When Carl Radke entered the Hamptons share house for Summer House Season 9, things were a little bit different than the year before. Not only was he no longer engaged to co-star Lindsay Hubbard, but she showed up pregnant with her new boyfriend’s baby, making for an awkward start to the summer for the ex-lovers. Radke, who was clearly nervous to face Hubbard for the first time since her big announcement, told DECIDER that he didn’t want to bring any “negative vibes” to the house, which was why he decided to “do the right thing” and congratulate her on her pregnancy. Still, he wished he had a “playbook” to help him through the rather unconventional interaction.

“It was a lot of different emotions that I was trying to work through,” Radke said when he stopped by our studio this week. “I wanted to tell her I was happy for her. I wanted her to know that. And I genuinely wanted to wish her that. I was just trying to figure out how to do it.”

However, the tension didn’t last too long. At dinner that same night, they were able to laugh over just how much had changed over the past year, which, according to Radke, “helped the healing.”

“It wasn’t always bad with her and I. We had a lot of fun. We were really silly together. We brought the kid out in each other,” he said. “You’ll see some moments where we’re laughing with each other, not at each other, which is really unique and cool.”

What’s also been interesting is the way the entire Summer House cast has banded together to defend Paige DeSorbo amid her messy breakup with Southern Charm star Craig Conover. With each cast going to bat for their respective castmates, Radke likened the back-and-forth to a “championship game” where everyone is protecting their “quarterback.”

“Paige is like our quarterback, our head coach,” he said. “And of course, we’re going to have her back, always.”

When DECIDER caught up with Radke, he also talked about the Summer House Season 9 newbies, Kyle Cooke‘s rage text to DeSorbo about Hannah Berner, and what advice he’d give Jesse Solomon about sparking a showmance. Check out the full interview below.

DECIDER: I’m so excited to talk to you about Season 9. You seemed really nervous heading into the house this year, which was completely understandable. How were you able to mentally prepare with so little time between Lindsay’s announcement and your return to the Hamptons? 

CARL RADKE: I have a good therapist. I have good friends. I found that out, I think it was a Thursday and then the next day, I was driving out to the Hamptons. So I had about 24 hours. As you can see in that first episode, there’s a lot of emotions and I think what people forget is, yes, we broke almost a year prior, but we were reliving all of that starting in February, all the way up until June. Every week on television — up until the ending — we were together and engaged on TV. To even put it further in perspective, I was at a wedding in April with Kyle, Amanda, Lindsay and her new boyfriend and the episode that was airing on the show that night, me and her are still engaged, but we’re there at the wedding in real life at that moment, and she’s with someone else and moved on. It was a lot of different emotions that I was trying to work through. I wanted to tell her I was happy for her. I wanted her to know that. And I genuinely wanted to wish her that. I was just trying to figure out how to do it. 

It’s no easy situation to go into. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. I think you handled it well. 

Thanks. I’m a perfectionist in a way and I wanted to do the right thing. I care a lot about doing the right thing and she deserves to be supported and deserves to be celebrated. But I know my entrance may be counter to that, but I didn’t want to be the one bringing any more negative vibes. I was glad I could kind of get that out to her. And she received and we kind of moved on. There’s no playbook, but I kind of wanted a playbook. And I think that’s where the nerves [came from] because that was something I’d never, ever experienced before. 

In last week’s episode, you and Lindsay finally spoke to each other. What was going through your mind when she brought up the conversation you guys had last summer about her possibly being pregnant this summer?

I love Lindsay, always. I’ll always care about her. In my head when I heard her say that, I’m like, “Classic Lindsay.” She, obviously, at a point was very dead set on getting married and having kids and this would be the next chapter. But it unfolded in a different way and I think she’s going to be an amazing mom. She’s obviously really equipped to be a great mom. And I’m excited for her to do that. But it wasn’t with me. And that’s OK. I think it was just more funny in that moment that she referenced something. She’s good at that. With our show, she’ll reference something that was said before, and of course they’re going to draw back on that if they can. I’m not as good at remembering certain things, but I might have to think of something to draw up. But it was an interesting moment that I didn’t expect her to say there in the kitchen. 

