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Summer House ended its tenth season with explosive, messy drama.
It drew a lot of eyes to the Bravo series. It drew a lot of condemnation towards the controversial couple who betrayed their friends and kept their entanglement secret for as long as possible.
Actually, West Wilson got most of the blame.
Is Amanda Batula the victim of a manipulative love-bomber? Not really.
Is she the victim here?
In the bitter aftermath of Summer House Season 10, Batula turned to Lindsay Hubbard — one of the friends still speaking to her — for comfort.
“I’ve made some poor decisions, but … I was in such a s–tty relationship,” Batula insisted.
The relationship in question was her marriage to Kyle Cooke. The two only separated in January, by the way.
“I just wasn’t me anymore,” Batula protested. “And going out [with West], I felt just … fun again.”
Feigning introspection, she claimed: “I think maybe I confused going out with West and falling in love with myself again.”
Batula continued, claiming that West was texting and “pursuing” her to hang out.
She says that she mostly refused … until her separation from Cooke, that is. Then, she went out with him instead of staying at home.
Hubbard was super sympathetic, believing that West manipulated Batula when she was at a low point.
Batula expressed feelings of being overwhelmed and overpowered because West seemed to really care about her, bombarding her with attention when she felt “unloveable.”
Some on the internet have sided with Batula, believing that West love-bombed her. But is that really what happened?
Ciara Miller is the ACTUAL victim, here
Look, there are certainly reasons to believe that Batula wasn’t in a good place, mentally or emotionally.
After all, she and Cooke apparently didn’t have sex during their marriage. They were married for years, by the way.
But the amount of sympathy being channeled by viewers in Batula’s direction is way out of proportion. Especially when compared to how some have chosen to view Ciara Miller.
Ciara has been called “too harsh” and “mean” for confronting her former best friend on the reunion stage.
She showed passion and heartbreak and emotion. Batula also cried, but not over her fallen friendship.
On the stage, Batula cried when she felt humiliated over Wilson being with Meija Moreno when the two of them first hooked up. She even left the stage.
This was about her — her image, her feelings, her sense of worth.
Meanwhile, when anyone, from her castmates to host Andy Cohen, tried to challenge her for being a bad friend, she’d try to wriggle out of the conversation or swap topics or churn out more excuses.
Batula wasn’t friendless when West hit her up. She turned down partying with friends because hooking up with West made her feel good, and because it’s what she wanted to do.
Now she’s, if not friendless, sporting fewer than she was just a few months ago. Betraying your best friend for a man is just not a good look, and it makes you the bad guy.
Yes, even if the man you betrayed her for is even worse.