Summer should be fun! That’s always been the Good Vibe Tribe’s mantra going into every season of Summer House. They even managed to make things fun at the height of the pandemic in Season 5. But now it’s Season 6 and several of the Housemates are headed to the Hamptons with some serious baggage. Some of it bled over from the perfection that was Winter House. And more of it has happened in the time between the snow-covered slopes of Vermont and the beaches of Long Island.
But the good news is that we won’t be spending this season in quarantine! The Hamptons are open, and the gang will be spending the summer going back and forth from New York City. Which is a delightfully painful reminder of the brief normalcy we all enjoyed last summer before the current omicron surge. But I’m not here to harsh your vibe with this recap, so let’s just focus on the positive. The entire cast is back, with the exception of the exiled Hannah Berner, and it’s the summer leading up to Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula‘s wedding! Finally!
The housemates are also in a brand-new house. And boy have they come a long way from having to organize their own summer shares in Montauk. First to arrive at the new digs are Lindsay Hubbard and Danielle Olivera, followed closely by Carl Radke. Carl! Oh how I missed the beating heart of Summer House on the spin-off to Vermont. Things just weren’t the same without our beloved Carlito. And this year he promises he’s back, six months sober, as Carl 6.0 PRO-MAX X. It’s also crazy to think that Danielle was ever downgraded to a recurring friend role back in Season 4. Meanwhile, Lindsay’s still dating Jason Cameron from Winter House. But she says they’re not exclusive and he won’t be making an appearance in the Hamptons this summer.
Next to show up after the Three Amigos are another trio: Paige DeSorbo, Ciara Miller and newbie Mya Allen. Mya is a friend of Paige’s from the city, who explains in her first confessional that she moved to NYC two years ago with her ex-fiancé. What she doesn’t mention is that her ex-fiancé is a Bravolebrity in his own right. The baker/restaurant consultant was engaged for five whole years to Kwame Onwuachi! A.k.a the fan favorite and best-dressed man on Top Chef! However, the couple broke up during quarantine and Mya’s now newly single.
Paige‘s relationship status is a bit more complicated. Kyle and Amanda, who arrive next, happen to have invited Andrea Denver to join the house for the summer. Paige and Andrea’s winter romance fizzled fairly quickly after they got back to the city. Mostly because he wanted her to stop dating other people. A couple months after that, she started hooking up with Craig Conover. But now she’ll be forced to spend all summer her gorgeous Italian model of a former flame. Yeah, this could get messy. Even if most of us already know how it’s going to end…
Cue Andrea‘s grand entrance! Perfect time, Verona. He’s brought along his pal Alex Wach, a handsome, Hong Kong-born personal trainer who insists he’s definitely not a typical Hamptons playboy. In fact, he’s never even been to the Hamptons for anything other than work. And he eats two pounds of ground turkey every morning for breakfast. But first impression is that he seems sweet and is remarkably easy on the eyes. Andrea is thrilled to see Paige — so I guess there are some pros to not being able to go back to Italy for the summer. Hashtag visa problems.
Now that everyone has arrived — sans Luke Gulbranson, who’s in Minnesota this weekend — it’s time to party! So the roommates head downtown for their first official dinner of the summer. Which is something simple they couldn’t do pretty much at all last season. So it’s actually Ciara‘s first real, true Hamptons experience. And as a New Yorker, since she’s finally signed a lease in the city. To get to know her new housemates, Mya asks everyone to go around the table and reveal their various relationship statuses. Kyle and Amanda are the most obvious; their wedding is only three months away. And it’s been moved to Amanda’s parents’ backyard in New Jersey.
Meanwhile, Danielle is coming up on her year anniversary with boyfriend Robert Sieber. And she thinks he’s the one. Almost everyone else is some version of single. Except for Lindsay, who gets weirdly cagey when her friends ask from an update on things with Jason. They weren’t talking for a bit, now they are. But Lindsay does not want to discuss it at the table. In fact, she practically bites Carl‘s head off for even pushing the subject. It’s an unnecessarily, ahem, activated reaction (if you know, you know!). It’s clearly obvious there’s something deeper going on here. And apparently only Danielle’s privy to what’s going on with her bestie.
The crew spends the rest of the night dancing and drinking at Southampton Social Club. Lindsay and Carl trickle in first a little after midnight, while everyone else comes home around 2 a.m. Well, not Kyle, who’s inexplicably still living it up at the club all by himself. This sends Amanda into an emotional spiral, especially when her fiancé won’t pick up his phone by 3 a.m. After her twenty-seventh phone call goes unanswered, Amanda absolutely loses it, breaking a bunch of Kyle’s belongings and throwing his luggage out the front door.
When Paige and Ciara go to check on her, they find Amanda sobbing in bed alone. Kyle not coming home is obviously very triggering for her considering some of their past relationship drama. (For those who don’t know, he got blackout drunk and cheated on her without remembering ahead of Season 3.) Apparently, Kyle’s partying has gotten so out of control that he’s signed some sort of contract with Amanda saying that she can call off the wedding due to his drinking. And if she does, he owes her parents every single dollar they’ve spent on their daughter’s big day. Yikes. Kyle’s always been a grown-up party boy at heart, but that’s a serious red flag.
When Kyle finally arrives home at 4 in the morning, he doesn’t even notice his luggage on the porch. And the girls are still in his bed when he finally makes it into his bedroom. After some pretend-sleeping hijinks, Amanda spends the night in the spare bedroom, letting Kyle know in no uncertain terms that he’s in hot water. As if the busted up appliances littering the bathroom floor aren’t enough of a clue. Early the next morning, Amanda’s still furious. Though Carl‘s the one to discover Kyle’s luggage when he leaves at 6 a.m. for his morning meditation and AA meeting. Good for you, Carlito! And Kyle’s in a foul mood, because he doesn’t really think he did anything wrong. Meanwhile, Andrea‘s carrying over his tradition of bringing Paige and Ciara coffee in bed from Vermont to the Hamptons.
Carl finally breaks the ice with Lindsay to find out why she was so off at dinner. And she tells him the truth: she was pregnant. And not only that, she miscarried at six weeks. Having a kid is something Lindsay’s wanted from before she ever stepped in front of Bravo’s cameras. This is obviously devastating for so many reasons. Because if she hadn’t miscarried, she would’ve kept the baby. Jason or no Jason. And that’s a big part of why we won’t be seeing him on Summer House.
Over in another part of the house, Amanda and Kyle aren’t done fighting. Oh, it’s only just beginning. Amanda’s trying to get the gravity of the situation through Kyle’s head, but he’s not interested in hearing it. He doesn’t see the connection between the problems they’ve been having about his drinking and spending the night out at Southampton Social. But Amanda refuses to be labeled the problematic one in this scenario. And unfortunately, their arguing devolves into a full-blown screaming match where therapy, denial, and the upcoming wedding all seem to be on the line. Summer may not be off to a fun start, but it definitely shouldn’t be this miserable…
TELL US – HOW SERIOUS ARE KYLE AND AMANDA’S RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS? HOW GREAT DOES CARL LOOK? WERE YOU SHOCKED TO FIND OUT ABOUT LINDSAY’S MISCARRIAGE? ARE YOU GLAD ANDREA JOINED THE HOUSE? WHAT ARE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF ALEX AND MYA?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