I think the best part about that moment, for me, watching it back, is Kyle. Because the three of us together — and not to separate Amanda from that — but the three of us started, 2016 was the first season of Summer House, Lindsay, Kyle, Carl. Yes, there were other people there but the three of us who’ve been through a lot together, there is a brother-sister type of love. Maybe not with me and Lindsay, but I’m always going to care for her and wish her all the best. And we’ll see. Maybe something down the road could evolve where we’re more cordial, but we’ve been normal and just like two coworkers that get along for the greater good of the business. It’s definitely been interesting. 

There was a moment over dinner when Paige kind of poked fun at the fact that you and Lindsay were engaged just last summer and then there was another light-hearted moment when Lindsay had to run to the bathroom and the camera caught you joining in on the laughter. Is there a chance we’ll see more light-hearted moments like that this season? 

One-hundred percent. I was with Danielle [Olivera] recently. Danielle and I have been friends, and it’s kind of an awkward spot for Danielle because she’s still very tight with Lindsay and obviously we’re close. But she was just like, “I can’t believe — how crazy is all this? But watching you and Lindsay laugh… That was the weirdest part for me.” There’s so many inside jokes, there’s so much stuff from all of the summers and off camera, that’s what makes us love each other, is these little moments and those little bonding things. And to be able to laugh at stuff from Season 4, Season 5 with her, it actually kind of helped the healing a little bit, I thought. Because it wasn’t always bad with her and I. We had a lot of fun. We were really silly together. We brought the kid out in each other. So to be able to bring that out a little bit, you’ll see some moments where we’re laughing with each other, not at each other, which is really unique and cool. 

Eventually you all come back to each other at some point. 

It’s a good example of how I think people should operate in life. Yes, not everybody’s going to get along and not everybody’s going to be best friends. But civil discourse. Agree to disagree. Get it all out on the table and then work through it and move on and respect each other more because of that. A lot of the fighting and a lot of this shit we’ve been through, it actually brought us closer. It’s a dysfunctional family at times, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. 

I’m loving the newbies, Lexi Wood and Bailee Henderson. A lot of people have been intrigued by some of the guys Lexi’s been linked to in the past — and now, of course, we see a connection forming between her and Jesse. Do you think they make a cute couple? 

Yeah, I think they make a great couple aesthetically. You’ll see how it kind of unfolds with them getting to know each other. But they were moving really quickly, which I can relate to being in a house where you’re on top of each other and the vibes are high, the chemistry is there. It can be like warp speed. But the moment I walked into the house that Friday, I walked into the kitchen and I said, “Jesse motherfucking Solomon.” And he said, “Carl motherfucking Radke.” She was right there. And this moment I saw just the energy. I was like, “Oh.” I knew. And she looks like a girl that Jesse [would like]. He likes petite, very pretty girls. She looks like the girl that’s for him. But we’ll see how [that unfolds]. Because that next afternoon I went out to lunch with the boys, and I’m downloading all of these, like, what the hell happened in 24 hours? Like, he literally was almost about to go to the jewelry store and get an engagement ring.

As someone who has had a showmance before, do you have any advice for them?

Take it slow, which is impossible to do. Be consistent. I think be careful with your energy on the weekend versus your energy during the week. I certainly have been a guy that plays games during the week and then on the weekend I’m all about you and then back to Monday. It’s being consistent, being upfront and honest about your intentions. I mean just try to take it slower than you should because I think when you’re in the house [and] everybody’s asking you about what’s going on, it just feels like things move really quickly. I think that can also hurt the relationship.

What about Bailee? As we know, she ended up parting ways with the show at some point. Were you sad to see her go? 

Yeah, I think Bailey’s a babe. She’s very attractive. She’s got a lot of really fun energy. But I think she was also dating or was seeing someone and I think she was trying to have one foot in, one foot out. It’s hard to find people that are either really fully single and wanting to kind of open up their life. You’ll see a little bit more of how … She came in, it was exciting to meet her, but it didn’t stick too long because I think she had other stuff going on.

She fizzled out a little. 

