Vanderpump Rules‘ Tom Schwartz Calls Out One of Ariana Madix’s ‘Lower Moments’ in Cringeworthy Confrontation

Tom Schwartz isn’t afraid to call out what he considers “diva” behavior by estranged friend Ariana Madix.

During this week’s Vanderpump Rules after show, Schwartz explained that he felt Madix’s attitude blocked his attempt to invite the group — including Madix’s ex Tom Sandoval — on a group trip to celebrate the opening of Lisa Vanderpump’s new Lake Tahoe restaurant Wolf.

“I had a plan,” said the Bravo star, 41, following Tuesday’s episode. “It was very important to me to go to individuals and speak to them one on one and present them with this idea, because I knew if I did it in a group setting, especially with Ariana present, that it was going to turn into a dumpster fire.”

Schwartz approached the entire group — including the Chicago star, 38 — at James Kennedy’s DJ gig at SUR. Unsurprisingly, she rejected his invitation… as did everyone else in the group. Schwartz felted cornered in the moment, saying Madix was not the group’s “queen bee,” and in the after show, he and his TomTom bar co-owner Sandoval, 41, likened the contentious interaction to “a public stoning.”

Schwartz, 40, said Madix “started going in on me and belittling me and, honestly, I think it was one of her lower moments.”

The Schwartz & Sandy’s owner said his “mind shuts down” when someone is “yelling” at him and compared his mental state during the confrontation to being like a goat that falls over when it’s stressed. “Something about that moment just really rubbed me the wrong way,” he admitted.

He also explained, “I was annoyed that she, you know, took it upon herself to speak on behalf of the other girls, who I hadn’t even really addressed it with yet.”

Schwartz acknowledges that he’s taken on a lot of the blowback from the Scandoval for continuing to stand by his friend after it was reveale Sandoval had been having a months-long affair with friend and castmate Rachel “Raquel” Leviss.

“I became synonymous with the affair or whatever. I was a culprit. It’s ridiculous,” he said. “All the rage she had pent up with Tom, she took out on me in that moment, which I think is absurd.”

Madix, meanwhile, brushed off Schwartz’s comments, noting in the after show: “Him saying s— like that is exactly why I’m not friends with him. If anyone is going to be able to speak to who I am as a person, it’s not going to be someone who I haven’t spoken to since we were filming the reunion in mid-March.”

During Tuesday’s episode, Madix told Schwartz: “I don’t want to be anywhere either you or my ex.”

After he continues in his efforts to sway the group, the Single AF Cocktails author dropped the hammer: “Listen, I gave up on you a long time ago, and my life is better for it…. You’re a lost cause.”