Allegedly, Outer Banks stars Rudy Pankow and Madison Bailey’s relationship has deteriorated thanks to a potential beef between them.

The second part of Outer Banks Season 4 recently hit Netflix, marking the end of the streaming teen drama’s penultimate season. The series is set in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, highlighting a group of teenagers deeply entrenched in multiple local mysteries along with a treasure hunt.


The new season picks up after plenty of drama unfolded during Outer Banks Season 3, including new love triangles and the discovery of a never-before-seen treasure to be hunted. However, through all of this, it appears the drama may not be limited to what is happening on camera.

Outer Banks Beef Between Rudy Pankow and Madison Bailey Explained

Rudy Pankow, Madison BaileyRudy Pankow, Madison Bailey

Rumors have hinted that Outer Banks cast members Rudy Pankow (JJ Maybank) and Madison Bailey (Kiara Carrera) are not on good terms.

Allegedly, shortly after filming began for Outer Banks Season 4 in June 2023, Pankow and Bailey were at a cast dinner with their girlfriends, Elaine Siemek and Mariah Linney.

Following that dinner, Siemek and Linney seemed to unfollow each other on social media while Pankow and Linney unfollowed each other as well. There have been no reports regarding what specifically happened to incite this.

Many fans have also pointed to specific scenes featuring Pankow and Bailey’s characters in Outer Banks, JJ and Kiara, as evidence of their beef.

X (formerly Twitter) user @originaixsin pointed out one specific scene featuring their characters which is cut awkwardly.

The two are supposed to be cuddling with each other, but over a 12-second span, they are never shown in the same shot with one another, indicating they may have filmed their material separately. Some have theorized this to be the case for the rest of the season as well.

Additionally, another anonymous post (via Reddit) hinted that Pankow and Bailey do not dislike each other. Rather, it is their significant others who have forced them to distance themselves over jealousy.

Their partners reportedly know the Outer Banks stars were especially close with each other, but this rumor is unconfirmed.

However this beef plays out, it likely will not roll over into the show’s final season thanks to certain events featuring Pankow’s JJ in Outer Banks Season 4.

All four seasons of Outer Banks are now streaming on Netflix.