Not just a summer romance! Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula have weathered reality TV drama, cheating scandals and wedding delays throughout their relationship — and they’re still going strong.
The Summer House stars’ romance has played out on the Bravo series since season 1, which premiered in January 2017.
Cooke, who met Batula during the summer of 2015, signed on for the reality show first. After inviting his love to spend time with him at the Hamptons house in July 2016, however, the New Jersey native was featured in several season 1 episodes. She officially joined him on the TV adventure for season 2.
“We have watched every episode together, the good ones and the bad,” the Loverboy founder wrote via Instagram in March 2019, while looking back at the first time Batula filmed with him. “It’s not easy reliving the tough and challenging parts of our relationship every year, ever episode, 8 months after it happened, but here we are. Happily engaged, and about to watch the premiere of Season 3. Thank you to everyone for your love and support! ❤️.”
One year prior, Batula gave fans a glimpse at her relationship with Cooke, including why they work so well together.
“I’m very picky when it comes to the guys I date. I can count on one hand the number of long-term relationships I’ve been in and have only told 3 of those people that I loved them because I don’t want to give a piece of my heart to just anyone,” she wrote via Instagram in April 2018.
The Loverboy creative director explained that she let Cooke in because she “trusted” him and saw “how big and kind” his heart was when they first met.
“I admired you because I saw how you were the life of the party and how so many of [your] friends … had nothing but nice things to say about you. I enjoyed dating you because of the weird things we’d get into as essentially complete strangers, our accidental blackout date nights, and at times, your drunken shenanigans that made me laugh and were endless entertainment,” she continued. “I chose you because you chose me too & the only place I’m ever running is straight into your arms (committed to trying to nail that dirty dancing move so keep hitting the gym😜).”
The twosome, who got engaged in September 2018, however, have had their fair share of ups and downs. Their biggest roadblock came when Cooke cheated on Batula, which he later spoke about publicly following the season 3 premiere in March 2019, explaining during the episode that the infidelity took place one year prior.
“Honestly, it’s gonna sound cliché, we went through a lot together, and I’ve always been 99 percent sure,” the Maryland native said during a March 2019 episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen when asked why he fought for Batula after the cheating drama. “But when you go through some of those massive hurdles and speed bumps and you keep it together as a couple, you’re like, ‘Holy crap, life is difficult and she’s the one I want to be with.’”
Batula, for her part, said she had moved on from the betrayal and was focused on her future with Cooke. “I have the ring, I know that he loves me, the world has changed now that he’s serious about me, and I think that’s all that matters,” she said at the time.
The duo tied the knot two years later, with Cooke exclusively telling Us Weekly in October 2021 that he got “goosebumps” ahead of the ceremony.
“I was like a ball of nerves, but in that moment, everything was perfect. It’s exactly how you want it to feel,” he said of the September 2021 nuptials. “And I was certainly teary-eyed, several times during the ceremony, but I managed to pull through.”
Scroll down to relive Summer House’s Cooke and Batula’s relationship highs and lows: