Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval has revealed he needs surgery after competing in season two of Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test – admitting that his knees were butchered following weeks of high-intensity challenges.
The reality star, 40, was among the five celebrities to make it to the final, which saw Olympic speed skater Erin Jackson, 31, and The Bachelor stars Nick Viall, 43, and Tyler Cameron, 30, successfully complete the course.
Tom opened up about the toll the show took on his body and how it impacted his mobility in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, in which he also discussed his return to Vanderpump Rules after his scandalous affair was exposed.
‘When I went onto the show, my knees were shot,’ he said of his stint on Special Forces. ‘They’re still shot, like, I’m probably going to have to have knee surgery.
Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval has revealed he needs surgery after competing in season two of Fox’s Special Forces
The television personality, 40, was among the five celebrities to make it to the final
‘I’m looking at some options. I might have to get some injections or something like that. It was absolutely brutal.
‘In general, they’re not great, and there were a couple of days where I was not very mobile after doing the show.’
In the final episode, which saw the recruits captured and faced with hours of military grade interrogation, Tom and his fellow competitors were forced to stand in a cell, before being questioned on a backstory they had been briefed on.
On top of the cell being freezing cold, the celebrities were also hooded, bound, and put in stress positions – and subjected to distressing sounds.
During the brutal final exercise, the staff remarked that Tom had been ‘dramatic the entire course,’ something he firmly denies.
‘I think the staff just assumed that I’m some sort of Olympic athlete or something,’ he continued.
‘I had not trained. JoJo Siwa knew she was doing the show like a month prior, so she worked with a trainer, she ran with a weighted vest, she broke her boots in.
‘I found out I was doing this days before. I was lucky to get on a bike for like five days leading up to this, to try to get my legs in some sort of shape to handle this because there was a lot of legs.’
Tom, pictured with ex-girlfriend Ariana Madix (pictured earlier this year), signed up to Special Forces after his secret affair was exposed
Tom had just five days to train before he jetted off to film the brutal challenge show
Tom, much to his surprise, was eventually eliminated from the course by an unnamed adjudicator called the Umpire, who implied that the reality star wasn’t coming across empathetically.
Addressing his exit, he said: ‘I was shocked. I was in the cell for like six hours and I had only had one interview – and I knew the backstory forwards and backwards. It was really frustrating.’
Tom signed up to Special Forces after a secret affair with his fellow Vanderpump Rules costar, Rachel Leviss, 29, was exposed.
Tom had been in a nine-year romance with his now ex-girlfriend, Ariana Madix, 38, at the time.
‘I felt like [Special Forces] was something that I just really needed in my life,’ he said.
‘I was dealing with the media storm on a day-to-day basis. Every day, there was like 100 stories coming out.
‘This just really gave me a chance to just focus on something else and I was so grateful for that.’
Tom added that he believed signing up to the show had helped to improve his image.
The reality star was ‘frustrated’ to be eliminated from the course so close to the end
Addressing his return to Vanderpump Rules, which airs in January, he said: ‘This was probably the hardest season I’ve ever filmed’
He said: ‘I think it was just nice for people to see me in a different setting than on Vanderpump Rules.
‘A setting that didn’t have anything to do with being on a salacious reality show. People got to see me in a completely different environment and dealing with different people.
‘I do think people got to see a little bit a different side of me that they might have done before.’
Tom will return to screens for season 11 of Vanderpump Rules in January 2024.
Weighing in on his return, he said: ‘This was probably the hardest season I’ve ever filmed, so it will be very interesting. It’s a very intense season for sure.’
Tom was the subject of a public backlash after his affair was exposed with people blocking him on Instagram and condemning him for his actions.
Asked how he is now, he replied: ‘I am hanging in there. What is that old saying, I guess what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger in a sense. But just keeping myself busy, man. Just keeping an optimistic look with the future and hoping for the best.
‘I battled with self-loathing. I also understood that people definitely didn’t like me. I knew that they would enjoy seeing me get my ass kicked [on Special Forces].’