Stuti Gokhale
Bravo’s ‘Summer House’ is a reality TV series that follows a group of nine friends who own a summer house together in a gorgeous location on the East Coast. They spend their summer weekends partying in the house together and return to their daily routines and jobs during the week. The luxurious parties and saucy interactions between the housemates keep the viewers hooked. Since its premiere in 2017, the series has seen several changes and additions in the original nine cast members throughout six seasons.
Moreover, the locations of the houses have also changed. The only constant element has been the high-voltage drama among the castmates, making the viewers wonder whether the group is faking it. They are also curious to know if the constant scrutiny on their lives makes them exaggerate the fights. Let’s explore whether and to what extent ‘Summer House’ is scripted or not.
How Much of Summer House is Scripted?
‘Summer House’ has come under the scanner a few times for not being entirely authentic. Some of the castmates have accused the producers of interfering in the on-screen relationships. For example, in the second part of the season 5 reunion, viewers see castmate Luke Gulbranson point out that the producers meddled in his and Hannah Berner’s relationship.
Hannah Berner and Luke Gulbranson briefly dated in season 4. In the reunion episode, he stated that the producers forced him to ask Hannah to accompany him to his home state Minnesota, after filming for the season ended. “I’m clearly going to break [the] fourth wall, and I apologize, but this is something I have to say,” he said. Luke further added, “I was produced and asked to ask you to go to Minnesota. I should have never asked you that. I should have said no.” However, Hannah and the rest of his castmates denied these accusations.
Eventually, the producers and Luke clarified that he did want Hannah to accompany, but the timing they chose wasn’t appropriate. He went on to apologize to her and took back his claims of the show being scripted, thus dismissing the matter. To further confirm the show is real despite the flared-up drama, cast member Lindsay Hubbard spoke about her behavior in season 4 in an interview with ‘In The Know.’ “Everything you guys are seeing was very, very real and authentic, and the feelings were real, whether they were romantic feelings or me having hurt feelings,” she said.
Lindsay further defended her relationship with Carl Radke to be genuine in a lengthy Instagram post. “For everyone saying that this situation was “scripted” or was for a “storyline,” it wasn’t,” the reality star clarified. “Yes, we signed up to share our lives and open ourselves up for judgement. We are aware of that, and we’re both very strong people, and can handle that. But what is NOT acceptable are the mean-spirited, nasty, derogatory, bullying messages about him.”
On top of that, in a February 2020 interview, a few cast members discussed the challenges of filming on the weekends while balancing their regular jobs during the week. Kyle Cooke said, “I think we’re dealing with it more so than any show because we all scatter and go about our careers and our jobs Monday through Friday … it’s a lot.” This indicates that the show does impact the lives of the cast and crew in a real way.
Apart from the cast members, even the production team has spoken about the genuine and unscripted format of the show. They have revealed several inside secrets to The Daily Dish, including how it is a task to film in restaurants as they have to ensure that regular customers aren’t disturbed and that the cast interactions can be recorded without noise.
Had the TV show been fake, it would be likely that the cast and crew filmed in a location that was specifically set up for filming. Thus, it seems that ‘Summer House’ is relatively unscripted, and documents the real behavior and authentic reactions of the cast members. As human interactions and arguments do tend to blow out of proportion in real life as well, the same may happen on-screen with the show.
Read More: Where is Summer House Filmed?
