By
Allie Jones,
a freelance writer who covers celebrity, culture, and influence.
At the beginning of this season of Summer House, things were not looking good for the show’s OG star, Kyle Cooke. Loverboy, his alcohol business born of the show, was struggling — he was telling everyone who would listen that he had personally guaranteed a $4.2 million small-business-administration loan that he was struggling to pay back. He had also separated from Amanda Batula, his wife of four years, and the show’s forthcoming episodes would show him yelling and cursing at her in various states of inebriation. The fans were more than ready to back Batula in the great Kymanda divorce, and she had commerce on her side, too, booking single-lady-themed influencer campaigns with Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Invisalign.
Then March 31 happened. On a day that will live in infamy for Bravo fans — at least until the next major scandal happens on The Valley or whatever — Batula and West Wilson announced in an Instagram statement that they were, in fact, dating. It was a stunning betrayal of Batula’s supposed best friend and Wilson’s ex-girlfriend, Ciara Miller. Suddenly, Cooke wasn’t looking like the main villain in the Summer House story anymore.
