newcomer Bre Tiesi and her relationship with Nick Cannon -- claiming she's now keeping her distance to stay alive!

ICYMI, Bre -- who shares a kid with Nick -- joined the Oppenheim Group for the hit reality series' latest season ... and Chelsea took an off-camera moment of Bre's directly to the screen, telling the other agents Bre was surprised and upset after discovering via news alert that Nick welcomed baby #9 with model LaNisha Cole.

Chelsea's now wishing she bit her tongue during filming, telling Entertainment Tonight, "I think she wants to kill me, and I want to stay alive for a very long time. So, you know, I just think I’ll keep my distance from her."

The real estate agent says it wasn't until she took a step back that she realized the harm she put on Bre -- adding, "This is a person with true feelings and you could hurt that person, because the difference between the online trolls and myself is I'm right in front of your face."

BTW, Bre clapped back at Chelsea after making her private moment public ... saying her costar was simply digging for a storyline, and nothing more.

Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix's late friend, Ali Rafiq, collapsed in his parents' house before he was eventually found dead ... TMZ has learned.

Ali's sister, Rabia Rafiq, tells us her mother found Ali on the floor of their St. Louis home Friday afternoon, and she says it appears he had fallen and hit his head on a table.

We're told Ali was found dead on the floor around 4 PM Friday ... about 3 hours after they believe he passed. He had called his father from the house about 4 hours earlier.

Ali's sister says her brother had no known illnesses, other than asthma ... and the family didn't believe that was ever a serious issue for him. We're told there were no signs of foul play, and no indicators as to why he collapsed.

Ali was a big foodie who loved to post pictures of his meals, but his sister says he was not overweight or unhealthy.

The Rafiqs are Muslim and Ali's sister says their religion calls for bodies to be buried ASAP ... so the family buried Ali on Saturday, right after his body was released to the family.

Because Ali died Friday and was buried the next day, we're told Tom did not have a chance to fly out to St. Louis in time for the burial. We're told Tom got to his hometown Sunday and has been spending time with Ali's parents, and visiting the gravesite to say goodbye to his friend.

Ali's sister says Tom's parents attended Saturday's funeral and FaceTimed with Tom so he could feel like he was there ... and Ariana sent flowers.

As we reported ... Ariana looked somber Saturday when she got back into town from her trip to NYC, paying tribute to Ali with a social media post. Tom also shared a remembrance post.

Ali's sister says his death certificate cites "organ failure" as the cause of death, but the family is waiting for toxicology reports to learn what really happened.