Summer House Reunion Part 3

Kia ora, hello and welcome to Anyway! The blog where I unpack the chaos of reality TV.

Today we’re diving back into the Summer House Reunion. Here we go again for round 3 — let’s get into it.

We open with a shot of NYC and, for some reason, the choir ladies from Real Housewives of Salt Lake City are here with us. Everyone is heading back to the stage after the lunch break while Ciara is wrapping up her facetime with Meija. Bailey, West and Amanda are all out in the stage area, and Bailey asks Amanda if she’s hanging in there, to which she responds “no.” She asks her to come sit with her. Bailey is worried about Amanda. Amanda says maybe she’s being naive. Bailey says “I do not trust that man one bit.” None of us do. Amanda says maybe this is a huge mistake and she’ll wake up one day. Let’s hope for your sake, Amanda, that that day comes sooner rather than later. She seems completely devoid of emotion, energy, fucks to give — I don’t know — everything really. Meanwhile, Carl tells Lindsay that she’s unbelievable. He thinks it’s fun to watch her direct her anger at anyone else but him. Fair enough, Carl. Lindsay wants to know how two 6 foot 5 men can have a height discrepancy while seated. She’s questioning the torso to leg ratio. Either that or Jesse just doesn’t know how to sit up straight.

Andy welcomes us back and wants everything left on the table so everyone can move forward. He wants to know how the romance between West and Amanda came about. Basically, West is taking Amanda’s re-found happiness as a personal accomplishment. He says it was all down to her spending time with him and his friends. Andy asks Amanda when it happened for her. She says West said something to her along the lines of “is there something here,” and a flood of emotions overcame her. Pretty fucking ambiguous. Andy says, “to be clear — were you having an affair over the summer?” and they’re all “ABSOLUTELY NOT” in unison. Uhh, you might want to try being less suspect, you guys. West says because they’ve lied, of course no one’s going to believe them. Jesse points out that not only did they lie, they gaslit everyone and made them feel crazy for thinking there was something going on. They all chime in saying things like “you were playing tricks on the internet,” and Ciara says, “you guys are so fucking calculated, why would we believe anything you say?”

Mia explains why she thinks there was something going on. One was the intense hug they had after Carl and Kyle had their fight. Amanda was seeking emotional comfort from West in more than just a friendship type of way. The second was when West was basically spooning Amanda while she was talking to Kyle about the fight and sniffing her hair weirdly. There’s honestly a bunch more I can think of too: him pulling over his chair to Amanda, telling Amanda that he loved her in the bathroom after Kyle said fuck you to her the first time, sitting on her, which is his fucked up way of expressing affection, and the myriad of weird long hugs that we saw. Anyway, West says you would’ve clocked it if something was going on. Mia basically says no, they were looking at things through the lens of Amanda being a victim and that they both wouldn’t do something like that. Andy asks if they had a crush on each other at the time. West says no, but they got closer. Amanda says she was caught up and lost in the fallout of her marriage.

The more of this I’m watching, the more I’m thinking that West has completely emotionally manipulated Amanda into this situation. Maybe that’s what she’s trying to portray and I’m wrong. I also am not excusing her part in it whatsoever. Obviously she should’ve ignored all of his bullshit and thought about Ciara. But it’s hard to ignore her constantly saying she had no feelings for him up until he said something, and that she was in emotional turmoil at the time because of the breakdown of her marriage and was vulnerable. Also, I don’t know why she would be trying to portray West as a manipulator when she’s actively in a relationship with him. That seems doubtful. Anyway, the people all say they at least had a more emotional relationship than they’re admitting to, which West agrees with. Lindsay says to Amanda, “when you yelled at West for making out with the girl on his lap, you were clearly doing that for yourself and not Ciara.”

Kyle has a pressing timeline question that he would like to ask. He wants to know if these two dummies ever fucked in 2025. He gives zero shits about an emotional affair, which is kind of funny. Lindsay rightly points out that an emotional affair is so much worse. Mia asks if they came forward just because of the speculation or if they were going to tell everyone eventually. Amanda says “TO BE SOOOO HONEST,” which makes me think she’s about to be dishonest. She says they did come forward because of the speculation because she was still trying to figure everything out with what was happening with West and Meija. Mia would like to clarify that her hesitation was not because she didn’t want to hurt Ciara. It was to see whether West had a girlfriend. THANK YOU MIA FOR YOUR SERVICE. Amanda babbles about knowing she handled it wrong and apologises to Ciara again, according to her. I’m trying to think if we’ve seen her apologise before this. Did we and I forgot? All I recall was her scoffing and rolling her eyes.

