Tom Schwartz Reacts to Ariana's Rumored Exit From Vanderpump Rules, and Shades Katie for "Bullying" Jo, Plus He Rates "Weird" Kiss With Scheana, and Talks Girlfriend Sophia (2024)

Tom Schwartz rated his kiss with Scheana Shay and addressed Ariana Madix‘s rumored exit during an interview on Tuesday.

As he and his girlfriend, Sophia Skoro, 23, appeared on a podcast together, sharing what they like most about the other, the Vanderpump Rules star, 40, accused his ex-wife, Katie Maloney, 37, of taking things too far with Jo Wenberg and admitted that when it comes to babies with Sophia, his biological clock is ticking.

“It was like so platonic. I give it a five. It was weird,” Schwartz said of his Las Vegas kiss with Scheana, 38, during an April 16 interview on E! News.

As for his relationship with Ariana, 38, who cut him off for remaining friends with Tom Sandoval, 41, following his affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, 29, Schwartz said he believes he’s “still blocked” before sharing hope for the future.

“I think we’re cool. I feel like at some point I’ll win my way back into her life,” he suspected.

Schwartz also suspected Ariana will return to Pump Rules for season 12, despite rumors to the contrary.

“I think she’ll come back,” he stated. “She’s opening up the sandwich shop, Something About Her, any month now. She loves Katie. She loves [Lala Kent], although her and Lala are a little strained right now. But we’re family.”

As Ariana and Katie struggle to get their venue open amid permit-related issues, Schwartz, who faced his own challenges with , said he’s been “giving this like ‘now you get it’ look” but “not reveling in it.”

“I’m not Tom Petty. There’s an empathy there,” he clarified.

Moving on to his season 11 fling with Jo, Schwartz said that he should have been clearer in regard to where they stood as a couple.

“The truth is there were times where the lines definitely got blurred. I regret not being better about communicating the reasons why I was pulling away from her. [But] I was like a wounded pup,” he explained. “I had been through so much calamity with ‘Scandoval,’ the bar, my family completely falling apart, I just didn’t feel like I was equipped to be in a conventional relationship.”

As Jo faced heartbreak due to Schwartz’s inability to commit, she also wasn’t well-received by the women on the show, including Katie.

“Surface level, it looks like Katie just has a bone to pick with anyone that I have a connection with after the divorce,” Schwartz noted. “[And] sometimes, the bullying, it went a little too far.”

Also during the interview, Schwartz addressed his future with Sophia.

“We’re taking it day by day but yes, my biological clock is like, ‘It’s time.’ But I’m good right now. No babies for the foreseeable future,” he confirmed.

Meanwhile, on the April 16 episode of The Viall Files, Sophia was asked to name the top three things she likes most about Schwartz.

“I think he’s probably the most generous and kind person that I’ve ever met in a way that like, he just makes me feel so thought of in so many different ways just by like, not always with presents but he does show it with presents a bit, like little cute sentimental things that must make me think he’s always thinking about me, like so incredibly sweet,” she gushed. “[And he’s] so funny, his humor’s so hilarious to me. That’s what initially attracted me to him because I thought he was obviously, besides being so handsome, I thought he was really funny.”

Looking back on their initial encounter, which took place at SUR, Schwartz said when he first saw Sophia, “It was like in those movies … everything just sort of stood still.”

After Sophia approached Schwartz, letting him know he was “looking hot,” the two briefly lost touch. Then, after a second run-in, she offered him her number.

“I wanted to go on a dinner date with him and then he was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ Once we went on a dinner date, he couldn’t get away from me,” she recalled.

According to Schwartz, he’s “fairly intimidated” by Sophia because she’s “the most beautiful human on the planet.”

As the interview continued, Sophia was asked about which castmates she’d met.

“I’ve met Scheana. I met Lala yesterday. She’s really pretty, really sweet. I’ve not really met Ariana,” she shared. “I actually ran into Katie once at a random bar — before the fact. So I have met her but not in this sense … She was with her new man.”

Vanderpump Rules season 11 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.