Credit: Bryan Bedder/Bravo
Amanda Batula’s friend Katie DeLuca Arundel revealed why she wasn’t shown on In the City or its reunion. She also addressed getting “thrown into the fire” by fans over Amanda’s controversial romance with West Wilson.
Despite being in the promo photos, Katie was hardly shown at all in the season, leading many to wonder why. Shortly before the season aired, Amanda announced her relationship with West, the ex of her best friend Ciara Miller, which shocked the fan base. A few months earlier, Amanda and her husband Kyle Cooke revealed they had separated.
On the Conversations with Cam podcast, Katie shared that the reason she wasn’t a full-time castmate was that her husband couldn’t film due to “work reasons” and “visa reasons,” and her full life wasn’t on display.
“So I feel like the natural place for me to be this season was a ‘friend of’ [Amanda],” she said. “I know it was confusing because I was in the promo and things like that. … But yes, I feel like I was always signed up to be a friend of.”
She said it also would’ve been difficult to film as a full-time castmate because she already has a full-time job.
As for why she wasn’t shown in the season, Katie stated, “I think a lot of the scenes I filmed on In the City hinged on Amanda and making some really serious decisions, right? Like her deciding to move out of her apartment with Kyle was actually one of the last weeks of filming. So, there was a lot of conversations that led up to that moment.”
“Those conversations are kind of irrelevant with today’s … state,” she said, hinting at the drama with West. “And so I think those conversations just didn’t need to be shown anymore. And because I was a friend of, that was sort of like my part on the show.”
She later addressed her online critics, some of whom called her ‘mute.’
“I think it was hard because people were making judgments or assumptions about me without even being able to see me,” she said. “It was hard to watch people be so mean on Instagram without actually ever hearing me speak or even getting to know me.”
Later on, she was asked why she didn’t film at the reunion.
“The reunion … [is] about cast members who had relevant storylines … and then [coming] back together and talk[ing] about those moments,” she said. “I think for obvious reasons, me not being on the show really didn’t really make sense for me to be [at the reunion] because … I wasn’t a part of any storyline.”
Katie also addressed being judged because of her friendship with Amanda.
“That was probably the hardest part of the experience for me,” shared Katie, who said she’s sick of the Amanda/West controversy. “I was thrown into the fire and hated by osmosis for something I didn’t do. … There was just so many mean comments, like ‘you’re milk toast’ or ‘you’re an ugly b**ch too.'”
Katie shared that, when she hung out with Amanda and West once in January, she believed “whole-heartedly” that they were “platonic,” as she and Amanda came and “left at the same time.”
She also denied that Amanda and West were sneaking around, and there was “nothing weird going on.” Katie shared that she found out about the romance the day before they announced it on March 31, as Katie showed up to Amanda’s apartment “unannounced” and demanded to have “the conversation.”
According to Katie, West’s “friends became [Amanda’s] friends” during a difficult time in her life. But Katie admitted that Amanda “lied” to her a week before the announcement, when Katie asked about the nature of their relationship.