Tom Sandoval Reveals 'Tactic' for Getting on His 'House of Villains' Costars' Good Side: 'You're Trying to Build Connection'

Tom Sandoval isn't fazed by being called a "villain" anymore.

After more than a decade in the middle of the drama on Vanderpump Rules, the Bravo star is putting his reputation to good use for Season 3 of House of Villains.

Sandoval speaks exclusively with OK! about how he won over his fellow reality television icons on the Peacock series, overcoming his negative public narrative, his advice for the new cast of VPR, as well as his experiences on The Traitors and Special Forces.

While joining a house filled with personalities like Christine Quinn and Drita D'Avanzo, the musician attempted to be on his best behavior.

"I did well because you're trying to build connection," Sandoval says. "Some people like power and get far [doing that]. But you have got to be reliable. You've got to be good at the challenges. You also have to be nice to everybody. One of my tactics that I loved doing was making drinks for everyone. That was a really cool way to bond with people and stay on their good side."

Despite being put in the "villain" category, Sandoval feels like he's moving on from the title.

"Some people really embrace being a villain and enjoy it," he says. "I feel like Plane Jane and Tiffany "New York" Pollard [his costars] are some of those people. It's a show, obviously. People go on it who have been labeled a villain at one point in their life, but it's okay."

After spending 12 seasons on Vanderpump Rules, Sandoval is passing on some wisdom to the new cast of the series.

"Try to stay as true to yourself as possible," he advises. "Be authentic, be real, don't force anything. It never works. People can see right through it. They should just be their true selves. I think the show could go on and on."

In the past few years, Sandoval has starred on The Traitors and Fox's Special Forces: World's Toughest Test — but does he prefer cameras following his game play or his life? "As far as being on a competition show, I do like that environment more because it's the drama tied to what you're actually there for and what you're doing," he says.

"With Special Forces, you're pushing yourself," Sandoval explains. "You're going mentally and physically way past how you would normally ever push yourself. Seeing what you're made of in that way, seeing how far you can go and breaking those barriers that we all set up for ourselves, that was really powerful."

"Obviously, The Traitors is so fun, exciting, intense, suspenseful and scary," he adds. "Sitting down at the roundtable when they first do that establishing shot and they play the music; you can feel the tension building. It's really wild and cool."

"The thing I loved about House of Villains is that unlike The Traitors, you don't feel like you have loss of control," he reveals. "You feel like you could be murdered at any time [on The Traitors]. You could say something and people might be tired and they would say like, 'When we got rid of somebody,' and then they were never a traitor. You can easily misspeak and then get banished. You feel a sense of helplessness. But with House of Villains, you feel like you're kind of in control because it's almost like a Big Brother environment. You have challenges where you can win immunity. You have an outing where you can talk to people privately and develop alliances or friendships."

House of Villains streams Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.