Welcome to the Summer House Season 8 Reunion Recap, Part 1! In this week’s episode, Andy congratulates Carl and Lindsay on their breakup since everybody knew their relationship was a trainwreck. He moves on to the lovefest that went on in the house with everyone — apart from Carl and Lindsay, that is. And we finally learn whether Ciara and West were in it for the long haul or if theirs was just a summer romance. Here are the highlights from the Summer House Season 8 Reunion Recap, Part 1.
Feelings are still fresh
As the cast enters the room one by one to take their seats on the couch, Andy declares, “Hottest cast in the franchise! Not a dud in the bunch.”
Andy congratulates Ciara for being on a billboard in Times Square with Southern Charm’s Madison LeCroy, Austen Kroll’s former girlfriend. Ciara calls it “Your Two Favorite Exes,” and Andy jokes that they’ll have to take Austen to take a look. Ciara adds a shady, “Maybe some other people,” and everyone in the room knows it’s directed at West. Something tells me they’re no longer dating.
After welcoming everyone, Andy moves on to Carl and Lindsay, saying, “On behalf of America, I’m so glad you’re not getting married.” Can I get an Amen Hallelujah?
Carl agrees that it was the right decision. The rest of the group is unanimous in their agreement. Andy says they just watched back their breakup on TV. “How are you feeling?”
If anyone still has any doubts, it’s crystal clear why these two people should never even have been dating, let alone engaged to be married. They can’t agree on anything and just bicker with each other. Enough already.
The Bros of Summer
Andy moves on to the “Summer House relationship that was rife with sleepovers, spooning, and sweet morning snuggles … the boys’ romance.” Jesse and West brought new energy, and Carl and Kyle were friends again. There may have been a little estrogen mixed in with the testosterone, as the guys were sweetly affectionate with each other.
The guys all seemed to get along this season. They had each other’s backs, especially when Jesse had his cancer scare. West gently held him in his arms and comforted him while he cried about possibly having to face treatment again. And they often greeted each other with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, which tickled Amanda.
Flower boys
“Carl, who officiated Kyle’s wedding, asked Kyle to be a part of his wedding in an important role that’s usually reserved for someone’s four-year-old niece,” Andy says. “So do you agree that it is something of a demotion for Kyle?”
Lindsay explained that they each had nine attendants: nine bridesmaids and nine groomsmen. That’s a lot!
But Carl has so many friends there was no room for Kyle and the rest of the Summer House boys (Andrea and Luke), so she suggested he make them flower boys.
She further adds that if something were to happen to one of the groomsmen and they couldn’t be there, who would Carl choose to fill in? And he said Andrea. Kyle looks a little downcast at this news. So, Carl’s long-time buddy and business partner is, at best, eleventh on his list of groomsmen. Wow.
According to her, Carl’s statement that Lindsay didn’t want Kyle as a groomsman was just a “complete lie.” Yikes.
Andy moves on and mentions, “There’s a large contingent of people … who think, Carl, you were afraid of Lindsay … Show of hands, who thinks Carl was afraid of Lindsay?” Pretty much unanimous, including Andy, Lindsay, and even Carl. Well, duh!
Andy adds that Carl’s back at Loverboy. “How’s that been going?”
“Good,” Carl admits. “I’m not full-time, which we talked about … He wanted to allow me the opportunity to focus on other things, kind of start small … Honestly, it’s been going really well.”
Girls rule
The girls all seemed to get along well this summer and were very supportive of Lindsay following her breakup with Carl. “What do you attribute all the love to?” Andy asks Amanda.
“I think we’re all, sort of like, growing up,” Amanda responds. “We don’t want to go into the summer fighting with each other all the time.”
Next, Andy questions Danielle about the rekindling of her and Lindsay’s friendship since they were in such a rocky place at the end of last summer.
“We met off camera,” Danielle says, “and rehashed everything … just figured out how to move forward.”
Kyle adds that the women kind of all hit “reset” and were in a good place all summer. Ironically, Carl shared with Kyle that Lindsay was getting along with everyone except him, her fiancé. A screencap was shown of the girls all going to dinner together, with the caption, “Girls rule, boys drool.” Nice, Lindsay.
Amidst the conversation about the girls all getting along, Paige says she felt “connected” to Lindsay over the summer, and they got along well. But then at BravoCon in November 2023, Carl told Paige that Lindsay and a friend of hers had plotted to “sabotage” a photo shoot Paige was doing at a restaurant where Lindsay’s friend worked. Paige was “distraught.”
Carl had overheard his then-fiancée and her friend on the phone talking about Paige’s photoshoot and how they could mess it up. Lindsay denies that ever happened and apologizes, saying, “I’m sorry if Carl lied yet again.” Wow. She never misses an opportunity to throw him under the bus.
Summer love … or not?
Sparks flew almost immediately when West and Ciara met on the first night. Fans were ‘shipping them as a couple, but did he end up breaking her heart?
“Take me through what happened after the cameras went down,” Andy says. Ciara doesn’t want to relive it, so says she’ll let West explain.
He says they continued seeing each other until about early December. Ciara says after waiting all summer, they did end up sleeping together. While they were seeing each other, they visited his parents’ house in Missouri, stayed with his brother in Chicago, and went to a wedding together. So they were in a relationship.
“Were you sleeping with other people over the summer?” Andy asks.
“Um, yeah,” he admits reluctantly. And there it is. Andy wonders if West was with her “only for the clout.”
Ciara believes he broke up with her because he wanted to be available when the show started airing. As he said, the audience is mainly women, and girls would be interested in him. Ugh. He broke Ciara’s heart.
West is a player, y’all. I’m so disappointed in him. She told Paige before the reunion that she didn’t want to have to talk about it cause she didn’t want to cry, and she was indeed dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. Even Kyle was wiping away tears when Ciara explained how she felt.
West looks sad. He says he didn’t mean to hurt her. But you did, asshole. I wonder if West will be back next season. He’s sure to gain some haters.
All episodes of Summer House are now streaming on Peacock.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE SUMMER HOUSE SEASON 8 REUNION, PART 1? WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT WEST AND CIARA BROKE UP?