- As Summer House’s spin-off, In the City, airs its two-part reunion special, Bravo fans wondered why Amanda Batula’s BFF, Katie DeLuca, wasn’t shown throughout the first season.
- Katie shared a major update with a fan who DMed her for the tea, confirming she was only a “friend of” cast member on In the City.
- Lindsay Hubbard also confirmed Katie’s minimal appearance was due to her "friend of" status, the already-large cast size, and a scandal involving Amanda, West Wilson, and Ciara Miller.
If you’re a day-one Summer House fan who’s still wondering why we only saw Amanda Batula’s BFF, Katie DeLuca, in the In the City trailer, you no longer have to search for answers. On Wednesday, July 22, a Bravo fan took matters into their own hands and decided to DM Katie for the tea. And, to their surprise, she actually responded.
“My friends and I are curious why you weren’t on in the city?!” the fan wrote, per a screenshot shared on Reddit.
“Haha hi! I was actually only signed on as a ‘friend of,’ not a full-time cast member. I ended up filming quite a few scenes with Amanda in the fall because of everything that was going on with her and Kyle, which is most likely why I was included in the promo that was shot later in January,” Katie explained, in part.
She further explained the potential reason why most of her screen time from the Summer House spinoff was cut, adding, “As everything unfolded, I think that storyline just wasn’t as relevant anymore, so most of those scenes were cut. That’s honestly pretty common with reality TV—so much gets filmed that never makes the final edit once production figures out what tells the best overall story, especially with how much attention and emotion surrounded Amanda’s storyline. Hope that helps!”
It didn’t take long for fans to theorize why Katie’s involvement on the show was minimized, with one person writing, “I said this in a thread yesterday replying to somebody who said producers were protecting Amanda and using the fact these scenes got cut as proof—but I think the fact these scenes got cut imply the opposite.”
They continued, “If they wanted us to sympathize with Amanda, they would have shown us these scenes with Katie. I feel like if they were planning a path forward with Amanda on the show they would bring in at least somebody from ‘her side,’ but we didn’t even see Katie or any of Amanda’s friends.” Others agreed, claiming that the network “is not generally in the business of ‘protecting’ anyone.”
However, one of In the City’s leading ladies, Lindsay Hubbard, doubled down on the real reason behind Katie’s absence with a Threads post.
“She was a ‘friend of’ and we already had a huge cast, plus a scandal involving her bff,” Lindsay explained, referring to Amanda’s bombshell relationship with West Wilson, aka her former best friend Ciara Miller’s ex-situationship.
Well…not much else to see here. Shoutout to Katie for being a real one and actually responding!
