Of Course We Ranked Every ‘Summer House’ Season From Worst to Best

The first two seasons of Summer House feel so different than the show we know and love today—and to put it politely, the evolution was more than welcome.

After setting up storylines like Carl and Lauren's hookup and Lindsay and Everett's disastrous relationship in season 1, we rehashed them ad nauseam in season 2...to the point where we, like Olivia Rodrigo, got déjà vu. (Relatedly, take a sip of Loverboy every time Carl utters the catchphrase "more life" during this season. To quote Kyle, "Dude, stop quoting rappers. Rappers wouldn't want to hang out with you.")

That's not to say that this season was all bad! Although we met Amanda in season 1 as Kyle's ex-girlfriend, she became a full-fledged member of the house this year. (I honestly forgot that she wasn't technically an OG!) Season 2 also delivered in the iconic moment department: Not only did we witness Ashley Wirkus smashing a watermelon in Carl's bedroom after he wronged her sister yet again, but we also saw Kyle dump 40 pounds of tea in the pool during his Boston Tea Party-themed 35th birthday to protest...growing up.

The best thing to come out of Summer House season 6 was not Paige and Craig's romance, Amanda and Kyle's nuptials, or the revelation that Lindsay has the eggs of a 27-year-old. No, the best thing was Andrea Denver, an Italian model with a heart of gold who hand-delivers his castmates coffee in bed.

Otherwise, my fellow Southern Charm-ers likely let out an audible groan when Austen Kroll popped up for Lindsay's birthday party to wreak havoc on the house by attempting to hook up with both the birthday girl and Ciara Miller (who he previously had a fling with on Winter House).

And elements of this season felt dark, from a physical altercation over a pasta dinner to the uncomfortable "will they or won't they" tension leading up to Kyle and Amanda's wedding. In the words of Kyle himself, "summer should be fun," and there were plenty of moments during this season that were not.

Summer House, which began as a crossover with Vanderpump Rules, opens with Kyle in a hot tub, telling VPR's Stassi Schroeder that her turtleneck bathing suit makes her look like Steve Jobs. I mean, with a line like that, it was obvious that we were embarking on a special journey.

Different as it may be from the show’s current form, there's something wonderfully nostalgic about the series' inaugural go. We watch a slew of young, ambitious New Yorkers head to the Hamptons every weekend to guzzle rosé and Twisted Tea (Loverboy doesn't come into play until season 3) and "send it." What more could we ask more? (Much more—keep scrolling!)

Love 'em or not, the Wirkus twins made for excellent TV, Stephen's commentary was always deliciously catty, and while Lindsay and Everett's lovers' quarrels weren't quite as eloquent as a Shakespearean play, they surely were just as dramatic. Plus, who could forget Lindsay angrily screaming, “I'm gonna go sleep at a guy's house tonight. With a guy. In a bed,” during an argument in the middle of a restaurant? Answer: literally nobody.

When the first episode of season 4 opened with the NSFW revelation that Carl and Lindsay had gone from friends to lovers—à la that beloved BookTok rom-com sitting on your bedside table—I knew this season was going to be good. And for the most part, it was.

We explored Carl and Lindsay's short-lived first go at a relationship—which lasted for exactly one date, during which they got into a screaming match on a rooftop—watched Kyle reminisce over his frat boy days at his Greek life-themed birthday party, and witnessed Hannah sacrifice her friendships in pursuit of Luke, a motorcycle-riding, hockey-playing, jewelry-making male model. Say that five times fast, will you?

That's not to say this season was all fun and games mullet wigs and espresso martinis. Newcomer Jules did not deserve the way the house treated her—for the record, I thought she seemed lovely, albeit a little too earnest for reality TV—and Carl's behavior was at its most toxic. I still cringe thinking about the murder mystery party.

Ahhh, the COVID season.

Perhaps there was no reality show better-suited to weather the pandemic-induced storm than Summer House. Instead of cast members schlepping to the Hamptons every Friday for a weekend full of alcohol-fueled antics, the entire cast moved out east for six weeks. They worked and managed to party non-stop in an architecturally puzzling Hamptons abode, complete with a stove that never seemed to work and a chore list that was not once completed.

As their six-week tenure wore on, viewers witnessed each cast member descend slowly into madness as they realized they had no escape from each other (or the drama). Highlights include Lindsay's now-iconic delivery of the line, "How many sandwiches have you made for me?" during a fight with her boyfriend, a rather creative hometown-themed bar crawl, and Hannah Berner tearfully telling Kyle to never talk about her family again just moments after she compared him to her father.

After a lackluster season 2, Summer House rebounded when a slew of hot new bombshells entered the villa palatial Hamptons estate. I'd like to offer up my entire life savings to the person who cast Paige DeSorbo on this show.

Gone was the self-proclaimed "Wirkus Circus," and in came what would later be dubbed the Giggly Squad—the aforementioned Paige and Hannah, who weren't afraid to get right into the mix from the jump. Before Paige became one half of Bravo's First Couple, she was making out with Carl in the pantry and calling him out for ghosting her from Monday to Thursday. Meanwhile, new cast mate Jordan provided deeply entertaining, yet endlessly infuriating, plot points when he simply refused to ever tell the truth about anything.

Season 3 also proved to be pivotal in Kyle and Amanda's relationship, as they prepared to move in together amid a chorus of cheating rumors that threatened to break them once and for all.

There's just something about this season that feels like quintessential Summer House. Don't tempt me—I just might pull a Kyle and write a 17-page email about how much I love it.

What would Jesse Solomon do? Help usher in a Summer House renaissance for the ages, alongside fellow newbie West Wilson. After years of struggling with male casting, Bravo nailed it with these two and their heartwarming bromance. Sure, you could call it recency bias, but you really should call it what it is: Season 8 of Summer House was that girl.

While the show was certainly bolstered by the bombshell split between Carl and Lindsay—which viewers got to see unfold in chilling detail—every episode was just really freaking fun to watch. Over the last few seasons, you could tell that not every cast member was keen on spending their weekends donning face paint and setting up elaborate themed parties. And you know what? After eight years of it, I can't say I blame them. But maybe something was in the Loverboys last summer, because this season's antics felt like a true return to the fun days of summers past. Season 8 had it all: heart, romance, drama, and Kyle losing his swim trunks in the water.