The most recent ninth season of “Summer House” ushered in some big changes, from Lindsay Hubbard’s pregnancy to Paige DeSorbo’s relationship turmoil with Craig Conover, and her eventual departure from the show. According to star Amanda Batula, more changes could be on the way, and she’d be fine with that.
“I’m not tapping out of reality television, but we’ll see what the future of ‘Summer House’ holds,” Batula said during the Business of Reality panel on the Samsung Ads Floating Penthouse at Cannes Lions on Tuesday, which was moderated by Variety‘s co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh.
Batula said that the composition of the show could certainly change, after fans noticed that Season 9 showed a bigger divide between the original cast members who were more settled down in their lives and the newer additions, who were eager to go out drinking on the weekends in the Hamptons. For now, though, Batula, her husband, Kyle Cooke, Carl Radke, Ciara Robinson and even Hubbard will be returning for the show’s 10th season when it starts production soon.
But Season 10 might be that core group of veterans’ last hurrah. “I think ‘Summer House’ in particular can go one of two ways,” she said. “It can evolve with the current cast, or we can sort of split off, ‘The Valley’-style. I’m not in control of that. I don’t know how long I’ll be asked back for. I think it just depends on what direction ‘Summer House’ goes. You hear the fans talking a lot about wanting a younger group of people. Fine by me. Take ’em, people who love to party.”
The one sure thing? Batula joked that Cooke, who was in the audience, plans to stay on the show forever.
“I always joke that Kyle is going to be buried on the show,” she said with a laugh. “His funeral will be aired, even if they have to revive it. Kyle will have his funeral on ‘Summer House.’”
In another part of the conversation, Batula said she is thankful that her frank discussions on “Summer House” about her struggles with depression have made an impact on fans of the show.
“I shared this journey a year and a half ago, and to this day, I will open up my DMs, and I have messages from people thanking me for being so open and vulnerable, sharing their stories with me, telling me how I changed their life, how they went to see a doctor,” she said. “They told someone that they were struggling. They are trying out medication. They’re seeing a therapist. They’re going back on meds. Every single day, I get people thanking me for opening up about something that I wasn’t ashamed of whatsoever, and I think that’s so incredible, and it just pushes me to continue to be open and honest and vulnerable.”
“Summer House” just finished airing its ninth season.
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