It was a statement that set my social feed on fire. “While this is still very new, we wanted to provide some clarity,” began the text, presented in a black and white font that we have come to recognize as crisis-coded, on the Instagram stories of Summer House stars Amanda Batula and West Wilson. “We’ve shown up for each other as friends over the years, through all the highs and lows, and what’s developed recently was the last thing either of us expected,” the statement continued. “Our connection grew out of a genuine, long-standing friendship, which made it especially important for us to approach this with care.” For a statement that was supposed to provide “clarity,” it launched a thousand more questions, but one thing was clear: the Bravo stars are in a romantic relationship.
The reason the pair felt the need to address the public via Instagram stories is that, until recently, they were both in relationships with other co-stars—Amanda was married to, and had recently announced her separation from, Kyle Cook, one of the original stars of the show; while West’s on-again-off-again relationship with Ciara Miller (one of Amanda’s closest friends) had fueled much of the last two seasons. The backlash to the news has been swift and fierce. In the comments, Bravo’s characteristically melodramatic fans are debating whether the show can survive. Meanwhile, Amanda has been dropped by brands, and has been receiving so many death threats that even her estranged husband has implored fans to leave her alone.
The reaction to the yet-to-be-nicknamed Summer House controversy stems from how beloved Ciara is by fans. When she joined the show in 2020—the year Bravo began to introduce more Black cast members to its shows following the Black Lives Matter marches across America and the world—she immediately exceeded the ludicrously high expectations placed on Black women in entertainment. Loyal and direct, she kept her cool and dealt with confrontations in a no-nonsense manner. Like many reality TV stars, Ciara moonlights as a model, but she is also a registered nurse who worked on the frontlines during the pandemic. If the genre is known for bringing out the worst in people, its powers have not worked on her.
If Summer House is a show about messy breakups and friendship drama, can fans truly be this outraged at this turn of events? Writing for Vulture, Louis Peitzman zoned in on this very disconnect. “In recent years, there’s been pushback on the kind of bad behavior this genre was built on,” he writes. “While the drama itself was once the draw, we now tune in to see the wronged parties triumph and the transgressors pay for their crimes.” In the past, there was the underlying assumption that these stars had more freedom to behave badly because they were making a show. But now, we expect them to abide by the same moral codes that we do—and punish them when they don’t.
In this new era of accountability there is a disconnect between what reality TV fans say they want, vs. what they actually want; but either way their demands reverberate far beyond TV storylines and into the stars’ real lives. Consider “Scandoval,” the 2023 scandal that eventually imploded the “OG” Vanderpump Rules, where it was revealed that Tom Sandoval had been brazenly cheating on Ariana Madix, his girlfriend of nine years, with Rachel Leviss, another cast member. In the aftermath, both Sandoval and Leviss lost endorsement deals and entered separate mental health facilities. Sandoval was even forced to close the West Hollywood bar he co-owned with co-star, Tom Schwartz.
On a show like Vanderpump Rules—which is defined by chaos, backstabbing and bad behavior—it’s somewhat baffling that a cheating scandal led to the original cast being unable to film together. (The show was entirely recast for season 12 amid the unresolvable conflict.) After all, this was a show where cast members habitually cheated on each other (with each other), got into drunken brawls, and said truly unforgivable things. And for ten seasons, the fans had rewarded them for it.
Take the case of Taylor Frankie Paul, a star of the reality TV show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, who was chosen as the new Bachelorette for the show’s 22nd season. In March, ABC announced her season was to be completely scrapped days before it was scheduled to air when a 2023 video of the star was leaked to TMZ. The distressing clip showed her hurling chairs and attacking her former boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, while her five-year old daughter cried in the background.
The disconnect here is that the behavior—and video—was not exactly a secret. In the very first episode of Mormon Wives, she was arrested and later pleaded guilty to aggravated assault. I still remember watching open-mouthed as a sobbing, intoxicated Taylor was handcuffed by police officers; the grainy body-cam footage felt like something I shouldn’t be watching, but I couldn’t look away. And four seasons later—and after several more accusations of violence—her reality TV career is imploding in the same way it began.
This is not the first time concerning behavior is caught on camera and treated as a salacious storyline — until it crosses an invisible line. Last summer, Jax Taylor, the star of the Bravo shows Vanderpump Rules and The Valley, was fired after audiences were outraged by the controlling and aggressive behavior he exhibited toward his estranged wife, Brittany Cartwright. While the network was aware of a violent off-camera outburst, in which Taylor trashed furniture at their marital home and allegedly threw his wife into a bush, he was still allowed to continue filming The Valley. During that second season, he barraged Cartwright with angry text messages and, most disturbingly, used the security cameras at their home to spy on her. Only after backlash became insurmountable did the network finally let him go.
While it’s easy to blame the networks here, it’s important to note that fans had previously embraced both Paul and Taylor as villains; a seemingly essential character in the reality TV ecosystem. From the moment they appeared on our screens, both stars were the human embodiment of rage-bait, tailor-made for an internet landscape that rewards polarizing characters. They act in a way that is frustrating, concerning, and—most tellingly—infuriatingly addictive to watch.
Obviously, there is a difference between the allegations against Jax and Taylor, and the personal betrayal of Summer House and Scandoval, but they are united by a similarly frantic fan reaction, where it feels like ethical lines are being hurriedly redrawn. The problem here is that, deep down, fans are aware that the most enthralling reality TV often depends on bad behavior. And as we become more educated about the ethical pitfalls of the genre, we want to consume it without feeling guilty.
It remains to be seen whether the villains of the Summer House furor will be reprimanded with all-out cancellation or given a shot at redemption, but it feels like there is a certain amount of projection going on. By demanding that reality stars have a conscience, we’re trying to prove that we have one too.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
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