Roxanne 
West Wilson is explaining why he stayed seated when Amanda Batula walked off stage during the Summer House reunion.
The Summer House star addressed the awkward reunion moment on the June 5 episode of his Show Me Something podcast, after viewers watched Amanda excuse herself during Part 2 of the three-part reunion while the cast grilled her and West about their controversial romance.
Amanda and West’s relationship has been one of the biggest storylines of the season after the two confirmed their romance in March. The situation shocked fans and cast members because Amanda had recently separated from husband Kyle Cooke, while West previously dated Amanda’s former close friend Ciara Miller.
During the reunion, Amanda became emotional and walked off stage as the cast continued questioning the timeline of her relationship with West and how the two handled it with the people closest to them.
But instead of immediately following Amanda, West stayed seated until Kyle, Amanda’s ex-husband, encouraged him to go after her.
Now, West says there was a reason he did not jump up right away.
“The Amanda getting up part, I knew it was gonna look bad, but we talked before. We were like, ‘Ok, it’s going to be annoying as f–k for everyone there if we use the word we the whole time.’ Cause we have individual friendships and relationships with all these people,” Wilson explained.
According to West, he and Amanda agreed ahead of time that they would each answer for themselves rather than constantly presenting a united front.
“We should answer for ourselves. Let’s not speak for each other. Because I think that’s a corny ass look to try to play the ‘we’ card the whole time. And we agreed, hold it down as individuals. So she got up, I was like, one of us needs to be on this stage,” he said.
West said he knew Amanda needed a moment, but he felt one of them had to remain on stage to continue facing the group.
“She’s a big girl. She was gonna go take a sec and come back, I got yelled at enough times, so I got up. But it would have been weirder if she got up and Kyle got up. Like, Kyle almost went. It’s just so f—ing weird. But I didn’t want them all on stage without two of us. I feel like that’s a worse look,” West continued.
The moment stood out because Kyle, who is separated from Amanda, appeared more visibly concerned in that instant than West did. That led to major viewer reactions online, with many fans questioning why Amanda’s estranged husband had to prompt her current boyfriend to check on her.
West, however, insists he was not ignoring Amanda’s emotions.
“I knew she was fine,” he added.
West also said he was prepared for the reunion to get ugly, especially given the backlash surrounding his relationship with Amanda and the hurt it caused within the group.
“There’s a lot of that. I’ve done three of these now, I know how they’re gonna go. It’s not my style of conflict or communication, but I’d be lying if I was like, ‘Oh, I wasn’t prepared for people to say mean stuff,'” he said.
The reunion has been especially brutal for West and Amanda, who have had to answer questions from Ciara, Kyle and the rest of the cast about when their relationship started, why they kept it quiet and whether they understood how deeply their choices affected the friend group.
Ciara has been vocal about feeling betrayed, accusing Amanda of not being honest with her and claiming West wanted to embarrass her. Kyle, meanwhile, has had to process his estranged wife moving on with someone from their inner circle.