Andy says, “being the slam pig that you are West, I assume you were seeing other girls the whole time. Did Meija know that you were dating around or did she think you were exclusive?” He says they weren’t exclusive. Ciara says he’s a big old stupid liar because he sent her flowers for Valentines. West says, “I’ve been not clear with a zillion women I’ve dated prior to this,” and again I say, “HELLO AMANDA — ARE YOU RECEIVING THIS INFORMATION?” This is ground control to Major Tom — you're off your course, direction's wrong!!!! Somebody get the smelling salts!! Hate that I’ve just brought David Bowie into this — apologies everyone. When I find myself in times of trouble, David Bowie comes to me, speaking words of wisdom. AAHHHHH I can’t stop!! Ok, focus Natalie! Only 30 minutes to go — you can do this! Kyle wants West to clarify if he was exclusive with Meija. He says, “no, but she thought we were.” This fucking piece of shit.

Andy wants to know how the people know the details of West and Meija’s relationship. The people have their ways, Andy. Do not question them!! Ciara says she has a timeline because she’s been in contact with Meija. She says to West, “you were saying I love you to this woman.” He has that dumb look on his face again, but no words. Also, just as a side note, I’m irritated that I now keep seeing people post stuff online about what this idiot is saying on his podcast. Apparently he’s more fucking chatty than he’s ever been on that thing. If you couldn’t say it at the reunion, I don’t want to fucking hear it. And who is listening to that podcast? I couldn’t be less interested. Amanda says some of this is new information to her. Yeah, we know, Amanda. West would like to dispute the term girlfriend being applied to Meija, but the people are all, “you were exclusive, that’s what exclusive means,” which West sheepishly agrees with. I now see some form of emotion on Amanda’s face. Is she pissed at West? Let’s hope so.

Jesse says he met Meija in October and he was under the impression she knew they were not exclusive. He’s getting emotional. He knows he’s not the one here that needs sympathy, but he’s gonna ask for it anyway. He’s heartbroken about the group being broken up. Andy wants to talk about West not trying to portray to everyone that he’s not boyfriend material. He asks if Amanda and West are monogamous. West initially says “yes,” then recants saying “not since we expressed feelings,” which I guess he means since they’ve started hooking up, they are. Andy now wants to know if they feel pressure to stay together. West says yes, but that’s not why they are together. LOL, oh my gawd. Andy says this seems dangerous to him with someone who clearly has commitment issues. You’re walking a fine fucking line, West. Kyle says he feels fucked up because he considered West one of his best friends, and all the shit he’s learned about him recently is disturbing because he does still care about Amanda. And we all know West is going to absolutely screw her over. You can lead a horse to water, Kyle.

Anyway, Kyle feels like an absolute fool for talking to West about his marriage, his sex life and his business. West says everyone is justified in feeling like he’s the worst person ever to be having a relationship with. Lindsay wants to know if there’s anything West can say to reassure everyone. He babbles some word salad, so no, I guess he has nothing. They’re discussing the breadcrumbing on social media, and Amanda is saying it’s so easy to read into everything in retrospect. Ciara calls bullshit. She says, “girls post so consciously, subconsciously even down to the song.” Ciara is correct. I overthink a song choice like my life depends on it being the right one. Andy says the thing about this situation, and the reason people are so upset, is because of the friend betrayal and everyone having to watch Ciara build them up in so many scenes to the nth degree. Amanda says, “I did a really shitty thing.” Ciara rebuts, “you’re still doing a really shitty thing.”

Andy tells Amanda to tell Ciara how she’s feeling about betraying her. He’s really trying to squeeze blood out of a stone here. Poor Andy. Amanda says this has been a confusing and crazy time and a bunch of other shit, but she’s not looking at Ciara. She’s not talking to her. She’s trying to work through what she perceives to be a PR nightmare, which this is. But Andy is asking you about your friendship, which you clearly don’t care about because Andy just gave you ample opportunity and you fucked it. Ciara says again, “you do not feel bad. You barely talked to me,” and she could not in any scenario fathom that Amanda would be fucking her ex. Ciara is crying. Amanda is still a robot. Ciara says, “if you were my friend you would have thought about how much this would hurt me,” and that West wants revenge on her because he’s with Amanda in spite of her. Andy says watching the season back has been a major mind fuck and asks which scenes were the hardest to watch. Ciara says the last episode when they were leaving the house — the scene where she’s telling Amanda how much she loves her and how special she is. Amanda is sitting there stone cold listening to this. What the hell?

