Summer House’s Kyle Cooke Recalls Carl Radke Was ‘Checked Out’ at Loverboy – ‘I Didn’t Want to Hurt His Feelings’ [Exclusive]

Kyle Cooke went into Summer House Season 7 fully expecting that “summer should be fun.” But this time it was Carl Radke who was “not fun.”

Cooke recently told Showbiz Cheat Sheet he initially didn’t feel friendship tension from Radke going into the summer but admitted that their work relationship was already suffering. The Radke/Cooke bromance that Summer House is known for seemed disjointed during the first episode of season 7 as work tension started to bleed into their friendship.

“Carl and I have never had any conflict going into this summer,” he explained. “And we’ve never been at odds with one another on this show. So it was uncharted territory for us and you can see it like even in the moment. We still have a lot of love and respect for one another. And so it’s like we’re basically dancing around the elephant in the room and just not addressing it.”

Kyle Cooke says Loverboy employees wondered if Carl Radke’s heart was in the job

The big elephant was how Radke no longer seemed to be interested in his job at Cooke’s company, Loverboy.

“I mean, look, we’re no longer a little three, four, or five-person company, right? So the needs of the company had already evolved pretty significantly,” Cooke said. “Carl’s role had already kind of shifted, even though he hadn’t changed his title. I was trying to … I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, quite frankly.”

“I’d already brought on a new kind of VP of distribution, which was essentially a new VP of sales,” he said. “And it was already a couple of months in the making where I’m being told by other employees like, ‘Hey is Carl in this? Is his head in it? Is his heart in it?’ I mean, I think I said it, weekend one, I felt like he could just quit any minute. So it already dawned on me (he might quit).”

Kyle didn’t think Carl would actually quit

Radke has since left Loverboy and even though Cooke anticipated it could happen, he was still a little surprised when he quit.

“I never thought it would actually happen because I think Loverboy has given him a ton of purpose and stability,” Cooke said. “We built this thing from the ground up. So I honestly didn’t think it would ever really happen. And it just was like a long, slow, drawn-out process. It wasn’t until November that he finally was like, ‘Hey …’ And I was kind of at that point, too. I’m like, something’s got to change. So it sucks.”

The ‘Summer House’ bromance is slowly returning

Even though it sucked, Cooke said there is a silver lining. “I think it allows us to focus on our friendship,” he said. “We got dinner the other night, and it was so long overdue where we just focused on us. And it was not about, you know, ‘Hey, buddy things were good now you seem a little checked out.’ Like, we just had so many conversations. It felt like we were talking in circles and we would just repeat that and repeat that and repeat it.”

“So it was a breath of fresh air. It was a weight off both of our shoulders. But yeah, that was two weeks ago,” he said. “What people are watching right now is the beginning of all that.”

In an upcoming Summer House episode, Radke voices his frustration to Cooke, which is when he admits that he is struggling. “I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do and where I’m going at Loverboy,” Radke tells Cooke. “‘Cause some days, I’ve been pissed. I’m like, f***, like, I’ve been working my a** off and it’s not good enough, or I don’t feel like I’m valued sometimes and it’s a s***ty feeling.”

Summer House is on Monday at 9 pm ET on Bravo.