Bravo/YouTube Kyle Cooke on "Watch What Happens Live" in February 2023.
Kyle Cooke opened up about his fractured business relationship with Carl Radke.
In February 2023, it was revealed that Radke stepped down from his post as VP of Sales at his “Summer House” co-star’s canned alcohol company, Loverboy. But Cooke has claimed that Radke checked out during his final months on the job.
On February 20, 2023, Cooke appeared on “Watch What Happens Live,” where host Andy Cohen grilled him about Radke’s departure from Loverboy. After Cohen asked Cooke if Radke would agree with his past characterization that he “was unhireable at the time you brought him into the fold,” Cooke replied, “I’ve never asked him, but probably.”
Cooke also said Radke was more than adequately paid for his role as VP of Sales, despite Radke’s claim that he should have been paid more.
“I think you know a six-figure salary, plus bonus, plus health care and everything in between,” Cooke said. “I don’t think anybody understands sales, but it’s all the numbers. So if you’re not hitting your quota, as Carl used to say, then you’re not going to make as much as you like. So this was news to me.”
Cooke added that he did try to build up a sales team to support Radke, but it didn’t help. He added that Radke’s last day of work at Loverboy was in November 2022, but that he “paid him as a full-time employee the whole entire year and I got very little out of him.”
Cooke also noted that Radke had already been feeling a little “inadequate” and “insecure” in his VP role, but that when he began dating Lindsay Hubbard in late 2021, her questions “amplified it and then he really started to question things.”
Kyle Cooke Said Carl Radke Stepped Back After He Peaked in His Job
“Summer House” season 7, which was filmed in mid-2022, featured Cooke talking about Radke’s lack of productivity at work. In one scene, he was filmed complaining to his wife, Amanda Batula, that Radke was “checked out” from his job and that he’d been “doing less” at work ever since he started dating Hubbard.
“I had sensed, like, right when kind he hit his peak productivity, it was almost like, boom! He started taking a step back,” Cooke told Entertainment Tonight in a February 2023 interview. “By April [2022], I had already tried to bring in a new VP to help run things on the sales and distribution side. … I wanted to give him a chance to formally redefine his role, right? And when he waited a month — while getting a full-time salary to do that — I was frustrated.”
Cooke reiterated that Radke was “absolutely checked out” at that point and that even he would admit that. Cooke added that he’s also pretty sure his former employee’s job-related “talking points” were co-authored by Hubbard. “I know she was in his ear,” Cooke said. “It was very clear to me that they’ve had multiple conversations … about his quitting.”
Cooke did add that he appreciated what Radke did for Loverboy and admitted that he understands why he felt the need to leave the company now that he is living a sober lifestyle.
Carl Radke Said He Was ‘Surprised’ By Things Kyle Cooke Said About Him
In February 2023, Radke told Entertainment Tonight he was “pretty surprised” by Cooke’s comments about him being “checked out” before his exit from Loverboy.
“I really feel like I’ve worked incredibly hard, from morning to night,” Radke said, adding that in addition to working online and making phone calls, he promoted sales events in 40 cities all over the country. “Like, I’ve put myself out there, I’ve knocked on doors; I’ve done things that no one else in the company would have done. It was surprising to hear him say I’m checked out, and I think that’s kind of a cop-out.”
“The work we’ve put in … I mean, it’s pretty ridiculous what we’ve done,” Radke added of his three-year tenure at the beverage company.
Radke also revealed he plans to get into a non-alcoholic business as he navigates his own sobriety. “I’m fully supportive of the company,” the ‘Summer House” star said of Loverboy. “But I think it was best I moved on.”
READ NEXT: Craig Conover Reveals What He Had to Change After Rocky ‘Winter House’ Season