Bravo "Summer House" star Kyle Cooke revealed how Loverboy has changed since Carl Radke quit in February.
Bravo’s “Summer House” star Kyle Cooke addressed the changes at his company, Loverboy, since Carl Radke stepped down in February 2023 as vice president of sales at the alcohol company, which specializes in hard seltzers.
Cooke, the CEO and founder of Loverboy, said the business has evolved since Radke’s exit. “We hired a bunch of people,” Cooke, 40, told Heavy in a phone interview.
“What I don’t think you see is I was very much aware that we would need to hire some seasoned senior people that have been in the alcohol industry to really help us navigate the next chapter,” Cooke said, referring to what’s been shown on season 7 of “Summer House.”
“We made two senior hires two months ago that helped multiple brands get acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars by some of the biggest names in alcohol,” Cooke continued. “So we’re making big strides.”
Cooke said there was a lot happening behind the scenes that Bravo fans didn’t get to see.
“I was building that team up around me — and specifically Carl — and that was part of my frustration,” Cooke admitted to Heavy.
The entrepreneur faced some backlash from fans after he was caught talking about Radke to co-star Mya Allen on the February 20, 2023 episode, “A Line in the Sand.”
“He’s checked out,” Cooke told Allen about Radke. “When I hired him he was unhireable. Showed up to work drunk. He showed up one day so coked out that he didn’t bring his computer to work. … The world needs to know, I’m a pretty understanding boss.”
Radke, 38, is a recovering alcoholic who has been sober since January 2021, according to Us Weekly.
In the season 7 trailer for “Summer House,” Radke said he felt like he was “working [his] a** off” but it still was “not good enough.”
Cooke said there was a “slow winding down” with his friend and former business partner.
“I was like, I know that you’re feeling inadequate and I’ve been proactively putting together a team to add that expertise. So, you know, we were already in that process,” Cooke told Heavy. “I respect that he lasted as long as he did. Because at the end of the day this is an alcohol company.”
Radke and Cooke have starred in Bravo’s “Summer House” since its inception in 2017. Loverboy, touted as a “better-for-you adult beverage,” was launched the following year, and Radke joined in 2019.
According to The Daily Dish, Cooke and Radke were friends before they joined “Summer House,” a reality show about a group of friends partying in the Hamptons every weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Cook and Radke Are Still on Good Terms
Cooke said that Radke is still one of his biggest supporters.
“I know he’s kinda watching from the sidelines now but I know he’s rooting for us and it was a touch beginning of the summer for us,” Cooke told Heavy. “But you’ll see us kinda bring it back together.”
When Radke confirmed his exit, he confirmed that he was still a “proud” investor of Loverboy.
“I’m beyond proud of what I’ve done for that company, but for me day to day– I’m doing other things now which is great,” the Bravo star told Entertainment Tonight in February. “I’m fully supportive of the company, I still get texts and emails about Loverboy, I pass them to the right person, but I think it was best I moved on.”
Radke didn’t rule out working with his friend and “Summer House” co-star in the future. “Kyle and I just got dinner together the other night, you know?” he told Entertainment Tonight. “We’re friends; it’s gonna be hard to relive all of it but I think both of us are very supportive of the journey.”
Cooke Said His Friendship With Radke Will Be Okay
Cooke posted a picture of himself and Radke to his Instagram Stories on March 8 — as shown in a screenshot on Reddit — saying he and his friend would be watching season 7 of “Summer House” together.
“Just a long overdue hang sesh. Filming can be A LOT. But the actual airing of the footage is what real challenges friendships and relationships,” Cooke wrote, according to the screenshot on Reddit. “The cast gets to see what they missed while others were filming.”
“So in a weird way I just wanted you to all know that [Carl] and I are watching this season together as friends and learning a lot bout ourselves and one another in the process,” he continued, per the screenshot on Reddit. “We’ll be good. I love this guy.”
Season 7 of “Summer House” airs on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.