Kyle Cooke Reveals Why He ‘Hated’ How ‘Summer House’ Season 7 Kicked Off [Exclusive]
Summer House OG Kyle Cooke admits that season 7 didn’t kick off like most summers they’ve spent in the Hamptons. The vibe was off, ranging from the sudden, awkward bedroom situation to his strained interaction with close friend Carl Radke.
“I think the mood was a little off,” he told Showbiz Cheat Sheet, reflecting on the first 24 hours in the Hamptons house. Cooke and wife Amanda Batula were greeted with a new bedroom configuration, which actually meant fewer bedrooms. Plus, Radke and girlfriend Lindsay Hubbard seemed distant and off.
Kyle Cooke says a ‘weird precedent’ was set for ‘Summer House’ newbies
Radke and Hubbard also suggested that everyone wake up early and hit a local boot camp class. “And then it’s a Saturday morning. People are waking up at 7 a.m. to go work out,” Cooke said. “I mean, that kind of sets a weird tone. It’s like that’s not what this has ever been about. Like, I wake up at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday to go to the gym.”
“It was like a really weird precedent to set night one for three newbies. This is not normal,” he laughed. “Like, don’t think that we take ourselves so seriously. I think I reenacted Clark Griswold from Vacation, with the clipboard. But I also was just like, hey, if anyone’s going to work out, what about the guy who’s trying to stay in shape as an almost 40-year-old? So I didn’t even get the look.”
Kyle wanted a lighter mood in the ‘Summer House’
Cooke admits that he “hated” how that morning began because it set an early and weird precedent for the entire summer.
“Not only is this weird, we’re getting up early, but I’m not even getting asked,” he said. “And people that Carl and Lindsay had just met are getting a look. So it was just it was weird. I hated it. You know me. I like to have a good time. And I like to make sure everybody around me is having a good time. Particularly Chris has never spent time in the Hamptons. I kind of took it upon me, and I want to make sure he gets to experience what will make it a memorable summer.”
Radke connected with newcomer Chris Leoni over his time in the Marines. Meanwhile, Cooke just wanted to have fun and keep the atmosphere light.
Did the bedroom situation add more drama?
Adding to the weirdness was the bedroom situation. Summer House producers rented the same Hamptons house again but it was zoned for only five bedrooms. “Not nine,” Cooke said in a confessional.
“I’ve seen some things surface that [people] think it was the producers,” Cooke said about why they had to reduce the bedrooms.
“I can assure you that it was the fire marshal. Right before we moved in season six the home had changed hands. Someone had just bought it and what they thought they were buying was a seven-bedroom house because there were seven bedrooms if you include Andrea’s [Denver] and Danielle’s [Olivera] from season six. And we make some modifications to make it more accommodating. So the den was Luke’s [Gulbranson] bedroom, it’s now the gym.”
“And then the dining room was Alex’s [Wach] bedroom, which is now a sitting room,” he continued. “And the fire marshal, I don’t know if they happened to catch the show or what. They came in and it was all set up for us with nine bedrooms, just like the previous season. And they were like, nah, this is zoned as a five-bedroom house. So it was like, OK back to the drawing board.”
So did the new configuration create more drama? “To be honest, everyone was fairly accommodating, but I think it kind of lends itself to more conversations kind of happening between closed doors because everybody’s essentially sharing a room, including the couples. It’s kind of like, wait, where is everybody? And then you find out everyone’s in the girls’ room, but the room that they’re in wasn’t the girls from last weekend. So it was an interesting wrinkle that I think added to the show. I don’t know about drama, but it certainly added for some interesting bedroom discussions.”
Summer House is on Monday at 9 pm ET on Bravo.
