"Pump Rules' Katie Maloney Hints at Date With Love Island’s Connor Newsum: ‘Can’t Deny It’"

Many reality TV fans were pumped about the apparent love connection between Vanderpump Rules star Katie Maloney and Love Island USA’s Connor Newsum after the two were spotted out together in July. Now, the Something About Her cofounder has all but confirmed that they were on a date.

“Was I on a date?” Katie, 37, said to Dayna Kathan on the Wednesday, August 7, episode of their “Disrespectfully” podcast. “I’m not going to deny anything.”

The TV personality added, “I don’t think it’s fair to be yapping about it.”

Dayna, 34, teased that she had “the tea” on the date, but she was “not telling” others what she knew about it.

Katie and Connor, 28, were spotted at Laurel Tavern in Studio City, California, on July 31, a source told Us Weekly at the time. The pair reportedly had a table to themselves in the corner of the restaurant. The eyewitness told the outlet that Katie “looked amazing” for the outing.

It’s possible that Katie’s VPR costar and Something About Her business partner, Ariana Madix, who is the host of Love Island USA, set her friend up with Connor after working with him in Fiji on the latest season of the dating show.

Connor was eliminated in season 6 episode 16 after making connections with JaNa Craig and Leah Kateb. Leah, 24, ultimately chose Miguel Harichi over Connor.

“I think I could have done things a little bit differently with JaNa. I regret some of the things that I said or did,” the California resident told Today.com on July 3.

Connor did walk away from Love Island USA with one lasting connection, though. He revealed to Us Weekly in July that he stayed in touch with Cass Laudano.

“She got out and I was like, ‘Hey, so what’s up?’ We’ve been texting and, maybe, potentially making some light plans,” he said. “We got along really well. We had a lot in common. We had a few conversations that were just really easy and we work in the same career field. … We just had a lot of similar interests, love for animals. I think everyone saw that weird fishing conversation we had when I was making her grilled cheese. Just random stuff like that. She’s really easy to talk to, she’s gorgeous and just fun to be around.”

Meanwhile, Katie’s dating life has been in the spotlight since she finalized her divorce from her costar and husband of six years, Tom Schwartz, in 2022. During Vanderpump Rules season 11, fans saw her and Tom, 41, try to win over the same woman.

“If [Tom] doesn’t like me taking his girls from him, maybe he should try harder,” Katie said during an April episode.

The businesswoman got candid about the dating scene during a March appearance on “The Viall Files” podcast.

“I would say that there’s moments of thriving, and then there’s just moments of surviving, merely just trying to be in the streets,” Katie told Nick Viall. “I mean, sometimes it’s just so grim. It’s like, ‘Wow, this is just really what it is.’”