The 'Giggly Squad' Podcast Just Won Podcast of the Year — Here Is the Summer House Drama Behind the Win

The Giggly Squad podcast won Podcast of the Year at the 2026 iHeartPodcast Awards. Here is how the Summer House betrayal drama made this the most discussed podcast episode of the year.

The Giggly Squad podcast — hosted by Summer House alums Paige DeSorbo and Hannah Berner — won Podcast of the Year at the 2026 iHeartPodcast Awards, an achievement whose timing intersected with the specific dramatic content that made their recent episode one of the most discussed podcast releases in the reality television community.

The episode in question addressed the bombshell confirmation that Amanda Batula — Paige's best friend in the Summer House cast and one of the show's longest-running cast members — was dating West Wilson, who is the ex-boyfriend of their mutual castmate Ciara. The specific interpersonal geometry of this — best friend dating ex-boyfriend — is precisely the kind of reality television social violation whose public navigation requires the specific type of candid podcast discussion that Giggly Squad has built its audience around.

Paige's statement on the episode was direct: 'Ciara is our real friend in real life, so we have been talking to her, consoling her, we are behind her 100%.' This positioned her clearly with Ciara against Amanda Batula, creating the specific loyalty rupture within what had been a documented close friendship between Paige and Amanda.

For the podcast's cultural position: the Giggly Squad has spent four seasons developing the specific format — honest, often self-aware commentary on reality television and celebrity culture from two people inside the reality television ecosystem — whose combination of insider access and genuine chemistry has produced one of the most loyal podcast audiences in its category. Winning Podcast of the Year at iHeart validates the commercial success that their download numbers had already confirmed.

For the Summer House drama's trajectory: the specific real-world consequence of a reality television cast's social dynamics breaking down ahead of production is the kind of authentic dramatic material that the show itself cannot script. Whether the Batula-Wilson-Ciara triangle becomes a Season 10 storyline or whether the relationships rupture completely before cameras roll is the specific question that Bravo's production team is managing.