As we head into the second half of season 9 of Summer House, Kyle Cooke broke down some of the biggest moments still to come with Us — including the sexual chemistry between Jesse Soloman and Ciara Miller.
“Once you film with someone, I feel like that might complicate a relationship. It’s just a very unique environment. but I’d ship it,” Kyle, 42, recently told Us Weekly Milk-Bone x Jif Peanut Butter collaboration event in New York City. “I think a lot of people would ship Jesse and Ciara. I’d probably ship Jesse and Ciara more than Jesse and Paige.”
While Jesse, 31, is currently pursuing newbie Lexi Wood on the current season, some viewers are obsessed with watching him flirt with Ciara, 29. Other fans, meanwhile, think he should date Paige DeSorbo after her split from Craig Conover. During the March 26 episode, all eyes were on Jesse and Ciara as Lexi, 27, was out of town.
“Watching it back, I was with the rest of the audience,” Kyle continued to Us. “I was like, ‘Oh damn.’ I was in my own little world at that party, DJing and running around in a shark costume. So I didn’t really pick up on the sexual tension, but I was like, ‘OK!’ I think Paige pretty much summed it up.’” (On the recent episode, Paige declared you could “cut the sexual tension” between Ciara and Jesse “with a knife.”)
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When Lexi does return to the Hamptons on the Wednesday, April 2, episode, she likely will have questions about more than just Ciara as Jesse ended the night getting his “toes sucked” by one of the women Imrul Hassan was having a threesome with.
“We called it ToeGate last summer,” Kyle told Us. “It’s one of those things where we were just like, ‘Can we just please move on from ToeGate?’ So yes, there’s gonna be plenty of ToeGate coming up.”
Elsewhere at the now-infamous Summer House party, Carl Radke spent time with a woman named Lil, who he first crossed paths with during summer 2023 when he was still engaged to Lindsay Hubbard.
“There’s a weird history as to how that girl kind of wound up at the summer house. I think there was a little convoluted understanding of the timeline,” Kyle told Us before denying Lindsay’s claims that Carl may have cheated. “Lindsay and I have never been better either — I’m long overdue to get over to see [her daughter], Gemma — but to the best of my knowledge, no [Carl didn’t cross any lines]. I think there was just some confusion, but we’ll see them work it out.”
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As for what else is still to come this season, Kyle and wife Amanda Batula could be seen having an emotional conversation about whether she’s ready to have kids.
“We are definitely in that place where we’re trying to figure things out. Selfishly, I’ve been prioritizing the business just because I wanted to build this little nest egg. She’s prioritizing her mental health,” Kyle told Us. “We had a very honest, candid moment where we’re trying to navigate this together given all these moving pieces in our life. I think that there’s a lot of pressure — a lot of societal pressure, your parents start asking, your friends start asking, your producers start asking, the media stars asking. We had this realization for different reasons to say, ‘Alright, let’s just not rush things and make sure that we’re in a good place.’”
Vanderpump Rules alum Tom Schwartz is also set to visit before the season ends.
“When he made his cameo on season 2 of Winter House, he was in the midst of his separation and he was in a rough place. And then when we filmed Winter House 3, it was a week post-Scandoval breaking. So it was great to see Schwartz just in a good head space,” Kyle explained. “He’s such a fun, chill guy that it was a great addition. And he’s such a team player. When he comes to the house, he pitches in, he rolls up his sleeve, he helps us set up parties, he helps us clean up. He’s the kind of guest you want in a house.”
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Kyle then appeared to throw some subtle shade at Craig, concluding, “We’ve had some cast members in the winter house that actually just didn’t clean up, period. Tom just wants to lend a helping hand.”
Us spoke to Kyle at the Milk-Bone x Jif collab event last week. While the pop-up is no longer active in NYC, the dog treats are still available. “If you can eat Jif, your dog can eat Jif,” Kyle declared. “This is a very convenient alternative to straight up giving your dog peanut butter.”
