The ‘Summer House’ Curse Strikes Again
Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula have officially surrendered. The Summer House couple, whose chaotic and often painful relationship has been the beating heart of the Bravo hit for nearly a decade, announced in January that they are pulling the plug on their marriage. While the press release might use the word “amicable,” anyone who has watched a single season of this show knows this split is the explosive finale to a romance built on red flags, tear-filled weekends in the Hamptons, and endless excuses for bad behavior.
The writing has been on the wall since day one. This wasn’t a sudden drift apart; this was a slow-motion car crash that fans have been screaming at for years. From the early days where Kyle refused to label the relationship, to the infamous cheating scandals that rocked the Hamptons, to the wedding that almost didn’t happen, the Cooke-Batula saga is a masterclass in ignoring your gut instincts.
TMZ is tearing open the archives to dissect the timeline of this reality TV trainwreck. We are looking back at every fight, every tear, and every desperate attempt to band-aid a bullet hole with an engagement ring. Here is how the self-proclaimed “King of Fun” and his longsuffering wife went from summer flings to divorce court.
-: The ‘Booty Call’ Era
Let’s rewind to the beginning, because the cracks in the foundation were visible before the cement even dried. Kyle met Amanda in the summer of , two years before Summer House even hit the airwaves. When the show premiered in January , Kyle was cast as the frat-boy lead, the party animal who refused to grow up. Amanda? She was just a blip on the radar.
In those early days, the dynamic was painfully clear. Kyle was the star, and Amanda was the girl trying to lock him down. She appeared as a “guest” in Season , lurking in the background of Kyle’s drunken antics. Insiders at the time whispered that Kyle was terrified of commitment, treating Amanda more like a convenient weekend hookup than a future wife. He wanted to preserve his “single guy” image for the cameras, and Amanda was often left crying in the guest bedroom while Kyle ripped shots with the cast.
It was painful to watch. The power imbalance was off the charts. She wanted a relationship; he wanted another drink. By the time she officially joined the cast in Season , she had managed to snag the “girlfriend” title, but the cost of admission was high. She had to accept that dating Kyle meant dating a man whose alter-ego “Summer House Kyle” was a blackout drunk liability.
: The Cheating Scandal That Should Have Ended It
If there was ever a moment to walk away, it was . This was the year the bomb dropped. Rumors began swirling that Kyle had cheated on Amanda during a boys’ night out. The details were murky, mostly because Kyle claimed he was too intoxicated to remember them. The classic “blackout” defense.
The scandal rocked the show. Fans were screaming for Amanda to dump him. How do you build a future with a man who can’t remember if he slept with someone else? But instead of packing her bags, Amanda dug in. The drama became the central storyline of the season, with Kyle crying crocodile tears and begging for forgiveness, while Amanda looked visibly broken.
“I remember watching that season screaming at my TV. He cheated, claimed he didn’t remember, and she STILL stayed? That was the moment the marriage was doomed.”
This period defined their relationship dynamics for years to come: Kyle messes up, Kyle cries, Amanda gets angry, Amanda forgives him. It was a toxic cycle that exhausted viewers and, clearly, exhausted the couple. The trust was shattered in , and frankly, it never looked like it was fully repaired. You can’t edit out betrayal in post-production.
The ‘Shut Up Ring’ Engagement
Just months after the cheating scandal nearly nuked their romance, Kyle did what every desperate reality star does when their back is against the wall: He proposed. In September , Kyle got down on one knee. To the outside world, it looked like a romantic gesture. To cynics, it looked like a “Shut Up Ring.”
A ring is a great way to silence the haters and the cheating rumors. Suddenly, the narrative shifted from “Kyle is a cheater” to “Kyle and Amanda are getting married!” It was a brilliant PR pivot. But Amanda’s comments following the engagement were telling, and honestly, a little depressing.
In March , Amanda tried to convince the world—and herself—that she had moved on from the betrayal. “I have the ring, I know that he loves me, the world has changed now that he’s serious about me, and I think that’s all that matters,” she said. Read that again. “I have the ring.” It sounds less like a declaration of love and more like a receipt for a transaction. She paid the price of humiliation, and she got the diamond as compensation.
-: COVID Chaos and Cold Feet
The universe seemed determined to stop this wedding from happening. When hit, the COVID- pandemic shut down the world and forced the couple to postpone their nuptials. For most couples, this was a tragedy. For Kyle and Amanda, it looked suspiciously like a reprieve.
During the lockdown seasons of Summer House and Winter House, the cracks turned into canyons. Trapped together /, the fighting intensified. We watched them scream at each other over everything—from Kyle’s mullet to his relentless work schedule with their Loverboy alcohol brand. Amanda often looked miserable, constantly complaining that Kyle was incapable of relaxing or prioritizing her.
There were moments where it seemed like the wedding was off. Kyle got cold feet; Amanda got cold feet. The producers were practically salivating at the potential of a runaway bride storyline. Yet, they pushed through. The pressure to deliver a “TV Wedding” is immense. Imagine the embarrassment of calling it off after years of defending him? They were too deep in the sunk-cost fallacy to turn back.
The Wedding That Didn’t Fix Anything
They finally tied the knot in September in a backyard ceremony that was televised for the world to see. It was beautiful, emotional, and ultimately, a band-aid on a bullet wound. Fans hoped that saying “I do” would calm Kyle down and give Amanda the security she craved. Spoiler alert: It didn’t.
The marriage didn’t change the fundamental issue: Kyle wanted to be the life of the party, and Amanda wanted a husband who came home for dinner. The “Loverboy” business stress only added fuel to the fire. They weren’t just spouses; they were business partners in a high-stress startup. Mixing money, marriage, and tequila is a recipe for disaster.
Post-wedding seasons showed a couple that was legally bound but emotionally drifting. Kyle was still partying until AM; Amanda was still crying to her friends. The “newlywed bliss” phase lasted about as long as a hangover.
-: The Long Goodbye
The last few years have been a painful slow march toward the inevitable. Viewers watched as Amanda became increasingly withdrawn, often appearing checked out during filming. Kyle continued to be Kyle—loud, chaotic, and oblivious to his wife’s emotional needs.
Rumors of marital issues plagued them constantly. Every time they appeared on a red carpet, body language experts had a field day analyzing the distance between them. They stopped posting as much together. The “power couple” facade was crumbling.
“They’ve been roommates who hate each other for the last three years. It’s about time they stopped pretending.”
By late , the whispers became shouts. Reports surfaced that they were living separate lives. While they publicly denied it, behind the scenes, the lawyers were likely already drafting the separation agreement. The pressure of maintaining the “perfect Bravo couple” image finally broke them.
January : The End of an Era
And here we are. January . The divorce announcement. It marks the end of an era for Summer House. Kyle and Amanda were the anchors of the show, the couple that survived everything. Until they didn’t.
The fallout is going to be messy. They have a business to untangle, assets to divide, and a shared friend group to navigate. Who gets custody of the Hamptons house friends? Who gets custody of Carl Radke? And most importantly, what happens to Loverboy?
The Cliffhanger: Will It Get Ugly?
They say it’s amicable now, but in the world of divorce, “amicable” usually lasts until the first check is written. With cameras likely rolling or about to roll for the next season, we are about to see the raw, unfiltered aftermath of this split.
Will Kyle spiral back into his party boy ways? Will Amanda finally spill the secrets she’s been keeping to protect his reputation? We have a feeling the skeletons in this closet are about to start dancing. Stay tuned, because the real drama is just beginning.
