It started with Dylan Wolf. It ended with unfollows. Here is everything that happened in between.
Where It Started: Dylan
The Jemma and Emma conflict did not begin the night they finally confronted each other. It began years earlier, in the hallways of Calabasas High School, and the common denominator is Dylan Wolf.
Jemma had an on-and-off relationship with Dylan throughout high school — one she describes as her first real experience with a guy, and one that left lasting damage. Dylan told everyone at school that she had lost her virginity to him, reducing the experience to a nickname that followed her through graduation. He told her he felt nothing for her. She kept coming back. By the time she left for college, she says he had taken her spark.
Emma’s history with Dylan overlapped — not during what Jemma considers their relationship, though Dylan disputes that it was ever a relationship at all. The two hooked up a handful of times, Dylan maintaining it was casual, no strings attached. Jemma’s perspective is that Dylan broadcasting his history with Emma was another way of humiliating her. Emma’s perspective is that she had nothing to do with whatever Dylan and Jemma were or were not, and that she should not be held responsible for his behavior.
Both of them are dealing with the same person’s mess. Neither of them is wrong about that, which is exactly what makes the feud so hard to resolve.
Before the Party
By the time the show starts filming, the tension between Jemma and Emma is already years old and entirely unconfronted — which is, as Nicole points out in Episode 1, the Calabasas way. You hear everything. Nobody ever talks.
Jemma tells Nicole and Suede at the beach that Emma is boy crazy and sleeps around, and that she hooked up with Dylan. Then, at the tennis courts the same day, Nicole tells Emma exactly what Jemma said. Emma says it is extreme to call another girl anything over a boy, that Dylan is a whore and everyone knows it, and that she has never personally done that to anyone.
Then Emma tells Nicole that Jemma once prank called her and called her a whore. And Nicole, getting ready at Jemma’s house that same evening, tells Jemma that too.
By the time the party starts, both women have received a full briefing on what the other said — delivered by the same person, with good intentions, in the same day.
Episode 1: Jemma’s Party
Emma arrives at Jemma’s party with Dylan. Whatever the intention, the optics are not subtle. Jemma is already pissed about the prank call accusation before Emma walks through the door.
When the two finally sit down alone — after Dylan has already managed to get called a prick and announce that he is dealing with an army of girls — the conversation goes in the exact circles you would expect from two people who have been building toward it for years without ever actually having it.
Emma tells Jemma she has heard plenty about her too and never chose to spread it. Jemma says she hasn’t spread anything. Emma says the prank call accusation is small. Jemma says the last time Emma was a topic of conversation was 2019 and it is 2025.
They don’t resolve anything. Their reads on each other afterward are almost identical in structure, opposite in content: Emma feels bad for Jemma because she thinks it is sad to be so wrong and so certain you are right. Jemma thinks Emma never wanted to solve anything — she just wanted to cause a problem and ruin her night.
The Underlying Disagreement
What makes the Jemma and Emma conflict stickier than a standard reality TV feud is that they are not actually fighting about what they say they are fighting about. The prank call and the “boy crazy” comments are proxies. The real disagreement is about Dylan — specifically, about what Jemma’s pain over him entitles her to, and whether Emma owes her anything because of it.
Jemma’s position, stated and unstated, is that Emma knew their history and chose him anyway, and that choosing him was choosing a side. Emma’s position is that she did not owe Jemma a loyalty she was never asked to give, and that holding another woman responsible for a man’s behavior is not something she is willing to do.
Neither of them is entirely right. Neither of them is entirely wrong either.
How the Rest of the Season Goes
The research paints a picture of a feud that does not soften as the season progresses. Jemma blocked Emma after finding out she and Dylan had recently started hooking up again. The two remain on opposite sides of most group dynamics, with Emma pulling closer to Emilie Nelson as an alternative corner of the friend group.
The season’s largest Emma blowup ends up being with Nicole rather than Jemma — Emma claims Nicole has been spreading rumors, and when the group largely sides with Nicole, Jemma tells Emma “you buy cars from her, who cares.” It’s a small line but a telling one: by that point, Jemma is not even bothering to engage Emma directly. She is dismissing her.
By the time the season wrapped, Emma had unfollowed Jemma, Nicole, Dylan, Preston, Hercy, and Jodie on social media, while remaining connected to Emilie, Suede, Ben, Alexie, Kimora, Sterling, and Raine. The social media map tells the story of where she ended up standing when the summer was over.
Where They Stand
The feud between Jemma and Emma is one of those reality TV conflicts that never gets a clean resolution because it was never really about what it appeared to be about on the surface. Dylan Wolf created the conditions. Nicole lit the match. But the reason it burned as long as it did is that both women were operating from a genuine grievance — and neither one was ready to acknowledge that the other had one too.
Whether Season 2 gives them another shot at that conversation is, for now, an open question.
Calabasas Confidential Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.
Read next:
- Who Is Jemma Durrant? ‘Calabasas Confidential’ Cast Member Explained
- Who Is Emma Medrano? ‘Calabasas Confidential’ Cast Member Explained
- Who Is Dylan Wolf? ‘Calabasas Confidential’ Cast Member Explained
For more “Calabasas Confidential,” check out our Full Calabasas Confidential Guide here.
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