Bravo chairman Frances Berwick is shedding insight on whether Summer House producers knew about Amanda Batula and West Wilson’s joint statement confirming their romance.
“Did they have a jump that they were going to do that? Yes,” Berwick told Ankler in an interview published on Thursday, April 30. “Did anyone know? Minor heads-up, a few hours. Amanda let Kyle [Cooke] know a little bit before that day. That day, so not much. So, the production really didn’t know.”
Amanda, 34, and West, 31, made headlines in March when they confirmed their relationship after her separation from husband Kyle, 43, and his romance with her best friend Ciara Miller. Amid the drama, Berwick confirmed that Bravo picked up the cameras for spinoff In the City.
“In the City, which launches in a couple weeks, you’ll see in the first episode we have a new scene that we shot with a couple of the cast members,” Berwick said. “So, we did pick up [cameras] there, but we just didn’t feel like that was the right thing to do on Summer House.”
Berwick continued, “It does come back to the emotional well-being of the cast members, and we didn’t think that was right. We did take a beat before we covered that. And that was obviously in the reunion last week; as everyone now knows, we taped the reunion last week.”
Amanda and West are set to discuss their romance during the Summer House season 10 reunion, which filmed on Thursday, April 23. Hours after cameras went down, audio of Amanda and Ciara, 30, arguing about West at the taping leaked online. Bravo subsequently launched an investigation, which came to a close on Sunday, April 26.
“An investigation into the recent leak of the Summer House reunion audio has concluded that the audio was an unauthorized recording and distributed by an individual involved in the production of the reunion,” Bravo’s statement read at the time. “As a result of the findings, appropriate action has been taken.”
The network concluded, “There is no evidence that any member of the cast was involved in the recording of the audio. We take these matters seriously and will continue to take appropriate measures to respond to the unauthorized distribution of our content. We are aware that there is additional improperly obtained audio circulating and we caution all parties and platforms to refrain from posting, sharing or amplifying any unauthorized audio.”
In the City premieres on Bravo Tuesday, May 19, at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes of Summer House air on Bravo Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
