{"id":610247,"date":"2026-08-31T14:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T14:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/610247\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T14:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T14:40:13","slug":"alex-cooper-to-launch-unwell-summer-games-on-youtube-in-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/610247\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Cooper To Launch Unwell Summer Games on YouTube in September"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/alex-cooper\/\" id=\"auto-tag_alex-cooper_1\" data-tag=\"alex-cooper\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Cooper<\/a>\u2019s Unwell is launching the next edition of its reality games competition, Unwell Summer Games, as the company continues its expansion amid increased headlines and controversy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe YouTube series, which launches Sept. 7, brings together 16 reality stars, creators and internet personalities who compete for a $250,000 cash prize. The show was filmed over four days at a luxury ranch in Canada and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/digital\/alex-cooper-unwell-winter-games-cast-youtube-reality-show-1236552485\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> follows the launch <\/a>of the Unwell Winter Games in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tCooper is the executive producer of Unwell Summer Games in addition to her husband and co-CEO Matt Kaplan, Mina Lefevre and Eric Detwiler, who previously worked on Perfect Match and Love Is Blind. The series is hosted by Adam W., with commentary from Cameron Gerrard and Ekin-Su C\u00fclc\u00fclo\u011flu.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe news comes during a period of change at the company, after Cooper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/digital\/alex-cooper-unwell-investment-patrick-whitesell-500-million-1236671737\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced an investment <\/a>on Aug. 12 from WTSL, the Silver Lake-backed firm led by Patrick Whitesell, that valued Unwell at $500 million. The plan is to use the investment to grow the company, which includes a slate of podcasts, as well as live events and a film and TV production arm including through acquisition. Cooper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/digital\/alex-cooper-departing-talent-agency-uta-1236674749\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">also recently left<\/a> talent agency UTA.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tHowever, amid the planned expansion, a report in Bloomberg also said that Cooper\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-08-13\/podcaster-alex-cooper-is-shutting-down-unwell-beverages\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">branded beverage line<\/a>, Unwell Beverage Co, is shutting down later this year. Cooper has also faced a number of negative headlines after Bloomberg and Vanity Fair both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/alex-cooper-alix-earle-rift-1236570593\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reported claims about<\/a> staff turnover and uneasiness among the staff, particularly due to the behavior of Kaplan, who is said to have yelled at and berated staff members. Some of these instances were said to have occurred during the Unwell Winter Games.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tCooper was asked about both reports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/video\/how-alex-cooper-is-disrupting-traditional-media-and-brand-storytelling\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">during a conversation<\/a> with The Wall Street Journal advertising editor Suzanne Vranica at Cannes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cI will say that building a startup, there is so much growth that comes with that, and I am extremely proud of what we have built at Unwell,\u201d the Call Her Daddy host said in June. \u201cAnd I will just kind of leave it at \u2018don\u2019t believe everything that you read on the internet\u2019 \u2014 but I think everyone knows that at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe company is positioning the second edition of the games as part of its increased investment in original programming.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cOur audience moves fluidly across platforms, and our job is to continue meeting them where they are with ideas that feel distinctly Unwell,\u201d Kaplan said. \u201cThe response to Winter Games reinforced the opportunity we see on YouTube, and we\u2019re continuing to invest in original formats that bring together great talent, big personalities and the kind of entertainment our audience wants to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tFull cast for the Unwell Summer Games:<\/p>\n<p>Beau Bailey, Love Overboard personality\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chad Batchelder, creator and internet personality\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hallie Batchelder, returning Unwell favorite from Unwell Winter Games and Extra Dirty<\/p>\n<p>Suede Brooks, creator and star of Calabasas Confidential<\/p>\n<p>Kassy Castillo, reality TV personality and Perfect Match alum<\/p>\n<p>Tim Demirjian, personality from Love Overboard<\/p>\n<p>Brandon Edelman, digital creator and personality<\/p>\n<p>Pepe Garcia, Love Island alum<\/p>\n<p>Blake Gray, longtime creator and social media personality<\/p>\n<p>Zarah Kelleher, creator and digital personality<\/p>\n<p>Carly Lawrence, reality TV veteran known for Too Hot to Handle<\/p>\n<p>Becca Moore, creator and host of For the Girls<\/p>\n<p>Dejon Noel-Williams, Love Island U.K. alum\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Daniela Ortiz, Love Island alum\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jourdan Riane, reality TV personality known for Love Island U.K.<\/p>\n<p>Jimmy Sotos, Perfect Match alum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Cooper\u2019s Unwell is launching the next edition of its reality games competition, Unwell Summer Games, as the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[53642,93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-610247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-alex-cooper","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}