Vanderpump Rules star Raquel Leviss reveals she went on a date with SUR manager Peter Madrigal, her first since breaking up with James Kennedy. The co-stars announced the end of their engagement during the Pump Rules season 9 reunion. They were together for over five years, and engaged for six months.
Vanderpump Rules season 9 began with James’ elaborate Coachella-themed proposal, and ended with his and Raquel’s engagement party. However, there were many signs of trouble in their relationship from the start. For one, viewers bristled at James’ callous attitude towards Raquel’s botched nose job. Then in previous seasons, the British DJ was repeatedly accused of infidelity, and sent horrible drunk texts to the beauty queen. During the reunion, Raquel revealed they hadn’t had sex since those texts, which happened two years prior. She also admitted to having nightmares about their wedding day. Four months after calling it quits, Raquel opened up about slowly re-entering the dating pool.
Raquel spoke about her first post-split date on co-star Katie Maloney’s podcast, You’re Gonna Love Me. Like Raquel, the podcast host was single after a long relationship, as Katie recently split from husband Tom Schwartz. During the episode, which dropped on Friday, April 1st, Raquel described dating again as “scary but invigorating.” She said her first post-James date occurred the night before recording the episode, and that it was with SUR manager Peter Madrigal. As manager of the show’s flagship restaurant, Peter is also a Vanderpump Rules co-star, although his appearances have been less frequent in recent seasons. Raquel shared that she and Peter went out for drinks, calling it “just a fun time.” The 27-year-old continued, “I figured this would be a good opportunity for me to just get back out into the dating world because I haven’t had an official date since the breakup…so when he asked me to go grab drinks with him, I was like, ‘OK, sure.’”
Last week, dating rumors started to spread about Raquel and Shahs of Sunset’s Nema Vand. However, the college grad’s comments seemed to indicate that there was no truth to those stories. As Katie cautioned listeners not to jump to conclusions about Raquel and Peter, her guest also shot down relationship speculation. “It was one friendly date,” Raquel said of the evening, adding, “but no one else has asked me out on a date.” She explained, “So, this is literally the first person who asked me out on a date, and I said, ‘Why not?’” She concluded by saying the date was “good practice” after five years with James.
As longtime SUR manager, Raquel is not the first SURver that Peter has gone out with. Ironically, the aspiring filmmaker also briefly dated Katie, as well as her BFF Stassi Schroeder. Raquel’s comments seemed to indicate that the date was a one-time thing, though she didn’t rule out seeing Peter again. Meanwhile, the model’s ex moved on very quickly. About two months after his engagement ended, James began dating Ally Lewber. The reality star and his new girlfriend already made their red carpet debut at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Vanderpump Rules has yet to be renewed for season 10. Rating were down for season 9, and the show’s hype had died down in recent years. However, with the breakups of Raquel and James, Katie and Tom, and Lala Kent and Randall Emmett, there’s certainly potential for more juicy reality tv drama.