Summer House newcomer Bailey Taylor’s affection for Ben Waddell appeared to be crushed following their heated confrontation on Season 10.
While celebrating Amanda Batula’s birthday during Episode 6, Jesse Solomon suggested that the group go around the table and say one nice thing about her. When it was Ben’s turn, he’d barely gotten out that he loves “big eyes and a smile,” before Bailey interrupted to crack a joke about him wanting to “sleep with” Amanda — right in front of her husband, Kyle Cooke.
Ben made no secret that Bailey’s comment bothered him, and after dinner, he went to her bedroom to get to the bottom of “what her f–king deal” was (more on that below).
RELATED: Watch Ben Waddell Get Accused of Wanting to “Sleep” with Amanda Batula
After Ben exited their tense one-on-one, Bailey retreated to the bathroom. Behind the closed door, a hot mic picked up audio of Bailey crying. By the time she emerged, Levi Sebree was on her bed waiting to find out when happened between her and Ben and to comfort her still-teary-eyed bestie.
“That felt like a disproportionate response,” Bailey declared in a confessional. “A man has just not yelled at me since my ex-boyfriend. He was horrible and he would break my s–t, and he was really mean to me. And it was, like, a purely toxic, abusive relationship.” As she clarified, however, “Ben wasn’t doing anything that I would say was in any way similar to the things that I have experienced.” Rather, it was the “situation of the confrontation” that left her feeling vulnerable.
When the rest of the ladies convened to also check on Bailey, she told them, “I hated having a guy yell at me,” before also apologizing to Amanda for her joke at dinner.
Inside Bailey Taylor and Ben Waddell’s confrontation
After venting to the guys post-dinner, Ben eventually entered Bailey’s bedroom to “figure out where [her] head’s at,” and she insisted that she had no ill intentions whatsoever.
“I was just joking ’cause you guys tell that story about how when you met, you both were naked skinny-dipping,” Bailey said, referencing a wedding that he and Amanda previously attended in Italy. “And then you always joke about how, like, you would if you could. I was totally teasing about that.”
Ben, meanwhile, denied ever making such a joke and told Bailey that what she said at dinner was “rude.” So, she apologized, but he continued to press her on whether there was “something else going on,” since it was the second time she’d commented on his and Amanda’s flirtatious dynamic.
RELATED: Amanda Batula Reveals the NSFW Way She Met Summer House Newbie Ben Waddell
“I just don’t think that you were joking,” Ben said. “It’s not funny. I don’t think you’re trying to be funny.”
When Bailey continued to maintain that she had only referenced something that he and Amanda joke about “all the time,” Ben shot back, “I’d just appreciate it if you just don’t do it anymore, Bailey. That would be great. It had nothing to do with you. Don’t say that again.”
Bailey apologized a second time, but Ben still felt she was giving him “some bulls–t” answer, instead of divulging her actual issue to him. Nevertheless, he eventually accepted her apology before making a swift exit.
Why Ben Waddell was “upset” by Bailey Taylor’s comment about him and Amanda Batula
Earlier on Summer House‘s March 10 episode, Jesse asked Ben why Bailey’s joke had “upset [him] so much.” First, the newbie explained that Bailey previously accused him of “hitting on” Amanda during the Renaissance fair-themed party.
“She keeps saying it, so there’s obviously something going on,” Ben theorized to the guys, adding that Bailey talking over him during his toast to Amanda was also bothersome.
“I know that I’ve been treating Amanda differently to everybody else, but that’s because she’s in the friend zone,” he continued in a confessional. “I can be myself. I can be flirty without thinking that I’m making any moves or hitting on you, basically. So, when she said that, it kind of turned me off a bit.”
Ben concluded, “I’m like, gosh, does it look like that? Is everybody thinking that? I have to get to the bottom of this now, so if I’m doing something, which everyone’s thinking, I need to stop that today.”
As the drama continues on Summer House Season 10, get details on how Ben and Amanda’s friendship began.
