Tom and Jax Talk About the Big Fight

Jax Taylor

Bravotv.com: Why did you decide to go to Vegas?
Jax Taylor: I wasn't going to cancel my trip because all my friends were going. I mean deep down inside I knew it was probably a bad idea. But Tom, Tom, and Peter were going and those guys are like my best friends. It was a road trip. Stassi doesn't own Vegas.

I thought maybe I could stay away from her, but I think something got inside me. In my mind, I just wanted to go and enjoy the time with my friends.

Bravotv.com: Were you shocked that Frank had tried to drive such a wedge between you and Stassi?
JT: He can still try all he wants. It's never going to happen. He keeps trying to drive her from me, and the more he does that, the more he's just pushing himself away from her. If he was a more confident person he would know that he should just let it go. But the fact that he tries so hard to keep me away, I think she see that too. The stuff that he says, the under-the-breath comments, and little stuff like that it just shows that he is a little worried. And he has every right to be. I've been in her life a long time. She's just not going to forget about me overnight. We have a lot of history. And I know that she still loves me. I still love her. It's obviously a bad time right now. But we do have a future together. He just has to realize that.

Bravotv.com: Why did you also decide to send flowers to Stassi, knowing that she would be with Frank when she got them?
JT: I mean, yeah we're fighting, but, she is my girlfriend of two years and it's her birthday. When I sent the flowers, I wasn't going to go Vegas. So I thought maybe I'd send her a bouquet of flowers to say "Happy Birthday. I miss you. I love you" to show her that, all things set aside, I hoped she would have a wonderful birthday.

Bravotv.com: Were you surprised things got so out of hand so quickly when you arrived at dinner?
JT: To be honest, I kept telling myself, "Listen I'm going to play it cool. I'm going to be the bigger man. I'm going to be an adult about this." But I happened to have a couple of drinks before I got in there and my pride and ego got ahead of me. I had so much I wanted to say, and I knew something was going to happen so I had to spit it all out at once. I was stumbling on my words and my adrenaline was going crazy. It was through the roof. There was so much testosterone inside me. There was so much male ego in that room, and so much we all had to prove. I just lost it. I have a very short temper as it is, so when I went in there and I saw him next to her I just lost it. I just threw everything that I was going to do out the door and went with the devil on my shoulder who said, "Let’s do this."

Bravotv.com: Who do you think started the fight?
JT: Oh I definitely did. Of course. There was a lot of animosity going on already. Katie, Kristen, Tom, and Tom they weren't happy that Frank was there, and they have their own reasons for that.

At the end of the day when I look at all this, it's not his fault. She left me. He didn't take her or anything like that. And I have to remind myself of that. She tells me this all the time. I pushed her away and I made her leave.

Honestly me walking in there, it wasn't going to be pretty. I think I initiated it with my comments and my outburst. Although, he did say something to me when I walked in and that kind of fueled me. Frank could have just played it cool, but again, there was a lot of testosterone, egos, and pride involved. We're men and that's just what we do. We fly off the handle before we think. So I would say 80 percent me, maybe 20 percent him.

Bravotv.com: What did you think of Stassi's behavior during the fight? Do you think she made things worse?
JT: From what I heard, from the girls, she was extremely intoxicated. So I don't think she knew what she was doing. I don't think she was intentionally trying to be b----y towards the girls. I think in the back of her mind she knew I was around somewhere. She's confused too. She's gone through like a huge breakup and the next day she's in Vegas with another guy. I think she had so many emotions and she's confused. I don't really blame her at all.

And I think a lot of it came from me. It was her anger towards me that she was taking out on them. But the pulling of the hair and all that stuff. I mean they're girls. I don't know. It escalated so fast. I walked in there and I think about it now and I blacked out. I honestly don't remember how it all started. All I remember is walking in there. I threw a chair. Screaming was going on. I told Frank let's go outside and take care of this. Stassi's yelling at me get the hell out of here, this and that. Peter was holding me back. I think I had a guy from production holding me back. It happened so quickly. The next thing I knew I was in a limo and I was like, what just happened. And so many people were involved -- the restaurant, the crew, all of us. I don't think they were anticipating that happening. I wasn't anticipating that happening. It just happened.

Bravotv.com: Were you surprised Stassi had another group of friends roll in? Were you surprised that Kristen, Katie, and Stassi didn’t make up at the end of the trip?
JT: Again, she's going through a transition right now. The girls are my best friends and hers. They felt like she was changing and her attitude was changing. The next thing you know she has these other best friends. Kristen and Katie are her best friends. They are the people that get up at four or five o'clock in the morning with her and drive her to the airport.

