If it wasn’t for Tom Sandoval, The Bachelor fans could have seen Vanderpump Rules alum Kristen Doute‘s onscreen search for love.
“When I worked at SUR way before Vanderpump Rules or The Valley or The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, when we didn’t even have a liquor license I was bartending the wine and beer bar,” Kristen, 41, told boyfriend Luke Broderick and guest star Joe Amabile on her “Balancing Act” podcast earlier this month. “Someone from The Bachelor came in and gave me a card and asked me to be a contestant on it.”
Kristen ultimately passed on the opportunity because she wasn’t single, adding, “I had just started dating Tom Sandoval so I was like, ‘No. This [relationship] could be forever.’ I could have been on Bachelor Nation instead of Bravo.”
Joe, 38, then asked Kristen whether she would have said yes if not for Sandoval, 41. “I think so. But I thought you get paid or get a weekly something,” she said before Joe clarified that there were no paychecks for contestants on the “two main” shows. “So you have to leave your job and everything [in your life]?”
Kristen was an original cast member on Vanderpump Rules when it debuted in 2013. The first seasons of the show, which served as a RHOBH spinoff, followed Kristen and Sandoval’s tumultuous romance. The pair dated from 2007 to 2013, but subsequently called it quits after Kristen admitted on screen that she hooked up with their costar Jax Taylor.
Sandoval subsequently moved on with Ariana Madix and they were together for nearly a decade before news broke in March 2023 that he cheated with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss. Kristen, for her part, found love with Luke after being fired from Vanderpump Rules in 2020 for past racially insensitive behavior toward former costar Faith Stowers.
Earlier this year, Kristen returned to Bravo alongside fellow VPR alums Jax, 44, and Brittany Cartwright in the spinoff series The Valley. (Kristen previously made an appearance on season 10 of Vanderpump Rules to show support for Ariana, 38, following Sandoval’s affair.)
Kristen has also used her platform off screen to share surprising details about reality TV including how much money the cast made on the show.
“We had very little in our bank account,” she said on an episode of her podcast in July 2023. “It was $5,000 and if we became a primary, we got an additional $5,000.”
Kristen also recalled getting paid a “day rate” on season 7 of Vanderpump Rules before her exit.
“I believe it was my second to last season on Vanderpump Rules. There was a Witches of WeHo wine party. Katie [Maloney], Stassi [Schroeder] and I were not getting along. So to be very transparent at the time, I had been demoted that season from an episodic paid cast member to a day rate,” she revealed in March on the podcast. “I’m not going into the ins and outs because money is f—king weird and honestly, it’s none of y’all’s business. I love you. So that episode, I was in but like barely.”
Kristen claimed she got a significantly smaller paycheck than she usually would.
“So I did get paid but Tom Sandoval happened to be there and he was in it for a blink of an eye, like a half a second, which didn’t even cross my mind,” she continued. “Cut to when that episode aired and he was in it for just a second and he got paid his episodic rate.”
According to Kristen, Sandoval later sent her money since she was featured more than him. “I randomly, without him telling me, I get this PayPal for a few thousand dollars from Tom Sandoval and I’m like, ‘What the f—k? This has to be a mistake. I think he made a mistake,’” she noted. “But he sent it to me because he said he did not think it was fair that he got paid his full episodic payment for being in the episode for a split second when I carried that episode on my back and only got paid nickels in comparison.”
