Ariana Madix's Vanderpump Rules costars past and present have been standing by her following her breakup from Tom Sandoval in light of his affair with Raquel Leviss.
According to Sandoval's ex-girlfriend Kristen Doute, 40, Leviss has always been an outlier among the cast.
"I have always thought that she and James [Kennedy] are on the same exact level of being an opportunist," Doute said on Friday's episode of Dear Media's Scheananigans with Scheana Shay podcast. "I had to remind myself that she was a fan of the show before she was on the show. And not that that makes everyone that way, but like, she didn't organically really fit in with the group ever, at all."
Doute only recently started being more welcoming towards Leviss, 28. "I chose — what was it, maybe a year ago — to stop hating Raquel or, like, hating on her," she said.
The Sex, Love, and What Else Matters podcast host had what she considers her first real conversation with Leviss at Lala Kent's daughter Ocean's first birthday party.
"That day at Ocean's birthday party was like the most intelligent and well-spoken and put-together I had ever heard her be, without kind of barely blinking her eyes and just opening her mouth," Doute said. "Just like these weird, dumb stares where I'm like, Why are you just looking at me like that? Like, What? Is your brain catching up? Like, I'm confused."
Kent, 32, also joined Doute and Shay, 37, for the "emergency" Scheananigans podcast recording and wondered aloud if Leviss ever "had an actual conversation with anybody without short circuiting?"
The mess surrounding Sandoval's split from Madix and affair with Leviss — known among Bravo fans as the "Scandoval" — will be documented on the current season of Vanderpump Rules and the upcoming finale, which will film later this month.
There's also the upcoming reunion, which Watch What Happens Live host and Bravo boss Andy Cohen revealed is scheduled to film in two weeks — a bit of awkward timing after Leviss secured an order of protection again Shay, 37, after claiming her costar launched a "physical attack" on the former beauty queen in the early hours of the morning after they appeared on WWHL last weeek. (Shay has denied the allegation, calling Leviss's claims "a fabrication.")
"Security will definitely be amped up at the reunion," Kent predicted.
"We need to have cages. Everyone needs their own personal bodyguards," joked Shay on the podcast, which was recorded before Leviss filed for her restraining order.
After news broke about Sandoval, 40, and Leviss's alleged months-long affair last week, the Sonoma State University grad addressed the situation.
"Besides the indefensible circumstances surrounding our relationship, my feelings for Tom have always been sincere and born out of a loving friendship," she told PEOPLE exclusively on Wednedsay. "Knowing how many people we hurt, I need to understand my choices and learn to make better ones."
Leviss said the future of her and Sandoval's relationship remains unclear. "I care for Tom and I don't want to label anything or predict what lies ahead," the reality star, who was previously engaged to costar James Kennedy, continued. "Right now I need to heal."
Meanwhile, Leviss has been fighting to keep an intimate video she sent to Sandoval — and which Madix found, tipping her off to Leviss and Sandoval's affair — from making the rounds. Leviss sent a legal notice to her castmates, including Madix and Sandoval, warning them not to share the recording of her intimate FaceTime session with the TomTom restaurant co-owner.
A source told PEOPLE the video in question was "between Tom and Raquel" and claims Ariana screen-recorded it and sent it to herself. In the legal notice viewed by PEOPLE, Leviss's attorneys claimed the video was recorded "illegally" and "without the permission" of Leviss.
Her lawyers demanded that anyone who has access to the recording delete it from any "method in which the recording may exist."
Vanderpump Rules airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo, and Dear Media's Scheananigans with Scheana Shay drops Fridays on major podcast platforms.
