When we last saw the Summer House cast in the same room, Ciara Miller was eviscerating West Wilson for the way he ended their relationship. And Lindsay Hubbard was putting Carl Radke on blast for the way he called off their engagement mere months before their wedding. With both couples permanently dunzo — and Hubbard entering the Hamptons house ready for her “hot pregnant summer” — we couldn’t help but wonder how the former lovebirds faired. According to married stars Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke — who can safely say they had a “great summer” despite a “couple oopsies” from Cooke and his late nights out — Hubbard and Radke shockingly got along better than Wilson and Miller.
“I think there are times where Carl and Lindsay had a better vibe in the house, just in terms of coexisting. I feel like the Ciara and West thing is pretty raw, especially coming off the heels of the reunion,” Cooke told DECIDER, while Batula added, “The biggest thing is that Carl and Lindsay were able to communicate and have conversations. West just gets so tongue-tied and doesn’t know how to speak up.”
However, the biggest change this season is that, for the first time in Summer House history, someone is pregnant in the house. After going through her entire dating history of the last decade, Hubbard anxiously announces that she and her boyfriend Turner Kufe are expecting their first baby together in the Season 9 premiere, in what Cooke described as “one of the most iconic Lindsay moments of all time.”
Batula, for her part, said she became just as emotional when she met Hubbard’s baby girl, Gemma, as she did when she found out her friend was pregnant. “It was just a shock,” she said, noting that had a feeling Hubbard might’ve been pregnant when “she wasn’t drinking.”
Cooke and Batula recently stopped by DECIDER’s studio, where they dished on Summer House Season 9 and their exciting business ventures. Check out the full interview below.
DECIDER: I am so excited about Season 9. You guys have been doing this for nearly a decade. How was going into this season different from past seasons?
AMANDA BATULA: I feel like at this point you just stop overthinking things and you just go in and are, just exist and hope for the best.
KYLE COOKE: The show continues to build. There’s a lot of people talking about it. On occasion, rumors kind of infiltrate their way into the season. I’d say that’s the only real difference. We always try to be our true selves and don’t, like you said, overthink.
AMANDA: You don’t go in with a game plan. You just sort of exist and let things play out and the drama comes on its own. You think it’s going to be a great summer. Then all of a sudden, you’re fighting with someone and you’re like, “How did this happen?”
KYLE: That’s all seasons. All nine seasons.
Lindsay surprised everyone on night one with her pregnancy announcement. Amanda, you immediately started crying and said you knew it. What were the signs that you picked up on?
AMANDA: She wasn’t drinking. She was literally grabbing glasses of wine and pretending to sip and putting it down, and then grabbing another full glass of wine and pretending to drink. We were at two weddings with her.
KYLE: Two international weddings where everyone’s there for a three-day affair. It’s very easy to pick up on whether someone’s drinking or not.
AMANDA: It wasn’t super obvious, but there were a few times where she literally had a full glass of wine in front of her and then, they’d come around with a tray, she’d pick up another glass and put it up to her lips. And I was like, “You didn’t even finish the last one.” I’m not going to ask any questions because, you know, not my place. You don’t have to tell anyone anything. But yeah, when she confirmed it, I was very emotional about it. I wasn’t like, “Yes, I got it right.” It was just a shock. And I actually met baby Gemma recently, too, and also cried.
Kyle, you and Jesse looked both shocked and maybe a little worried by Lindsay’s announcement. As we know, Lindsay immediately posted the news on her socials which is presumably how Carl found out. Did you reach out to him at all that night before he got there? Or did you wait to see him in person to talk about it? How did that conversation go?
KYLE: I think if I was shocked, it was more just the timeline of events that led up to the announcement. It was one of the most iconic Lindsay moments of all time, just in terms of how she went about it. I don’t believe Carl and Lindsay are following one another, but I did know that plenty of people kind of let Carl know.
AMANDA: Carl’s made fully aware of everything that Lindsey posts. He can’t escape it. There’s someone always sending something to him. The poor guy.
KYLE: I think for him, as you probably saw towards the end of the first episode, he’s kind of walking on eggshells because there’s just a lot of pent-up anxiety as to what this summer is going to look like and feel like.
AMANDA: When they left the house, they were engaged and then walking back into the house, his ex-fiancée is pregnant with someone else’s baby, and that’s just very different. But they both handled that very maturely, and I give them a lot of credit.
KYLE: I never thought of it like that. They literally left the house engaged, then broke up. A little bit of a turn of events.
Question for both of you, I was so proud to see Kyle come home first – and before 4 a.m – in the premiere episode. Would you say we’re going to see a different version of you this season?
AMANDA: That’s so sad that that’s something that we’re proud of a 42-year-old man for doing.
KYLE: Woohoo! Hey, celebrate the small things.
AMANDA: No, that should not be celebrated. How does it feel to finally grow up?