We're family. And we've been a family for a long time the group of us. We're like the show Friends. We're just like that. And Stassi and I were the glue that kind of held that together. So when we broke up, it was kind of like Ross and Rachel breaking up. It was like going to the coffee shop and it being awkward. It put a split in the group. Those are still my friends and Stassi wanted them to be her friends but she knew they were sticking to my side. It put such a wedge in anything that Stassi didn't really have a choice, but to say OK I have to wash my hands of this and let me spend my time with these other friends, even though those people don't have the best interest for her. She didn't know what else to do. Kristen and Katie didn't trust her, they trusted me. I look back on it now and I can see clearly why she did everything she did.

Tom Sandoval

Bravotv.com: Did you think it was a good idea for Jax to come to Vegas? What did you think of Stassi’s decision to bring Frank?
Tom Sandoval: I was on the fence about Jax coming to Vegas, but obviously, in hindsight, maybe it was a bad idea. At the time we were all just in shock that Jax all of a sudden was disinvited to Vegas. Just to give you a timeline:

Thursday, June 21: Jax picks up Stassi from Supper Club takes her home. All is great. They spend the night together. At that point Jax is invited to Vegas.

Friday, June 22: Jax goes to modeling job, Frank conveniently tells Stassi that Jax has cheated on her, and got a girl pregnant. Stassi misses work, and she, Frank, and everyone drink Jax's Cristal.

Saturday, June 23, 8 am: We (the guys) leave for Vegas with Jax, so at least he can tell his side of the story. That same night was the fight.

Sunday, June 24: Stassi's actual birthday, when her "other friends" came in town.

I thought it was way too soon to be bringing Frank to Vegas. I understand that she wanted to have a date, but one of Jax's friends and co-workers? And Frank's the one telling you (Stassi) a story that EXACTLY matches what happened thee years ago, which she knows about. The only "proof" Stassi has is Frank's word. It really just seemed like she finally had her excuse, a scapegoat, to take the heat off the Frank situation. At that point Stassi refused to talk to Jax and hear his side of the story. Stassi seemed downright ignorant, and the whole situation seemed shady. Now that I think about it more, if I could do it all over again, I would've told Jax, "Come to Vegas, and get your girl back!"

Bravotv.com: Why didn't you tell Kristen that he was coming?
TS: I promised Jax I wouldn't tell Kristen, and I don't like to break my promises. Maybe it would have changed the outcome, but I decided not to put Kristen in the horrible position of whether or not to tell Stassi. I sort of left it up to fate. . .We could've easily fit five people in a car and all drove together, and the morning of leaving we told Kristen and Katie to get on the road, we would catch up because we were waiting for Peter. Kristen knows that Peter is NEVER late. . .

Bravotv.com: Do you think the flowers Jax sent were a good idea?
TS: I think it was a great idea! Jax had already ordered the flowers ahead of time. It put Jax in her thoughts, the person she was conveniently trying to forget about. It was a baller move, and I would've done the same thing.

Bravotv.com: Who do you think started the fight?
TS: I think obviously when Jax walked in to restaurant is when s--- hit the fan. When that happened I knew things were about to go from bad to worse quickly.

Bravotv.com: Why did you take your shirt off when things started getting intense with Frank?
TS: I took my shirt off because it was really hot in Vegas, and also to show off my great tan! Hahaha! Wow! Not my proudest moment. . .I think the last time I did that was in 8th grade. We all had a pretty good amount to drink. I had so much pent up anger towards Frank and felt so betrayed. Once we started arguing it escalated quickly, and things got physical. I def cringe every time I think of it.

Bravotv.com: What did you think of Stassi's behavior during the fight? Do you think she made things worse?
TS: I definitely think Stassi made things worse. Even though Katie was trying to keep the peace, she grabbed Katie's hair and threw a drink on Tom Schwartz. Of course, Schwartz retaliated with dumping his whole beer on her. Haha! Wow what ridiculousness! I don't think Stassi really knew what was going on. Like the rest of us she was pretty drunk, and was overwhelmed at the time by Jax showing up.

Bravotv.com: Were you surprised Stassi had another group of friends roll in? Were you surprised that Kristen, Katie, and Stassi didn’t make up at the end of the trip?
TS: I'm not surprised that Stassi had other people from Sur come to Vegas. We all new they were coming. I am also not surprised that Stassi, Katie, and Kristen didn't make up at the end of the Vegas trip. When we left that night there was no bad blood between Stassi and Kristen to deserve the picture text that Kristen got the next day. At that point, Kristen, Katie and I were fed up with Stassi's ego and attitude. I guess Stassi was mad that Kristen and Katie didn't believe every bad thing that was coming out of the mouth of the guy trying to sleep with her. We were also annoyed at all the people who were stroking Stassi's ego to get free meals and bottle service. Schwartz and I came out that next night to support our girls. Our girls came to wish they're best friend "happy birthday. We paid for all our drinks that night.