The Pump Rules producer reveals when the editors first became aware of ‘Scandoval’

So many months after news of Tom Sandoval and Rachel Leviss’ affair broke, the question still remains as to why this has been overlooked for so many months. Of course, perhaps the greatest responsibility lay with Ariana Madix’s friends and cast members, who spent most of their time with the couple.

But what about the professionals involved with the show, who arguably knew the cast just as well? Bravo Executive Producer Natalie Neurauter shares her insider’s perspective Vanderpump Rules.

And just like the rest of us, she admits that she sees things much more clearly in hindsight.

Bravo’s lead post-production team for Vanderpump Rules was tasked with reviewing the footage for clues as to when Scandoval started.

“Our producers were able to tune in again and search the footage for more clues,” Natalie told exclusively to The Wrap. “We had all these puzzle pieces. And it felt like they came from different jigsaw puzzles and we didn’t know how to put them together. So it helped if you knew the ending you were looking for.”

Natalie revealed that her suspicions were first raised by the footage from the beach day. She explained: “Rachel came to SUR for brunch the next day. She had spent the night at Tom Sandoval’s and [Tom] Schwartz was there. And that’s why she was late. The three had spent a lot of time together this year, so it didn’t seem strange. But the way they all talked about it was what made it so special to us. The fact that the guys lied about it. It didn’t make much sense to us until the affair was exposed.”

Then Natalie was asked if she noticed anything else while reviewing the VPR footage. She recalled a change in Sandoval’s mind about starting a family with Ariana.

The incident with the fertilization of the ovum

“In hindsight it feels obvious, but I remember vividly that it didn’t make sense to me that Tom didn’t want to go ahead with the fertilization of Ariana’s eggs. Because it was something he seemed very fond of in the past. And that’s when she started talking to him about it again. He turned it off. And that felt strange to me. And it didn’t line up with everything we’ve known about his desire to have children in the past,” Natalie revealed.

Vanderpump Rules expert Lala Kent received a lot of credit for her intuition from Natalie.

“She sometimes sees things that other people miss. And often she throws out things that sound so wild and outlandish that we really have to wonder if she’s saying it to get attention or to make fun of it? We should never think of her like that for seeing things, especially when she’s just a little bit away from them,” the Bravo producer admitted.

As for Rachel herself, Natalie said there was “nothing that I noticed in terms of suspicious behavior.”

The cast of “Vanderpump Rules” is currently filming Season 11.

TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT NATALIE’S COMMENTS? ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT SANDOVAL AND RACHEL ARE NOT SET EARLIER IN PRODUCTION?