Raquel Leviss Says She’s in Debt 5 Months After ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Scandoval Erupted

Vanderpump Rules’ Rachel “Raquel” Leviss claims the Scandoval left her in the red.

Leviss, 28, has said she’s in debt following the reveal that she carried out a months-long affair with costar Tom Sandoval behind the back of her friend and castmate Ariana Madix. Madix, 39, broke up with Sandoval, 40, after learning he’d been cheating on her. The reality star opened up about the difficulties she’s now facing to former Real Housewives of New York City starBethenny Frankel for her Just B podcast,

“It sounds like Lisa Vanderpump is profiting, Bravo’s profiting, Andy Cohen’s definitely profiting, Tom is profiting, Ariana is profiting,” said Frankel, 52, who is currently making a large-scale effort to unionize reality TV stars she claims are subject to exploitation. (Though Madix has secured several partnerships and even booked a role in a Lifetime movie since discovering her ex’s infidelity, Cohen does not stand to make money off the success of Vanderpump Rules as he is not a producer on the show.)

Frankel added, “So … and you’re in a deficit. You’re in debt.”

Leviss answered with a simple, “Mhmm.”

Raquel Leviss ‘Would Have Said No’ to Secret Intimate Recording by Tom Sandoval That Exposed ‘VPR’ Scandal

Araya Doheny/Getty; JC Olivera/Getty; Bryan Bedder/Getty

Leviss theorized that all the drama resulting from her affair with Sandoval may have saved the show. VPR had experienced dipping ratings in the last few seasons before being nominated for its first-ever Emmy this past July after producers picked back up cameras — which had initially wrapped filming last fall — to chronicle the scandal as it played out in real time.

“The show was going to be canceled after season 10,” Leviss said, claiming to have heard this information from executive producer Alex Baskin. “And if it wasn’t for Scandoval, there wouldn’t be another season.”

PEOPLE has reached out to Bravo about Leviss’s comments regarding Cohen and Baskin.

Leviss appeared to be referencing Deadline’s interview with Baskin earlier this month when he called the timing of the Scandoval “perfect.”

“The story of Vanderpump is one of survival more than anything,” he said. “We were coming off a really tough ninth season and we had the cast firings before the season and there was a low energy season during the pandemic. To the network’s credit, they gave us another run at it and we had a resurgence anyway.”

But a source tells PEOPLE Baskin’s comments were “completely taken out of context” when it comes to Leviss’s read of the situation.

Raquel Leviss Says Tom Sandoval Has Been ‘Rewarded’ in the Wake of Affair: ‘That’s Kind of Gross’

Tommy Garcia/Bravo

During her conversation with Frankel, Leviss claimed Sandoval actually benefited from his role in the drama.

“I think he was being rewarded for the Scandoval of it all,” she said. “And to me that’s just kind of gross.”

On the flip side, after making a reported $361,000 for season 10 of VPR, Leviss chose to step away from the show. After the combative season 10 reunion was filmed in late March, she spent 90 days in a mental health facility, where she embraced her birth name and realized an addiction to love might have been behind her decision to begin the affair.

Raquel Leviss Says Love Addiction Is ‘a Real Thing’ That ‘Explains’ Her Relationship with Tom Sandoval

Leviss doesn’t think “anybody on that show has my best interest at heart.” She added that “this past season really did feel like the first season where I was like, ‘Oh my God, I am selling my soul.”

Ultimately, Leviss felt like she lost out in the situation. She told Frankel, “I feel like it’s true, the woman does get the short end of the stick.”

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Vanderpump Rules can be streamed in full on Peacock.

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Source: HIS Education