Zack Wickham's long-running feud with Janet Caperna had already exploded by the time fireworks lit up the sky during The Valley's Season 2 finale party — and as it turns out, there's even more to the story.
On The Valley After Show, a producer mentioned that Zack "had words" with Brittany Cartwright about her relationship with Janet amid their beef, prompting him to gamely declare, "F--k it. Let's go," before unpacking the drama.
"I don't think people understand the level of gaslighting that I have gone through," Zack explained, referencing both Janet and Jax Taylor. "They have come in between my friendships with Brittany, or with Kristen [Doute] at different times ... never taking accountability or never letting me talk about it."
He continued, "I, like, never get to confront it. I never get to resolve it. So, it's just this unresolved stuff that has been looming for so long."
Zack, meanwhile, also addressed the way his castmates sometimes dismiss his feelings and simply chalk them up to his drinking.
"When they wanna say, like, 'Oh, you don't know what you're gonna get with Zack when he's drunk,' well, yes, you do," he added. "There's two things: dancing, or I'm emotional and I'm crying. I'm never aggressive. I'm never whatever. Like, do I yell? I yell when I talk, so I'm loud. Now, did I go further? Absolutely."
Janet Caperna opens up about her feud with Zack Wickham
In the same After Show clip, Janet took the opportunity to address their heated confrontation at Michelle Saniei's so-called "zen party," accusing Zack of misplacing his anger.
"If he feels like Brittany sticks up for me more than him, he should take that up with Brittany," Janet said. "If Brittany sticks up for me, maybe it's because, Zack, you've done things that she doesn't agree with. ... She sticks up for what's right, instead of just blindly being loyal to people."
Denying Zack's claim that she wants to be Brittany, Janet added, "I don't think Brittany would switch with Brittany right now. Like, Brittany's going through hell, and I wanna be there to support her. And Brittany means the world to me, but do I wanna be her right now? No. I wanna guide her out of what she's in right now."
Zack Wickham reveals his "problem" with Janet Caperna and Brittany Cartwright
While Zack prepared to come face to face with Janet for the first time since their "boat showdown" in Hawaii during the Season 2 finale, he opened up to boyfriend Benji Quach about their feud, as well as Brittany's role in the drama.
"It is the most annoying thing that Brittany can't see what Janet is doing," he said. "She just wants to, like, brush it off. The problem with Janet is how she has treated me in the past and escalated things that didn't need to be escalated and lied about so many things. I think we're at the point where, to be able to move forward in friendship or anything, it just has to be talked about. No more of this sweeping it under the rug."
In a confessional, he added, "I don't know if I want a friendship or not with Janet. I don't know what it's gonna take for Brittany to stop being her friend. And if the pants were on the other person, I would never do what Brittany is doing. I would be supportive [and] probably already dropped Janet as a friend forever ago."
At the finale party, tensions rose when Scheana Shay attempted to "clear up" rumors that she was bringing around one of Michelle's boyfriend Aaron Nosler's former hookups to stir up drama. Zack, meanwhile, chimed in to accuse Janet, not Scheana, of being "the problem."
"It is Janet trying to actually propel this narrative," Zack elaborated to a producer. "She is destroying people's lives. She tried to destroy me and my reputation."
After Kristen entered the fray, she told Zack to "take his wine and go" and to let her "handle" the situation. Despite Janet trying to exit as well, Michelle urged her to stay and finish the conversation.
As Kristen and Janet argued, Zack confronted Brittany.
"What the f–k? If you literally ever have [Janet's] back again, I'm literally over this," he vented. "I'm literally over here trying to have a serious conversation with her. She f–kin' runs away. She doesn't want to actually hear what she's actually doing."
After Zack demanded she "stop letting her win" and "support" him instead, Brittany replied, "I support both of you guys."
As Brittany shared in a confessional, "This summer has been hard because I constantly feel like I'm in the middle whenever I don't need to be. I've said this a million times: Janet has been a good friend to me. Until she is not a good friend to me, I'm not going to act like she's a bad friend to me."
In the meantime, Zack yelled out to Janet and husband Jason Caperna as they were attempting to leave the zen party, resulting in another intense, expletive-filled back and forth.
Though Brittany insisted afterward that she had Zack's back, he was unsatisfied with her response and later tearfully lamented to Benji, "Nobody understands my feelings, like not even my best friend. … I have literally nobody that cares."
Don't miss a sneak peek at all the drama to come in The Valley Season 2 reunion trailer.
