Move over, “Scandoval.” Here comes “Scamanda.”
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“Summer House” viewers and internet fans were officially “activated” after recently separated Amanda Batula and fellow cast member West Wilson revealed their surprise romance.
The hit Bravo reality TV show, now airing its 10th season on Peacock, follows a group of friends and their antics in a vacation home in the Hamptons in New York.
But there appears to be some oversharing in the sharehouse as Wilson was romantically entangled with castmate Ciara Miller, one of Batula’s close friends, during Season 8.
And months before announcing her connection with Wilson, Batula had separated from fellow castmate Kyle Cooke, whom she married in 2021.
Here’s everything you need to know.
The players
- Ciara Miller: A 30-year-old registered nurse, model and host. You may recognize her from Season 3 of the U.S. version of “The Traitors.”
Miller joined the cast of “Summer House” in Season 5, which aired in 2021.
- Kyle Cooke: The frontman of the show since it premiered in 2017.
Cooke, 43, is the founder of Loverboy, a hard tea and canned cocktail company, who has since forayed into DJing … much to Batula’s chagrin.
- Amanda Batula: Batula, 34, appeared in the first season of “Summer House” while dating Cooke and went on to become a mainstay on the show and work for Loverboy as creative director.
The show has heavily focused on Cooke and Batula’s rocky relationship. They tied the knot in September 2021 and in January announced their separation after four years of marriage.
- West Wilson: The 31-year-old sports writer joined the show in Season 8 and quickly sparked a romance with Miller. The season was filmed in summer 2023.
The scandal
In late March, rumors of a romance between Batula and West appeared on gossip social media pages. Photos circulated of the pair out together in New York.
On the March 24 episode of “Watch What Happens Live,” host Andy Cohen asked Wilson about his reaction to rumors he was romantically linked to Batula. He insisted, “That’s a friend,” but said, “That’s a very important person to me and, like, I care about her a lot.” (The question was posed during a live audience poll asking the public if they “ship” the couple. The result, at 89%, was overwhelmingly no.)
One week later, on March 31, the two revealed their “connection” in matching statements shared on Instagram.
“We’ve seen the growing online speculation, so while this is still very new, we wanted to provide some clarity. It was never our intention to purposely hide anything,” the statement said. “Given the complicated relationship dynamics involved and the scrutiny that comes with being on a reality show, we needed a little space to process things privately before speaking on it.”
“We’ve shown up for each other as friends over the years, through all the highs and lows, and what’s developed recently was the last thing either of us expected. Our connection grew out of a genuine, long-standing friendship, which made it especially important for us to approach this with care.”
“As our feelings evolved, we wanted to take time to understand exactly what we were feeling. We also recognize that this has had an impact beyond just us and never wanted our actions to cause any hurt or be perceived as careless. We truly appreciate the understanding and respect as we navigate this.”
West and Ciara’s relationship
To fans, the relationship is a betrayal of Miller, who dated Wilson on Season 8 of “Summer House” and who had a close friendship with Batula. The women are fan favorites, often seen supporting each other through their mental health, career and relationship troubles.
Wilson and Miller dated during the season and after filming wrapped, but their love story ended in December 2023. During an emotional “Summer House” reunion, Miller said Wilson told her he couldn’t commit “basically, for show-related reasons.”
At times tearing up, she said she still had feelings for Wilson and felt led on by him. “We went to his parent’s house, stayed with his brother in Chicago, went to a wedding,” Miller said.
During the reunion, Wilson admitted he was concerned about the audience’s perception of him as the show’s newest addition and coming off as “Ciara’s puppet.” After the reunion, Wilson told The New York Times he regretted using the show as an excuse for the breakup.
Since then, viewers have seen the ice between the two slowly melt over the past two seasons. Thus far on Season 10, the two have shared emotionally charged moments and Wilson has been seen flirting with her, expressing regret over their relationship and telling a castmate that he misses her.
The fallout
As of Wednesday, Miller was not following nor followed by Batula nor Wilson on Instagram.
Cooke told comedian and interviewer Adam Glyn on Wednesday that he “figured out over the weekend” about the relationship. He said he and Batula spoke before she put the statement out.
“I’m actually really worried about Amanda,” he said, adding, “From what I’m seeing, she’s been, she’s kind of getting cyberbullied.”
This week, fellow castmates Lindsay Hubbard, Carl Radke and KJ Dillard also posted cryptic photos of themselves from the show on their Instagram stories where they appeared with shocked or dismayed faces, without directly mentioning Batula, Wilson or Miller.
Hubbard, a Season 1 veteran, also posted a photo with Miller over the weekend and has posted some shady comments on Instagram. On a Rumble boxing gym post saying Wilson would be a guest trainer, Hubbard commented, “Is he the bag?”
What’s to come
TMZ reported that producers haven’t picked up their cameras to film since Batula and Wilson’s statement. Filming for Season 10 has wrapped.
But the reunion is slated to film soon. Andy Cohen posted on X on Tuesday asking for the public to submit reunion questions for the cast, which was met with a myriad of questions about the new romance.
Representatives for Bravo and the cast members did not respond to NBC News requests for comment.
