In April 2023, Howie Mandel displeased some Vanderpump Rules fans when he interviewed Tom Sandoval on his Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast. In the midst of Scandoval, Howie threw softball questions and seemed sympathetic toward Tom, while the rest of the world was firmly in Ariana Madix’s camp.
“Tonight’s Jackhole [Award] goes to the fact that Howie Mandel apparently didn’t know what he was getting himself into with his interview of Tom Sandoval today,” Andy Cohen said on Watch What Happens Live at the time. “Because it seems like maybe he didn’t do his homework.”
But now, the America’s Got Talent judge and the Bravo exec have come to a truce in the matter. Howie explained himself and made peace with Andy on SiriuXM’s Radio Andy on January 18. All is forgiven.
Andy Cohen warns Howie Mandel: “Bravo fans are very passionate”
“Howie, you have to be careful before you take a side,” Andy cautioned. “Bravo fans are very passionate.”
Howie actually admitted he hadn’t seen Pump Rules before doing the interview with Sandoval. “Don’t you respect me for that? Why am I a jackhole?” he asked.
Condeding that the situation ended up “working out well personally” for him, Andy backtracked on the “jackhole” label.
“It kind of saved the grilling for me later at the reunion,” he laughed. “So it actually … maybe I should give you the Mazel instead, because we do a Jackhole and a Mazel.”
Howie admitted that he got “so much hate” for giving Sandoval a platform to “bury himself.” He described the situation as “having a deposition and then watching the courtroom.”
Ironically, Howie’s daughter and co-host, Jacqueline Schwartz, was kicking him under the table throughout the interview. She obviously watches VPR because she was wearing a “Send It to Darrell” hoodie, which her dad made her remove.
“Every time he said something that she disagreed with,” Howie said, “she was kicking me under the table. A couple of times she wanted to ask a question and challenge … and I said, ‘Listen, really. I don’t know this guy. If you challenge him or if you attack him here, he’s just going to shut down … He’s going to go away, and he’s not going to talk.'”
At the time, Howie believed, “The reason that he’s here, unlike any other place, is because he knows he’s in an ignorant place where there’s no challenge and he doesn’t have to defend himself.”
Howie thinks jackhole label was a “positive”
Rather than being truly offended, though, Howie admitted that he considered the “Jackhole” label a “positive” for him.
“I was a jackhole … Andy Cohen said I’m a jackhole, [and] I think that’s positive,” he said on The Viall Files podcast in May 2023.
Additionally, Andy shared that Howie joked about the insult in June. “He DM’d me and said, ‘You’re making amazing TV. I was honored to be your Jackhole,’” the WWHL host said. “I loved that, and I DM’d him back and said, ‘Howie, being in a feud with you … was my honor,’ with a bunch of hearts.”
TELL US – DO YOU THINK HOWIE DESERVED THE “JACKHOLE” LABEL?
