Interpersonal drama is the lifeblood of reality TV, but every now and again a dispute leaps offscreen and generates a national conversation.
It happened in 2023 when the “Vanderpump Rules” stars Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval ended their nine-year relationship after it was revealed that he had an affair with another co-star. The treachery was nicknamed “Scandoval,” and had everyone from politicians to grandmas weighing in.
This March, Amanda Batula and West Wilson, co-stars of Bravo’s “Summer House,” announced in a joint Instagram statement that they were dating, defensively explaining that “what’s developed recently was the last thing either of us expected.” It confirmed swirling rumors that Batula, whose marriage to another co-star was dissolving, had hooked up with Wilson, who had been in an off-and-on relationship with Batula’s close friend Ciara Miller. Thus, “Scamanda” was born.
But the reaction to the seeming betrayal has hit differently than with Scandoval for a number of reasons, starting with a vibe check. “Summer House,” in its 10th season, became a ratings juggernaut because of the bond among a group of nine friends whose annual vacation is, mostly, a time to come together.
“They seem like these real people that we’d all be friends with that just happen to be on the show,” said Tess Bellomo, the co-host of “Right Answers Mostly,” a pop culture and history podcast. “I think that’s why we’re all so heartbroken.”
Since Batula and Wilson’s announcement, viewers have been scouring episodes for evidence of betrayal, and the “Summer House” reunion — a castmate confrontation that airs May 26 — is so highly anticipated that Bravo will hold a theatrical screening in New York. (An audio leak from the taping caused a minor kerfuffle in late April.) Ahead of the season finale and reunion episodes, podcast hosts and reality experts explained why this particular scandal has riled so many, so deeply.
It’s a friendship violation, disguised as a cheating scandal.
Women arguing is the central drama of any number of “Real Housewives” iterations and a good bit of the rest of the TV landscape, too. But “Summer House” has, for its 10-year run, been distinct in its portrayal of female friendship.
“I do fall for the female friendships on this show,” said Ronnie Karam, co-host of the Bravo recap and discussion podcast “Watch What Crappens.” “This show is kind of about the women coming together.”
Miller’s support of Batula as her marriage grew rockier has been a central story line for multiple seasons. In one memorable instance, Miller consoled Batula, who’d just argued with her husband, Kyle Cooke, telling her, “This is called friendship — you were there for me when I am sad, I’ll be there for you when you’re sad.”
Bellomo said the women’s closeness made the betrayal hit harder. “We’re just craving seeing strong female connection and loyalty,” she said.
Race is a complicating factor.
Miller, the show’s first Black cast member, has been an audience favorite for her forthright discussions about her rocky childhood and fractured family dynamics, including how race has played a part in her experiences.
“She’s always been a leader in speaking about race and what she has gone through in a way that we don’t really see on any other Bravo shows,” said Claire Donald, a co-host of “Right Answers Mostly.”
During an episode in the sixth season of “Summer House,” Miller and Mya Allen, another Black housemate, called a house meeting to discuss race and their experience filming a TV show with a majority white group of friends in the Hamptons. “There’s an automatic feeling of, ‘Damn, I might not be adequate to fit in’ when people don’t look like you,” Miller told the group.
Joining the cast as its only person of color in 2020, at a time when the country was reckoning with race after the murder of George Floyd, “was rough,” she said, adding, “We’re going through the biggest civil rights movement ever and I am living in a house with white people who didn’t necessarily understand.”
This season, Miller revealed that she had been criticized online for dating Wilson and other white men. Miller previously dated a cast member of another Bravo reality show, “Southern Charm,” who called her “a little jezebel” on camera, a trope of a seductive and tempting Black woman.
“I get a lot of blowback that’s very racial,” Miller said. “Dating white guys publicly, it’s a whole contraption that I think you guys can’t even understand or empathize with.” That episode aired in March, just as rumors about the relationship between Batula and Wilson began swirling.
“Ciara has been really vulnerable with her white friends and castmates about her experience as a Black woman and how it’s so different, it’s so much more fraught, so painful,” Chris Volcy, a pop culture content creator who is Black, said in an interview. Seeing her be betrayed by those same friends is “one of those racial harms that you can’t really quantify, and it’s hard to explain.”
Amanda Batula had been on a hero arc.
Just before the current season began airing, Batula and Cooke released a joint statement announcing their decision to split, and many Bravo fans rejoiced. The couple got engaged and married over the course of the show’s run, but Cooke’s behavior toward Batula (including yelling the infamous line “summer should be fun. Amanda: not fun!”) raised red flags to castmates and fans alike.
With the divorce announcement, Batula seemed to finally stand up for herself, and in a podcast interview, she noted that she was getting “a lot of congratulations.” She got a glow-up thanks to the new plotline, with Batula appearing in Buffalo Wild Wings and Jimmy John’s commercials and promoting a collaboration with the clothing and home décor brand Edie Parker, which she posted the morning that she confirmed her relationship with Wilson.
The backlash was swift. Edie Parker removed her photos from its social media pages and uploaded a photo with a caption that read in part, “A lot can change in a day.”
The man involved hasn’t become a pariah.
Wilson, the guy at the center of it all, has seemingly been able to continue business as usual: He was just announced as the host of a YouTube show for Complex and has used his podcast as a forum for his side of the drama. According to a reunion preview, he was dating other women at the same time as Batula.
That’s a marked difference from the aftermath of Scandoval, when Sandoval was ostracized from his friend group and in public. His restaurant Schwartz & Sandy’s was boycotted and flooded with negative online reviews, which his business partner estimated cost around 80 percent of their regular business. The restaurant closed permanently in 2024.
It (probably) won’t ruin the show.
Scandoval erupted just as “Vanderpump Rules” lost the plot. The unknown 20-somethings looking for their big breaks while working at a West Hollywood restaurant had become moneyed reality stars going through the motions. The bombshell gave the show a ratings bump, but by the 11th and final season, the friction between castmates made for rather unpleasant TV. Madix and Sandoval ejected from the franchise, which was retooled entirely.
On the other hand, even before Scamanda, this season of “Summer House” was hitting its stride. It was Bravo’s fourth-most-popular offering and was reinvigorated by new cast members. Despite a hard-to-watch onscreen breakup in Season 8 between Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard, all were able to continue to film together and share fun moments.
The show has been renewed for an 11th season, and a spinoff, “In the City,” trailing Batula, Cooke, Hubbard and others in Manhattan, premieres Tuesday night after the “Summer House” season finale. It seems unlikely that all the participants in Scamanda will be moving on anytime soon.
Shivani Gonzalez is a news assistant at The Times who writes a weekly TV column and contributes to a variety of sections.
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