Bravo’s Winter House, a crossover between Summer House and Southern Charm, rarely demands any reflection. The series, now in its second season, follows the cast members as they shack up in a luxurious lodge in Vermont, where booze-filled parties, fighting over primary bedrooms, skiing and, of course, hookups combine for vapid (but highly amusing) storylines.
A recent episode, however, was a much different, more serious divergence from the typical debauchery and fun. When Summer House fan-favorite Luke Gulbranson makes a female cast member feel uncomfortable, the show manages to squeeze in a surprisingly nuanced lesson on boundaries, performative allyship, and restorative justice between all the Jägerbombs. What viewers have chosen to take away from this controversy is, unfortunately, another story.
Gulbranson’s cringe-y pursuit of new cast member Jessica Stocker has unfolded over the last two episodes of Winter House. But whispers that Gulbranson had gotten himself in trouble during filming began before the season aired, when a blind item from Deuxmoi claimed that a certain “F***boi” had been sent home for “sexual harassment.” Some online users deduced that it was Gulbranson, based on his previous, heavily documented “fuckboi” behavior on the shows. And when he officially announced his retirement from Summer House this past June, it seemed like another clue that something bad had gone down.
Well, it turns out that something did go down involving the handsome Minnesotan, but the details—both on the episodes that have aired and in behind-the-scenes reports—don’t entirely match up with the initial gossip.
In the season premiere of Winter House, Gulbranson enters the vacation house as he typically does: single and ready to mingle. This time, however, he tells us that he’s been in therapy and is ready for a serious relationship. Stocker, a metaverse entrepreneur and friend of cast member Jason Cameron, is the first woman to catch his eye. So begins a flirtation between the two and a hot-tub rendez-vous at the end of the night, where Gulbranson announces his desire to kiss. Stocker turns him down, citing that she likes to take it slow with men before becoming intimate.
Over the course of Episode 2, we watch Gulbranson continue flirting with Stocker, as her interest in him dissipates. “Right now, Luke is that fly who—you just need to swat it,” Stocker says in a confessional interview. “At first it’s endearing. And then it gets to the point where it’s like, don’t touch me. I need a little bit of space.”
In one scene, we see Gulbranson stand over her from behind and grab her shoulders to inquire about her salmon salad. Later, he sits next to her at dinner with his chair slanted toward her and his hand on her chair. And when Stocker announces that she’s going to stay in for the night rather than go to a bar, Gulbranson does the same.
Meanwhile, Southern Charm-er Craig Conover, who has his own seemingly one-sided beef with Gulbranson after a bad stay at his home, picks up on Stocker’s discomfort and tells his girlfriend Paige DeSorbo how aggressive Gulbranson is being. When she asks if she should stay in to look after her, he says no.
Everything comes to a head when the other housemates return, and Conover exacerbates an already tricky situation with his drunken rage. Arguably, this is where Gulbranson’s behavior looks the worst: While Stocker is sitting in a chair with the rest of the group, he comes from behind her again and hugs her. When she recoils, he lets her go but starts rubbing her shoulders. The camera focuses on her queasy expression while she stares down at her lap. Then Gulbranson bends down to hug her for a second time, but Stocker nudges him off. Before he walks away, he pats her back.
The scene is, indeed, troubling to watch. Plus, when Gulbranson starts petting DeSorbo on the head and grabbing her knee immediately after being rejected by Stocker, something about his behavior comes across as desperate, compulsive, and a bit dark. There’s also the fact that viewers have watched multiple women tell Gulbranson that his actions have made them uncomfortable throughout his reality-TV tenure, making this incident look less like a genuine misreading of cues and more like a pattern of entitlement.
