The cast of Summer House was ready to go big for the show’s milestone 10th season.
“99 percent of reality shows don’t make it past one season,” Carl Radke tells Us Weekly exclusively during the cast’s first interviews ahead of the February 3 premiere. “99.9 percent don’t make it to two seasons. I just feel very lucky. So the mindset [going into the summer was], ‘Let’s send it, let’s have fun. Let’s not leave anything not discussed, turn over every stone, and let’s just have the most fun we can have, because we’ve never known how long this is gonna go.’”
The Bravo hit premiered in January 2017, introducing fans to Carl, Kyle Cooke and Lindsay Hubbard. Most (including Us) also consider Amanda Batula an OG as she tiptoed around the cameras during the inaugural season before becoming a cast member on season 2 amid her relationship with Kyle. During season 5, Ciara Miller joined the group and made a quick impact. Season 8 additions Jesse Solomon and West Wilson helped solidify that this show wasn’t going anywhere.
“We’ve had tons of people come and go,” Kyle says. “But Jesse and West are now entering their third year, which is an amazing feat for guys on this show. They’ve become some of our best friends.”
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Season 10 raises the stakes in several ways, with Kyle and Amanda’s four-year marriage at a “crossroads” (to use her words).
“I was just super proud going in — with me and Amanda, and how candid and open and honest we’ve been historically, but especially season 10,” Kyle tells Us weeks before the twosome announced their decision to separate on Monday, January 19. “[Across the whole group], you had existing friendships and existing romantic partners confront some of the challenges that threw them off course, for lack of a better way to put it. And you see some forgiveness, willingness to forget and truly try to restore and rekindle. I think that’s pretty unique. I feel like you don’t get a lot of that on reality TV these days. It’s oftentimes what kills a show — people just incapable of trying to evolve and move on.“
Summer House season 10 premieres on Bravo Tuesday, February 3, at 8 p.m. ET.
In honor of the milestone season, which also includes six newbies, we’ll be rolling out interviews all week. Below, the legacy group reflects on how far they’ve come and their best moments with Us:
Ciara Miller
“When I first walked into Summer House my first season, I was 24 … truly a baby,” Ciara says, noting she turned 30 not long after the latest season wrapped. “[At] almost 30, I’m on some real grown New York City s***. I genuinely feel like I’ve grown up on this show and really come into my own over the past few years. I’ve moved through so many different stages in the last six seasons.”
Best moment: “Over the past six seasons, my fondest memories will always be the late night giggles. The nights we stay in, pile into one bed and end up laughing at each other. Or when the usual bed bugs lock in for an impromptu late night gossip session.”
Carl Radke
“How different did it feel from season 1 to season 10?” Carl asks back to Us, nearly at a loss of words to describe his 29-year-old self vs. the 40-year-old man he is today. “A lot happens in 10, 11 years. [During season 1], I was naive, I was immature, I was drunk, I was coked up, I was not my finest self. And then season 10, I’m sober and in a little bit of a better place. I’m still very flawed, and have a lot of things I’m still working on and trying to be a better person. But I’m the same person. It’s just that I’ve grown up.”
Best moment: “Season 5, I came back after my brother Curtis’ funeral. It was during Covid and I couldn’t go up to Kyle or anybody and hug them. But I came into the house and I came up to the balcony of my room looking out to the backyard, and everybody’s screaming, ‘Carl!’ I got chills right now just telling you that. Kyle, Amanda, Ciara, Lindsay, even Paige, Hannah, Stravy, Danielle — the whole gang rallied around me, and I was going through a really difficult time. Being back in that house is one thing that kept me alive. I really believe I got that call that day for two reasons: My brother wanted to help people, and his story [with addiction] has helped people, and then secondarily, for me, I wasn’t alone in New York City, in my apartment when I got that call. I was in a house with my best friends. And I was in a dark place back then, and I was suicidal at times. I was drinking myself and doing drugs into oblivion. So being there that day and around that time literally, I think, saved my life.”
