Tom Schwartz’s single days were all but numbered on The Valley, especially after Michelle Saniei introduced him to her “best friend” Natalie Schultz.
How to Watch
The Valley Season 3 airs on Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo. Episodes stream next day on Peacock.Â
Schwartz agreed to have a “singles night” with Michelle and Lala Kent at a West Hollywood bar in Season 3, Episode 4, but what he didn’t realize was that his two “wingwomen” also had an ulterior motive of introducing him to somebody special. Tom and Natalie hit it off from the start.
“I was vibin’ with Natalie,” Schwartz recalled on The Valley After Show. “We smoked some cigarettes; I said some stupid s–t. But, like, she was funny. I was like, OK, I like her.”
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Read on to learn more about Natalie amidst her first appearance on Season 3 of The Valley, along with the major factor that held Schwartz back from pursuing a romantic relationship with her.
Who is Natalie Schultz on The Valley Season 3?
Natalie is one of Michelle’s “best friends” and a potential love interest for Schwartz on The Valley Season 3. According to Natalie’s Instagram, she also works in sales for a pre-settlement legal funding company.
 “We met years ago when our kids were two,” Michelle explained of her and Natalie’s friendship in The Valley‘s April 22 episode. “We actually left our husbands around the very same time. … Natalie and I have been single for a bit, but I’m actually really excited because I want her to hook up with Tom.”
Inside Tom Schwartz and Natalie’s “flirty” connection on The Valley
Prior to Natalie’s arrival for singles night, Michelle predicted that Schwartz was “gonna love” her. “I showed her your Instagram,” she told him. “She’s like, ‘Wait, he’s cute.” After introductions were made, Schwartz shared in a confessional that he could see why Michelle might pair them together.
For his opening pickup line, he began by complimenting Natalie’s voice. “Am I flirting?” Schwartz asked, questioning in real-time why he had done so by awkwardly suggesting that she pursue voiceover work. The two eventually stepped outside for a smoke break, and he added, “You sound like an oracle. … It sounds like a pickup line, but it’s not.”
Things got a little more complicated, however, when Summer, the nail salon receptionist he’d met earlier during a mani-pedi session with Jason Caperna and Jesse Lally, approached him — much to the annoyance of Michelle and Lala. Once Schwartz explained their connection, Natalie, meanwhile, told him, “I do love a man that gets a man-pedi, I’m not gonna lie.”
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As Schwartz admitted to a producer, “I thought I was doin’ OK with Natalie. But now that Summer’s here, I don’t have the skill set to navigate this. I know I’ve been slutty in my past, but I don’t really have a lot of game.”
Michelle, for her part, privately told Natalie that she and Schwartz seemed “flirty” and suggested that he might make a good kissing partner. “She was totally down, which I was shocked that she was down,” Michelle recalled on the After Show. “She was just like smiling, and it was like the perfect moment. That was, like, the moment where I think he was, like, starting to feel comfortable, and then [Summer] comes in…”
Either way, Schwartz asked Natalie to go outside again for another cigarette break. During that conversation, he talked about sex he’d had in the past, as well as the fact that he had a “sentimental” connection to their location, given that it was where he met his ex-wife, Katie Maloney.
Why Tom Schwartz did not pursue a romance with Natalie on The Valley
Though Natalie appeared to be interested in Schwartz, he made several excuses for holding back. When Michelle informed him that Natalie would be “so down” if he kissed her, for example, he claimed to be too chicken to make a move. Later, Natalie attempted to get him to rally and take her with him to the next spot he was supposed to go to, but he insisted that he was “too tired” to continue the night.
“What is going on with him?” Lala vented. “It’s, like, very frustrating.”
As it turned out, Schwartz actually had another woman on his mind — and, no, it wasn’t Summer, either.
“Outwardly, vocally, to my friends, I’m like, ‘I want to date, hook me up,'” he explained in a producer interview. “Quietly inside, there’s this girl that I’ve been crushing on. I’m starting to get that warm, fuzzy feeling again. But … I don’t know if I can say that out loud ’cause I don’t want to jinx it.”
As he continues his dating journey on The Valley, get exclusive details on Schwartz’s recent relationship milestones with his new girlfriend, Kiana Carroll.