In Season 5 of Summer House, he pissed off former flame Ciara Miller after he continued to text her at night, despite her asking him not to. In the first season of Winter House, he pursued Julia McGuire, who made it known that she had a boyfriend, until she had to pull him aside and ask him to stop. Even his chaotic fling with Summer House “villain” Hannah Berner had similar origins. While the popular narrative on the show was that Berner became obsessed with Gulbranson towards the end of their relationship, he ignored her when she told him that she was already seeing another guy, stating that he “likes women with boyfriends.”
Additionally, one under-discussed moment that feels relevant to all of this was when former cast member Jules Daoud called him out at the Season 4 reunion for allegedly getting mad at her for not sleeping with one of his friends.
Still, much of viewers’ ire regarding Gulbranson’s most recent incident has been aimed at Conover, because of his exaggerated response. Yes, it’s telling that the Southern Charm star only decided to intervene when his girlfriend was a target. (This led to Conover shouting at Gulbranson until he fled the house). Men have a tendency to only defend women they have a stake in protecting or for fear of being emasculated by another man. And it’s clear that he wasn’t that concerned about Stocker feeling comfortable, because she ends the night in tears thanks to his meltdown.
You would hope viewers would understand how Conover made Stocker’s issues with Gulbranson more difficult to navigate—among other things, he’s now exposed her to more hatred—and sympathize with her. But so far, Twitter users seem more upset that Conover’s words about Gulbranson have been blown out of proportion, making Gulbranson look like some sort of Harvey Weinstein. (It should be said that Conover only accused Gulbranson of “making women uncomfortable,” which is historically true even if it’s being yelled by a drunk person).
By and large, fans, both male and female, seem primarily concerned with defending Gulbranson’s honor on social media, claiming that his behavior has been misrepresented, either by Stocker, Conover or the Deuxmoi tip. And the stance that the star’s reputation has been unfairly tainted or maligned certainly didn’t match up with the treatment he received at BravoCon a few weeks ago where he was paraded around like Brad Pitt. Not to mention everyone was rooting for his possible romance with Real Housewives of Potomac star Ashley Darby.
But humans are socially wired to consider men first in these situations, especially when they’re likable and hot, rather than evaluate the power dynamics at play and who’s actually being impacted. Without speculating too much, it feels important to note that Stocker’s Instagram shows no evidence that she was a part of Winter House. By the looks of it, she also wasn’t at BravoCon, where the other new cast members made appearances. Nor did she appear in the cast photo that was taken at the season premiere party. And while Gulbranson is receiving overwhelming support online, a Twitter search of her name, along with the show’s hashtag, reveals a list of critical comments.
The online reaction is especially disappointing considering Stocker’s discussion with Gulbranson in the episode that aired following the incident, in which the two of them offer a healthy example of how these situations can be mediated. It’s a brief conversation, and one that she rightfully dominates. When Gublranson asks if he could have a chance to speak, she tells him no, presumably understanding that his perspective doesn’t really matter or change how he made her feel. (To his credit, he listens).
It was also nice that we got to see the female cast members do the opposite of Conover, checking in with Stocker, listening to her feelings and asking her permission to intercede. By the end of the episode, Stocker and Gulbranson are able to joke and play hockey together.
But of course, healthy conflict resolution isn’t good enough for the internet when the public’s perception of straight white man they like has been even slightly punctured. And the trolls have to implement their own unhinged, misogynistic form of justice.
Maybe most significantly, this scandal highlights how difficult it is for people to comprehend any sort of harm that can’t be neatly categorized as sexual assault, harassment or rape. Women are still at risk for being ignored in any of these scenarios. However, based on the internet’s reaction to Stocker, complaining about anything outside of those boxes, especially if you showed interest initially, is an affront to “real” victims. This is one manifestation of our current #MeToo backlash, that women whose stories aren’t severe or violent enough are somehow harming survivors.
At the end of the day, whether Stocker dealt with sexual harassment or, more generally, an uncomfortable situation on Winter House is for her to say. But viewers should be able to hold space and express empathy for both experiences. Unfortunately, getting mad at women is a lot cooler.
