May 19 is the Season 10 finale of Summer House, but the story for cast members Lindsay Hubbard, Kyle Cooke, and Amanda Batula continues on the new spinoff In the City. Also returning for the new show is Summer House alum Andrea Denver, who was a main cast member in Season 6 and will now be returning to reality TV full-time with his wife, Lexi Sundin, on In the City.
“When I got approached, I just loved the whole concept of the show, being with my friends,” Denver tells TV Insider. “I liked that there was a real connection. We are a group of friends who have known each other for years, and then the people that were friends with Kyle, like Kenny [Martin] and Gavin [Moseley], I got the chance to hang out with them last summer and get to know them a little bit more, and we all clicked.”
The show follows Hubbard, Cooke, Batula, Denver, and their pals as they navigate the next phases of their lives in New York City. For some, that’s marriage and/or new relationships, for others it’s babies, and for Cooke and Batula, it’s a separation after a decade together.
The pair announced their split in January, and two months later, it was confirmed that Batula was secretly hooking up with West Wilson, another Summer House castmate who used to date one of her close friends, Ciara Miller.
The timeline of Wilson and Batula’s romance is unclear, but Denver says he “definitely wasn’t aware” of anything going on when they were filming In the City last fall. “I guess, from what I’ve seen in the trailer, there might be some insights [into that],” he notes, referring to Wilson’s cameo in the previously-released sneak peek.
Kareem Black/Bravo)
Below, Denver teases what to expect from In the City, and promises that fans will want to tune in for so much more than just the Cooke and Batula drama.
As you guys were filming, Amanda and Kyle’s separation was playing out in real time. Was it something that was coming up amid the cast, or were they dealing with it on their own?
Andrea Denver: In the moment, we really took the whole matter to heart. We all know Kyle for a long time. I’ve known Kyle [for] five years. We really tried everything to support them. In the moment, it was more about this life choice of becoming a DJ, but you don’t really know … when you live under the same roof, they know what their true issues were and what was really going on. For me, in the moment, I didn’t see Kyle becoming a DJ as a great move, but at the same time, apparently, there was other layers there that we weren’t really aware of. So it’s hard to tell, but yes, it was hard at times during the fall.
We were all there cheering for them and cheering for them to make it work. I know they definitely tried. They made a few attempts. They tried to line things up again in a good way and passionate way, but in the end, I don’t think it worked out and it’s probably for the best if they got to the mutual agreement. They realized that was the best solution in their situation.
I don’t know if there’s going to be anything from the last month [on the show]. It definitely gets into their separation, which is pretty recent. They separated at the end of January. So maybe it’s not about what happened in the last month [with Wilson], but you still get a pretty good vision of what happened, and I’m sure there’s going to be other insights of what happened in the last month. [Editor’s Note: Bravo confirmed that cameras picked back up to film a scene after scandal, but specifics have not been revealed.]
Why do you think fans will still want to tune in even if we’re not going to see that? What are you excited for people to see aside from that?
Of course, people are really invested in this late drama and what has been happening, but I think there is so much more than that. In the City really dives into what it means to live, to work, to date, to have a relationship in a fast-paced environment. Everybody’s chasing different things. People are chasing success, they’re chasing love, they’re chasing recognition, sometimes even clarity. I think the viewers should be entertained because there is so many different things and levels.
Bryan Bedder/Bravo
I wouldn’t really worry about the timeline. I’m sure there’s going to be insights or some clues about what this whole thing has become, but I think people can get invested in many more things than they expect. There’s definitely strong personalities, big ambitions, and also fun moments, as well. It doesn’t always have to be about the drama. I’m always pro-fun. I know people love the drama, but there’s fun times that leave a big mark on each one of us. So there should still be a lot of excitement.
This is the first time your relationship with Lexi is going to be documented – did she have any hesitations about joining, and were you hesitant about how being on a TV show could affect the relationship?
Not really, honestly. I wouldn’t say confident is the right word, but we’re a team. We love each other. We have a really strong and beautiful bond, and we talked it through. We were on the same page, where we’re happy to be there with people we’ve known for years, people we had a lot of great memories with.
When Lindsay used to date Carl [Radke], we used to do double dates all the time, so we spent a lot of time together. We used to do double dates with Nick [Barber] and Yvonne [Najor] a few years ago when Lindsay and Carl were together, too.
It isn’t a party-oriented show like Summer House. At the time, that didn’t make more sense for me and the stage I was looking for in my life. When Lexi and I got back together and she gave me the chance to date again, I knew I had to put that lifestyle away for the person I wanted to spend my life with. While Summer House didn’t make sense back then, I thought that In the City was more like our dimension, and doing it with people I’ve known for years felt really comfortable.
In the City, Series Premiere, Tuesday, May 19, 9/8c, Bravo
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