Amanda Batula left the Summer House reunion taping feeling hopeful about Lindsay Hubbard and Danielle Olivera‘s future.
During last Thursday’s launch of husband Kyle Cooke‘s Loverboy Limoncello Spritz, Amanda spoke of the women’s relationship and her thoughts on Paige DeSorbo suggesting Lindsay and Carl Radke are fake as Kyle revealed the hardest part of filming — and rewatching — season seven.
“I feel like we had such a solid group last summer in so many ways that it would be so nice to continue building all those friendships or mending friendships,” Amanda began in her June 1 interview with PEOPLE. “We had a great time all together.”
Although there was certainly drama between her and her castmates on season seven, Amanda hopes they can return to the Hamptons next summer for an eighth season.
“I do think that it would be nice to have, for once, everyone come back and continue,” she said. “It’s hard when there’s always new people coming in and people leaving. We really had a good group. There was a good balance. There were people that really wanted to have fun, but also let us get to know them. I would love to be able to actually continue that instead of having to start over.”
And Kyle agreed that they had a great time with the cast last summer despite the issues that arose.
“There was tension. There was some falling out between some of the OGs or whatever you want to call us,” he said. “Meanwhile, we had a ton of fun.”
Because Amanda and Kyle are friends with their Summer House co-stars off-screen, there are plenty of things that arise between their friend group in the off-season. In fact, so much goes down that the couple, who got married in September 2021, “have a hard time tracking it all.”
“There are some real friendships here, so, stuff goes down the other nine months, and producers are off and left puzzled like, ‘How do we make sense of this?’” Kyle said. “Because we didn’t film that, so, it’s a constant struggle.”
“There’s a lot of history because we are actually friends with each other,” Amanda added. “I feel like some of the other shows, once the cameras are down, they go their separate ways until they have to get back together. And ours is just one big, happy mess of the family.”
There are also things that take place during the season that end up on the cutting room floor, including a candy-themed party Sam Feher threw the group last summer.
“I think we were having too much fun and maybe too much to drink and not enough going on,” Amanda said of why the scene was cut from season seven. “Sam threw a great party. She designed it so well, she decorated everything amazing. Our outfits were great. There was a bouncy house. It was a lot of fun.”
During the season, Lindsay and Carl’s relationship took center stage, as did the strain it put on their friendships with Danielle and Kyle. Luckily, during the two-part reunion, those relationships got to a better place.
“[Andy Cohen] was a moderator and a mediator,” Kyle explained. “Trying to get Lindsay and Danielle to have any type of reconciliation was everyone’s hope. And it really took Andy towards the end, [he] went full psychiatrist mode.”
After a tense season, Kyle apologized to Carl for discussing his addiction on the show and admitted to wishing he never brought it up.
“Obviously, I regret talking about something that he’s already talked about and already tried to put in his past,” Kyle explained. “That was never my intention. I had regrets the second that unfolded in the moment.”
“To have to relive it, that’s the hardest part of doing this, in my opinion. I love the guy to death,” he added.
During the first part of the reunion special, Paige accused Lindsay and Carl of being fake and calculated, claiming their proposal was pre-planned. And looking back, Amanda agreed with the assessment.
“I think almost all of Paige’s points and feelings were valid,” she said. “She really wears her feelings on her face. She can’t hide it. The last reunion, I was the one that was trying to be more vocal on behalf of my friends. Sometimes it’s hard to speak up.”
Carl also attempted to smooth things over with Danielle at the taping, saying he was sorry for not contacting her after her split from Robert Sieber — and for failing to include her in his proposal to Lindsay, who suggested it should be redone with Danielle.
Although there were some ugly moments between them, Amanda said that by the end of the filming session, she had “hope” for Lindsay and Danielle’s future friendship.
“It felt like there would be no resolve between the two of them their entire conversation,” she said. “It wasn’t until the very end that it seemed like maybe there’s a little bit of hope.”