The trail of breadcrumbs leading to Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ affair keeps getting longer and longer.
New sources have confirmed that the two Vanderpump Rules stars, who were caught in the middle of their months-long affair on March 1, had a secret way of hiding their relationship.
Tom and Raquel changed each other’s names on their phones to another “code name” in an attempt to shield their messages from any possible onlookers.
In the ultimate attempt to avoid suspicion, Tom changed Raquel’s name to “Jamie” in his contacts.
Raquel’s secret name for Tom still has yet to be disclosed.
It was Tom’s idea to use the nicknames, and Raquel was “more than happy to go along,” the sources continued.
Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval changes Raquel Leviss’ contact to hide relationship
Insiders also revealed that friends of the Vanderpump Rules stars knew of their secret aliases, and Tom would even refer to Raquel by her code name in front of them.
While Ariana never found out about the secret names while they were canoodling behind her back, she allegedly knows about it now.
Ariana showed she wasn’t shy to go through Tom’s phone, though, as that’s how she found out about his affair in the first place.
As previously reported by Monsters and Critics, Ariana had a “gut feeling” that Tom may have cheated while on a recent trip to Miami, which prompted her to check his phone after it fell out of his pocket during a Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras performance at TomTom.
That’s when Ariana saw the sexually-explicit FaceTime conversation between Tom and Raquel, which Tom had screen recorded.
It has since been confirmed that Tom and Raquel had their first kiss and one-night stand back in August, meaning the two had been keeping up with their secret cell phone identities for quite some time.
Tom Sandoval details his connection with Raquel
While fans still have to wait for the Season 10 reunion to hear the full cast’s take on the cheating scandal, Tom chose to tell his side of the story ahead of time on Howie Mandel’s podcast last week.
While he went behind Bravo’s back to do so, Tom took the opportunity in his first interview post-Scandoval to explain his undeniable chemistry with the former beauty pageant queen.
Tom revealed the timeline of his and Raquel’s “magnetic” first kiss, which happened outside his Valley Village home in August — specifically before co-star Scheana Shay’s wedding.
Despite still being in a (nearly decade-long) relationship with Ariana, Tom said he hadn’t felt that kind of connection in a long time.
Tom’s buddy and business partner, Tom Schwartz, also confirmed their connection, with him referring to Raquel as Tom’s “heroin.” Tom Schwartz also said that while he knew of the pair’s one-night stand in August, Tom told him in January that he had fallen in love with Raquel.
As for Ariana? Well, she seems to be healing just fine, as she was recently seen making out with a hunky fitness trainer at Coachella over the weekend.
Vanderpump Rules airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.