Yeah. I feel for Lexi, too, she kind of jumped out at Jesse. So everything kind of happened organically the way I think it was supposed to. But I always love having new people join, especially, with their stories and where they come from. And Lexi being from Toronto. For the first time in our show, we actually have a Canadian, which is awesome. We have a ton of Canadian fans. I love Canada. So it was cool to have someone join and then bring another part of their life to our group because we have so much diversity. But having someone like her, I thought was really cool. 

I want to shift gears a little bit. There’s a lot of back and forth between the Summer House and Southern Charm casts over Craig and Paige’s breakup. 

You don’t say.

You’ve declared yourself Team Paige. What are your thoughts on both shows going to bat for their respective castmates? 

It feels like leading up to a championship game or something, where both teams in the locker room are saying stuff. Of course, everybody’s going to protect their quarterback or their head coach and Paige is like our quarterback, our head coach. And of course, we’re going to have her back, always. The shows have a lot of crossover. We’ve had many inner cast connections. I think it’ll all work itself, though. We have a lot more to go on Southern Charm and Summer House. But I know enough to know where I think Paige — I’m proud of her for doing what I think was best for her and for him, which is to move on and focus on what they want to do. It’s not an easy situation doing this publicly. So I have a lot of grace for both Craig and her. I’ve seen Paige a couple times since the breakup, and she seems to be doing well. She deserves to be supported. And I think it’s really hard, especially when people don’t really know. No one really knows what went on between the two of them other than the two of them. That’s all that matters. So, I’m Team Paige, always. But I feel bad for both of them. It sucks.

It’s tough. And with everybody weighing in it doesn’t make it any easier.

At first it was Paige’s podcast, I thought she handled that with a lot of dignity and a lot of class. And unfortunately, you don’t know how it’s all going to shape up. But I was surprised because, to me, their summer seemed fairly OK. I feel like Craig had been making a lot of changes and improvements to his life. I feel like Paige really helped Craig a lot and did a lot to really help him become a better version of himself. And I think Craig maybe forgets that sometimes. They both did a lot for each other too. I don’t know who Paige is dating now, but … 

There have been a lot of rumors! 

I know. Well, it’s like the Summer House boys are now like, “Oh, is Paige single again?!”

Really!

I’m just happy to be friends with her. And we’re in a good place. We’ve had some ups and downs for sure, but I really appreciate our friendship. People may not see this on our show, but she is a really kind and genuine person to her friends and family, people she cares about. And she’s been really nice and kind to me after my brother, after the breakup, a variety of things. And also to Lindsay as well. She’s been incredibly kind and supportive, which I think shows a lot about who Paige is and her character. 

Kind of touching on the Paige, Craig, and Kyle stuff: in a preview for this week’s episode, we see a screenshot of that rage text Kyle sent Paige seemingly about Craig’s Spritz Society partnership. But some Bravo sleuths noticed that some texts were also about Hannah Berner. What can you say about that whole thing? 

From my understanding, Kyle was upset because of inaccurate things being said publicly about him and what had transpired. And that started with Hannah and Paige on some sort of interview on a podcast. What was said on that was not accurate and Kyle was very upset. Because Kyle gets kind of brought into the fold and it’s not a true statement or something not fully told. Kyle is being kind of blamed for something that’s not his fault. I can relate to that feeling. I don’t agree with rage texting Paige like that and he didn’t give her a chance to say anything. He was just going off, which he should have texted that to me first and then cooled off and then delivered what he really wanted to say. Kyle feels hurt and I can understand why he feels hurt. But I also feel like there’s better ways to handle some of this. I’d hate to see this cause issues for the business or for their relationship. I almost thought we’d all moved on. 

I saw Hannah not that long ago and we hugged and it was cool, like, she’s killing it. Her and Paige are killing it. I want the best for them, but it just sucks that we’re being reintroduced to something that was, like, 2020, 2021. Many years ago. I think Kyle is really bummed out and hurt, but as a result, hurt people hurt people or go after people. I know Kyle feels really bad about it all and he did even in the summer. What the episode leads to does play again later on where the text becomes a big dinner fight. A massive dinner fight … I don’t want to give away too much, but there’s a couple of good dinner fights this season. And that’s probably one of the most intense of the summer. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

New episodes of Summer House air on Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.