Wirkus and her co-star, Kyle Cooke, also fill ET in on their new housemates and other relationship developments to come this season.
It’s time to head back to the Summer House.
Bravo’s breakout hit is back for season two, with a couple new faces and a lot of new drama. ET caught up with returning stars Kyle Cooke and Lauren Wirkus ahead of the season two launch to get some relationship updates and learn about the “roller coaster” to come.
“I think we’re a little more prepared than we were last summer, but I don’t think you’re ever ready,” Lauren says of the experience. “It is, you know, six months later, watching back your summer, is interesting. But, I'm excited for people to see. I think we had a really fun summer.”
Returning to the Hamptons with Kyle and Lauren are Lindsay Hubbard, Stephen McGee and Carl Radke, whom Lauren started a romance with last summer. Their relationship fizzled out just after they agreed to spend the summer together, which made things… interesting.
“Yes, it's not the ideal situation to be sharing a summer house with someone you dated and it didn't end that well,” Lauren laments. “I don't want to give away too much, but let's just say, you know, I didn't go into this house going, ‘Yipee! Carl's here again.’”
Still, Lauren rolled up to the house “hopeful” that the summer would go well -- and, yes, sparks reignited for her and her ex!
“It's very hard to be two feet away from someone that you've sort of had this emotional attachment, a relationship, with,” she explains. “I'm not gonna lie: I'm a girl, like, I'm in a house. Obviously, we do have chemistry. Even when we're fighting, I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, what is going on with us?'”
“There was romance again,” she adds. “It's summer. I want to have a good time and I want to make the best of every situation, even if we're, like, fighting, I wanna make up and make it OK so we can move on and have a good time.”
Complicating things, though, is new housemate Danielle Olivera. She is another one of Carl’s ex-girlfriends! According to Kyle, Danielle actually left a summer house she had been doing for years to join their crew.
“Going into the house, it's gonna be awkward,” Lauren says. “Especially because Carl and I, our relationship is nothing short of complicated. It's interesting, but... I went into it wanting to make the best of the summer and, you know, I think Danielle did, too … Not to say there wasn't some bumps in the road.”
The other new addition, Amit Neuman, is also thanks to Carl. The two met at Coachella, so naturally the house dubbed Amit and Carl the “festival friends.”
“Everyone other than Carl did not know Amit,” Kyle notes.
“Which can kind of be, like, a risk,” Lauren jumps in. “This can be the Craigslist roomie, which can go bad! You're gonna get to know him, we got know him … he's a little bit of a mystery man. I like to call him an international man of mystery.”
The additions of Amit and Danielle means exits for some season one players. Everett Weston is MIA because he and Lindsay broke up; Cristina Gibson is no longer a part of the friend group; and Lauren’s sister, Ashley McAtee, now lives in California and couldn’t commit to a whole summer in the Hamptons -- but, she did come to visit.
“No, it was actually a really hard thing for me to not have her there,” Lauren shares. “But when I am, sort of, you know, making decisions that she doesn't approve of [like, with Carl], and she's not physically there, it's a little easier for me, right? It's like that birdie on my shoulder.”
Oh, and there is one more cast addition this year: Kyle’s girlfriend, Amanda Batula! Yes, Kyle broke his golden rule of no couples in a summer house.
“Rules are meant to be broken,” he jokes. “My whole thing is just, like, I think a summer house can kind of make or break a relationship. So, if you're in that place to kind of give it a whirl and see where things lie at the end of the summer, then why not? I'm not getting any younger.”
Tune into the Summer House season premiere on Monday, Jan. 22, at 10 p.m. ET after an all-new Vanderpump Rules on Bravo.
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