Reality TV relationships are messy enough without an ocean between you and the fallout, but Amanda Batula and West Wilson seem determined to test those limits. The Summer House costars were spotted getting cozy in Sicily, Italy last week—photos that arrived just days after they faced the reunion gauntlet back home.
The timing is worth unpacking. Batula, 34, and Wilson, 31, jetted off to Italy after taping the Summer House season 10 reunion, where they had to defend a romance that started in March, roughly two months after Batula separated from her husband Kyle Cooke. That’s not a small detail. At the reunion, Batula acknowledged the awkwardness head-on, telling the group she felt embarrassed having to say she had kissed Wilson while he was seeing someone else. She also stressed that she and Wilson had processed everything privately before going public—a joint statement in May where they framed their connection as something that grew organically from years of friendship.
The Sicily getaway tells a different story visually. One photo caught Batula appearing to spit into Wilson’s open mouth—a moment that reads as intimate, playful, and utterly unbothered by the cameras. Whether that’s confidence or tone-deafness probably depends on your view of the whole situation.
And here’s the thing: not everyone has moved past it. Ciara Miller, Wilson’s ex and once Batula’s close friend, claimed in April that she was blindsided by the romance. She told Glamour that experiencing hurt publicly while watching her perceived life play out on screen in season 10 was another layer entirely. Wilson and Batula have denied any overlap between his relationship with Miller and their romance, but Miller’s cryptic final words—”What’s done in the dark always comes to light”—suggest she’s not buying it.
The Italy photos don’t settle the question of timeline or intention. What they do show is two people who seem to have decided the reunion interrogation is behind them, at least for now. Whether that confidence holds up when the season actually airs is another matter entirely.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.