While the fallout from their relationship continued to explode on screen, Amanda Batula and West Wilson decided the best response was a romantic escape to Sicily. The Summer House couple were photographed enjoying dinner at Caffè Wunderbar in Taormina on Tuesday, June 2, looking relaxed and absorbed in conversation as the second part of their reunion aired on Bravo—a bold move that speaks volumes about their commitment to each other amid the chaos.
The timing was deliberate, if not defiant. Just days earlier on May 26, the same day the first reunion episode dropped, they’d been spotted together in Rome. Now, with exes and former castmates leveling serious criticism during part two of the reunion, Amanda and West are essentially saying: we’re not backing down. It’s a power move in reality TV playbook terms, though the reunion footage tells a starkly different story about the relationship’s foundation.
The drama unfolding on screen paints a troubling picture. West’s ex Meija Moreno called Ciara Miller, 30, to reveal she and West were in an exclusive relationship when he began dating Amanda—and he went public with Amanda the very next day after ending things with Meija. Amanda herself admitted feeling“embarrassed”about the overlap, walking off the reunion set in tears. That same night, another of West’s exes, Dara Levitan, 33, delivered a scathing assessment of his patterns, telling him point-blank:“The biggest pattern in his life is it is the West show.”She warned Amanda that West treats women as“expendable”and that his priority will always be maintaining his image rather than respecting the women he dates.
West’s response to Dara’s critique?“Yeah, I agree.”Not exactly a rousing defense.
Yet here’s the thing about reality TV romance: the couple’s public displays of togetherness, no matter how charming, exist in direct tension with the testimony of people who’ve actually dated him. Amanda confirmed their relationship in late March, roughly three months after announcing her separation from husband Kyle Cooke. The speed of the transition, combined with the fact that West was Ciara Miller’s ex, created immediate friction with her now-estranged best friend. Now they’re literally vacationing together while the reunion plays out—which could read as confidence, or as tone-deaf ignoring of legitimate concerns about how he’s treated previous partners.
Part three of the reunion airs Tuesday, June 9 at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo. That’s when viewers will finally see how Amanda responds to everything being said about her new relationship, and whether she has answers to the pattern that Dara, and others, are highlighting. Until then, the couple’s Italian romance will remain the most interesting subplot of a reunion that’s clearly designed to tear this relationship apart—on camera, at least.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.