KYLE: Look, this is my summer. I work hard all year. It’s an outlet. So, for me to kind of pull the ripcord a little earlier…I think someone said it was 10 minutes. Hey, we’ll take the small wins. We’ll take all the wins.
AMANDA: It’s not “we.” He’s taking the small win.
KYLE: It was a different summer from a perspective where I feel like we are in a good place. We weren’t kind of getting on each other’s case over little things, really focused on the bigger picture, some bigger picture conversations. I had a couple oopsies here and there. One night, West and I were out abnormally late, but ultimately, we had a great summer, which was the most important part.
Amanda, you’re super close with Paige and her love life has really taken center stage since her split from Craig. What do you say to the social media sleuths and theorists out there?
AMANDA: Leave the girl alone. Let her just live. She has shared so much of her life. She shares everything on the show, on her podcast. Let her just exist for five minutes. Just leave her alone. She’s just a girl at the end of the day. I couldn’t imagine being stalked like that and having people constantly just making things up or making assumptions or following me.
KYLE: Well, the worst part, the cheating rumors, someone’s got to put those to bed.
AMANDA: That’s not the type of person Paige is. Definitely not.
Kyle, there’s been a lot of back and forth with you and Craig over the Loverboy/Spritz Society war. Where do you stand with him today? Have you reached out to him since his breakup with Paige?
KYLE: There were some hurt feelings on both sides. Going into the summer, I think there were things that we needed to address. I think we made the most of it. We had a conversation. People will see that play out. Ultimately, it was about friendship. Quite frankly, it really had very little to do with business. We were not really on the same page, but it is what it is. When I heard the news, I guess that I was shocked. I reached out to Paige. I reached out to Craig. I just let him know, “Hey, sorry to hear it. I was rooting for you guys.” I haven’t heard back. But I’m not on the top of his list, so that’s fine.
In other news, Ciara slapping away West’s hand was really something. How will we see their friendship evolve this season? Are they ever able to loosen up around each other?
AMANDA: Friendship is an interesting term to use. Yeah, not much happens.
KYLE: I think there are times where Carl and Lindsay had a better vibe in the house, just in terms of coexisting. I feel like the Ciara and West thing is pretty raw, especially coming off the heels of the reunion.
AMANDA: The biggest thing is that Carl and Lindsay were able to communicate and have conversations. West just gets so tongue-tied and doesn’t know how to speak up. So it’s hard to reconcile in any way when the other person’s not saying much or being like, “Yeah, okay, sorry.”
KYLE: I’m sure he probably feels like whatever he says, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
AMANDA: But say something. Say something meaningful and then don’t go back to the press and be like, “I wish I said this.” Just say it then. Oh my God. He’ll learn. Love you, West.
KYLE: She’s kind of giving him a rough time. We’re filming a show, and when he actually decides to speak up, it’s The New York Times.
AMANDA: My friends defend me. I’m defending my friends.
KYLE: I was like, “Oof, here we go.”
AMANDA: Because the girls have never given you a hard time. West deserves it.
KYLE: I feel like everyone’s given me a hard time at some point.
AMANDA: Exactly, so we only give it to West.
KYLE: He’s having his moment.
Amanda, I’m so excited about your swimsuit line. Can you give any updates on that? Are you still eyeing a February 2025 drop?
AMANDA: Yes, so the launch date is now officially Feb. 18. We’ll be launching our first drop. I think we’re going to start teasing some stuff soon and talking more about the line. And then we have two more drops that I’m working on currently for the spring and summer. So yeah, it’s happening. It is truly happening. I did my whole photoshoot two weeks ago in Miami. It was 50 degrees, but I powered through it.
KYLE: So proud.
AMANDA: If I look cold in my images, it’s because I was.
KYLE: The goosebumps are real.
AMANDA: It’s really exciting. It’s becoming very real. And I have an amazing team at South Moon Under that is helping me with all aspects of it, and I couldn’t do it without them. So I’m very excited.
Kyle, it’s been so much fun to watch you build Loverboy into what it is. What’s next for the brand?
KYLE: We’ve got some new and some tasty cocktails coming up. We’re working on a line of probably the number-one consumed cocktail in the world. It’s a margarita. As of late, though, the Flowerboy launch has been really exciting. That was two years in the making. We were trying to be selective as to what the product was, how it’s going to be different. I’m not a big THC user, so it had to be something that didn’t put me to sleep. So that’s a big focus as of late.
AMANDA: That’s my favorite product.
KYLE: Loverboy, Flowerboy…it’s a lot of work. There’s plenty of people who say, “Hey, I used to be able to find Loverboy, but now I can’t.” It’s a grind. We’re just trying to put in the work and make it all pay off.
AMANDA: But always innovating and always trying to come up with things that we want that everyone else wants to enjoy too. And we’re having fun with it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Summer House Season 9 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
The post ‘Summer House’s Amanda Batula And Kyle Cooke Say Lindsay Hubbard And Carl Radke Had A “Better Vibe In The House” Than Ciara Miller And West Wilson appeared first on Decider.