Ciara doesn’t regret being there for Amanda because to see a broken woman made her sad. She wants to build women up, which is a beautiful thing. Apparently Amanda is going to be doing a lot of thinking and a lot of reflecting, which prompts an eye roll from Ciara. Lindsay wants to know how Amanda didn’t know this was all going to turn to shit. Annnnd Jesse is still crying. He’s sad he’s losing a brother. He wants to know how West feels about Jesse being sad. He doesn’t really seem too bothered to be honest. Then Andy asks the question we all want to know. He says, “no offence but are you on like a bunch of beta blockers or something?” Because everyone else is super upset and he’s completely void of emotion. West says he is on beta blockers, but he has no idea if that’s the issue. I don’t know what the fuck beta blockers are. I saw Ciara say on Threads that they don’t numb your actual emotions, but they curb the physical reactions to anxiety and stress. I’m paraphrasing. So with that assessment, I assume what we’re seeing here is not the work of a beta blocker. Who fucking knows. Unless they come out and tell us, it’s all speculation.

Andy asks Amanda if it was all worth it. Bailey is hoping and wishing and praying that she will say “no.” Amanda says she wishes she could have both. I guess she means both Ciara and West. Andy wants to know if they are in love. I guess it’s too early for them to say, but Jesse throws West right under that bus and says, “he told me he thinks he loves her.” Mia is laughing, Lindsay basically says you’re being an idiot and Bailey says, “he’s going to embarrass you.” Some would say he already has. Carl is incredulous. He says, “and you still want to be with him even after all of this shit?” That’s a yes, Carl. Amanda is up shit creek without a paddle. Andy asks if West can give Amanda what she needs in a partner, even though he already knows the answer. West says he’s committed to making an effort if he and Amanda can get back to how they were in the early days. Everyone is all, “what the fuck do you mean the early days? You’ve only been together for six weeks!” This fucking dummy. You’ve just fucked over your stupid timeline, which no one believed.

This man thinks that relationships should be all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. If he ever has a real one, he will realise they are hard work. But this dickhead wouldn’t know hard work if it slapped him in the face. Lindsay’s over it. Again, she is all of us. Break time. Mia and Lindsay are like, “we’ve been here for ten fucking hours and we still don’t know shit.” I feel the same way even though I’ve only been watching for a bit less than three hours. During the break Andy asks how West feels. He feels baaaaaad. Kyle is upset. He wants to know if West is going to treat Amanda right. Amanda walks back on stage and hugs Kyle. He starts crying. He hates the fact that their ten-year relationship is being talked about like it was all bad.

Lindsay comes back on stage and declares, “Andy, I haven’t learned anything.” She says there’s not been a lot of clarity. Andy is all, “FUCK IT, let’s start over then.” Lindsay wants to know why it took until today for West and Amanda to think this shit through. She says, “I’m looking at you West, because you are the manipulator here.” Kyle says he’s just trying to make peace with this whole situation and he just wants to have an amicable divorce with Amanda. He says, “god forbid our friends have to choose sides or the audience has to choose a side.” I’d like to say the audience has chosen, Kyle, and it comes as a shock to everyone that they are indeed on your side because you certainly are no angel.

Andy gives Ciara the final word. He wants to know if today was cathartic for her. She says yes and it’s nice to move on with her life. He tells us that Ciara helped raise $160,000 for Girl Scout Troop 6000 as a result of all this mess, which is fucking amazing. They end the reunion with Girl Scout Cookies. West goes to eat his and gets scolded by Amanda, who says, “don’t eat it yet, we’re supposed to be cheersing.” WELCOME TO YOUR NEW LIFE, WEST — ENJOY BEING KYLE JUNIOR.

If Jesse is Carl Junior, West is Kyle Junior.

Anyway, we see a preview of a bonus episode coming next week. Just when I thought I wouldn’t have to see the blonde worm with a moustache again. But we do get Meija, which is interesting!

Thanks for reading!
See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya!