Look, the moment cast members and (presumably now ex-) best friends Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard called off their engagement and broke up in Summer House season 8; anyone who followed this show or them knew the fallout was going to be messy.
This is Bravo, after all. However, there is too much Lindsay slander on Beyoncé’s internet for me to stomach right now, so consider the following her defense. It has recently come to my attention that there are people out there watching reality TV in a way that is unfathomable to me: some are watching as if this is real life, and the people on your TV are being judged the same way you’d evaluate that person who cut you off in traffic this morning or was talking too loud at the bar during the Oscars. (Hi, that was me. Sorry.)
Friends, this is not the way. Reality TV is not real life and shouldn’t be treated or evaluated as such. Real life is incredibly boring most of the time. Healthy relationships don’t cause drama, and drama is what fuels the trash shows I love so dearly. It takes a specific type of person to make it in the genre, especially on Bravo. The Bravo TV gods demand villains, conflict, and a lack of self-awareness in order to create compelling TV. No one understands this more than my girl Lindsay, and she carries the weight of Summer House on her back with her aggressive, conflict-ridden antics.
Lindsay has been a glorious reality TV mess since episode one, and frankly, I love her for it, and thank her for her service. Lest we forget, we saw her lay clunky (and almost always drunken) bear traps for her various boyfriends to stumble into, much to her self-sabotaging satisfaction. She has been repeatedly accused of saving information in order to create storylines while the cameras are rolling as if it were a character flaw, instead of being thanked by all Bravo fans.
But beyond that, you know who has been there for it all? Carl. Carl has seen almost every drunken fight, bear trap, and “activation” Lindsay has had, and still decided to pursue a relationship with her. Guess what? He’s in on the reality show game, too. He’s managed to stay a cast member of the show the entire time, after all!
However, now that the show is airing and Lindsay is being, well, Lindsay, the machine is rolling, and she’s taking more than her fair share of the heat for the breakup, as evidenced by how Carl talks about her in the trailer for the show alone:
In a teaser for the reality series’ upcoming installment, Carl tells Lindsay his concerns about their relationship.
“You’re really gifted at playing victim,” he tells her.
Elsewhere in the trailer, Carl’s stepdad, Lou, tells him, “I’ve been a minister all my career and I’ve married tons of people. I wouldn’t marry you and Lindsay.”
Carl told Us that he felt a sense of “relief” when the trailer dropped last month.
–Us Weekly
Does this make great TV? Yes. Absolutely. Thus, my point.
Carl knew exactly who Lindsay was and what it’s like to be in a relationship with her because he has filmed a TV show where they live in the same house over the summer for the past eight years. She has cycled through multiple relationships that took place in the house at that time, and Carl has been privy to all of them! I firmly believe Lindsay is the biggest reason why Summer House is still on the air. She creates the drama that keeps the entire cast employed. It’s probably exhausting to be around as a human being, but as a viewer, it’s what we came for.
Anyone who watches the show can see how incredibly incompatible those two are for myriad reasons. Carl’s sober; Lindsay is not! Carl doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life; Lindsay is very career-driven! Carl does his best to avoid conflict; Lindsay seeks it out like a moth to a flame! Any one of these clashing factors is enough to end an engagement. So let’s not pretend this is a Lindsay, thing, OK?
Reality TV is not real life. Let’s ease off piling on the people who are uniquely qualified to entertain us with their lives, especially if they give us as much as Lindsay Hubbard has. She will all but guarantee another season of filming the show for Carl, and for that, he, and we, should be grateful.
(featured image: Bravo TV)