Lindsay Hubbard
“To think, ‘Holy cow, we’ve been doing this for 10 years,’ [is crazy],” Lindsay, who joined the group for three weekends as she balanced filming and raising daughter Gemma, tells Us. “The fact that I have a kid [now] and that we somehow come up with new things to talk about every year is even crazier.”
Lindsay notes that she was “still getting used to spending time away from Gemma” and dealing with mom guilt during production, but she knew she was making the right choice for her. “I have an arrangement with my baby daddy where he is, next to me, the best person to be with her. So if she’s not with me, she’s with him. And what am I going to do, sit at home and cry about not being with my baby? Or I could go hang out with my friends in the Hamptons,” she explains. “[This year], I truly feel like it was like Mother Hubbard coming in and cleaning up different messes. It was a fun season for me, because I was able to play catch up a little bit and be like, ‘What did I miss? Who hooked up with who? Who got in a fight with who? What’s the drama?’”
Best moment: “My best moment, accidentally is, ‘Don’t activate me.’ That was, like, a complete accident, but that’s why we’re here.”
West Wilson
“I think the relationships I have with everyone now, three years into it, are very, very genuine and real. They are less TV show relationships, and they’re people that I do care about and see throughout the calendar year. That was really comforting for me this summer,” West says. “Heading into the house, two summers ago, I kind of thought everything was cool, and I kind of got punched right in the face, metaphorically. Then I came in just with my guard up a little more and I got myself into more trouble by not not caring, but by keeping things to myself and trying to be conflict avoidant. This summer, I finally felt comfortable speaking up — whether it had to do with me or other people. As personal growth goes, I think it was really beneficial.”
Best moment: “I do think my best moment is still to come. I feel like I’ve come a long way in three summers. But being nominated for two awards at the BravoCon awards was really cool and presenting an award felt like a big honor.”
Jesse Solomon
“I had no idea what to expect walking in season 8, but what I found was a real group of friends. And with reality TV, you don’t know how real it is, and people still to this day will be like, ‘It’s scripted, right?’ And I’m just like, ‘No, it’s so real,’” Jesse tells Us. “And we are a real group of friends, and we love each other. Season 10, I’ve grown up a little bit. Obviously, I’m focused on different things than I was when I walked in there. I was, like, working in finance. I still feel like the exact same guy. I just care about some different things, as opposed to when I walked in for the first time.”
Best moment: “Obviously [the song], ‘What Would Jesse Solomon Do?’”
Amanda Batula
“It really hit me that this was the 10th year,” Amanda says of arriving this summer to film. “It feels like it sort of flew by. I can’t believe how young I was when I started this. ‘Wow. This is season 10’ was very much on my mind the whole summer.”
Best moment: “My engagement. That was an incredible thing, to be on that boat and have that footage and have the whole crew there. That will always and forever be one of my favorite moments. We were surrounded by people that love us and have been a part of our journey for a really long time. So that was really special.”
Kyle Cooke
“It’s certainly a milestone,” Kyle says, admitting that it “wasn’t top of mind when we’re going in” to shoot, but he was curious about the future of the show ahead of filming. “As season 9 came to an end, there were certainly plenty of people, and rightfully so, kind of questioning the future of Summer House. ‘Can we keep going? Is there going to be a big cast shake-up, etc.’ I think that what people will see is that season 10 has got it all. I just feel very fortunate that to be able to do this for now double digits, and it’s not always easy. The way we film Summer House is very unique in the sense that these weekends are just very fluid, and everything ends up out there, the good, the bad, the ugly. I think that’s what makes the show great. And so, it was just another season in my mind, but ultimately, when you look back on it, it might be the best season ever.”
Best moment: “I think my best moments are just the spontaneity that a show like Summer House is able to capture with surveillance. It just feels so real and organic. It’s as real as reality TV gets. Like the Muffin Man comment — most of this stuff I don’t really remember doing in the moment, not because I’m wasted, but just because it seems so trivial — I’m not a big muffin guy, and to watch me just devour an entire muffin was actually hysterical.”
