Jasmine Ellis and Silas Cooper chat with ET about bringing their reality to TV on Bravo's 'Summer House: Martha's Vineyard.'
Bravo is moving up the coast and into Martha's Vineyard for a Summer House spinoff.
Summer House: Martha's Vineyard follows 12 friends from across the country, reuniting for a two-week getaway in the coastal community, historically a travel destination for Black Americans. Newlyweds Jasmine Ellis and Silas Cooper organized the retreat, but had no clue when they signed themselves up for reality TV that it would be under the Summer House banner.
"We had no idea," Jasmine confesses to ET over video chat. "We knew that we had gone for a couple of years with our friends, same setup with the friends in a house, and they kind of wanted to redo that with us. So after filming, it was just like, 'OK, cool, we're doing what we did last year and the year before.'"
"I've been going for seven years, Jasmine's been going for three years, it felt really natural," Silas says of inviting cameras into their summer share. "And when we were done, we're like, wow! That was a lot, right? We were like, that was a lot more than we anticipated, but we knew that we had a good time."
It wasn't until after filming wrapped that they learned the show would be a spinoff of the OG Hamptons-set hit, which is currently in its seventh season.
"I'm like this actually makes a lot of sense," Silas recalls. "We're like, look, this is obviously a successful franchise, to set up, that they have. You know, this is something that they believe in, and so for us to be sort of the next iteration of that? It says a lot about how they feel about us."
"It's like Degrassi: The Next Chapter," Jasmine quips. The couple, who will celebrate one year of marriage in June, got a chance to interact with some of Summer House's stars at events set up by Bravo, including BravoCon, and ET introduced them to one more: Paige DeSorbo.
"Silas and Jasmine, welcome to the Summer House family," Paige shares in a prerecorded message. "I would say, just stay true to yourself. Be authentic to yourself, and nothing can go wrong when you're being you. We must get dinner we have so much to talk about, and I'm excited to have you on this journey with us."
"We love grabbing dinner, we love some drinks!" Jasmine replies, saying she and Silas are taking Paige's words to heart in how they operate as the show enters the world.
"When we decided to do it, we agreed that we would do it the only way we know how, which is ourselves," she shares. "The good, bad and ugly. So, how you guys feel about it? I don't know. We'll see."
Silas and Jasmine both share a lot about themselves from the jump, with Jasmine, a screenwriter, revealing she was homeless for a period in her 20s.
"You know, someone the other day had asked me like, you know, it takes a strong person to go through these things, and I'm going to be honest with you: I never, never thought of myself that way," she reflects. "I’m just sharing what is part of my life. You know, he and I have had -- we don't feel like we've been through, and that's a huge privilege in and of itself -- but I think a part of Silas' background that I love so much is that he is so supportive and so reassuring, and all the little, quirky parts of me that got me through living out of the car? He embraces it."
"I'm still getting out of that survivor mindset," she continues. "I was a little triggered with the whole Milo thing, but it's... it has its ups and downs. It definitely does."
Milo would be Jasmine and Silas' surprise, four-legged roommate, the Emotional Support Animal of housemate Bria Fleming, an acquaintance of Jasmine's from their time working together as servers at the famed Playboy Club. In the premiere, Jasmine makes a bit of a stink about Milo's arrival, which is sure to set off alarms for dog lovers.
"Look, I have not really grown up around pets," she admits, "but anyone who knows me, knows that I’m like the most chill, adaptable person. But as the host, there's just general etiquette: give me the heads up."
"For the dog lovers, just know we can talk," she adds. "Milo's cool in my books. Milo takes care of Bria. Milo has my respect always."
When it comes to ranking their housemates, Jasmine and Silas agree that Milo raises Bria's profile, and while they had some ups and downs while filming, they're still cool with all their co-stars... for now.
"Right now we are all good," Silas offers. "No one has left the group chat yet, right?"
"Shockingly," Jasmine adds, though she wonders if the group chat "will get real quiet" as soon as the show starts airing.
"All of my all of my friendships changed to some extent," Jasmine admits. "Frankly because, this is quite the experience. This will test your friendships, your relationships, what you think you know about someone. How you even deal with strangers in your space, you know?"
Jasmine notes that some people were just meeting for the first time while filming. She and Silas didn't know Amir Lancaster, a friend of their friend, Nick Arrington.
"So, how we adapt to change and struggle, everyone's dynamic changed a bit -- some for better and some for worse," she continues, "and I think this season you will kind of see those moments that really pick at the testing of friendships and relationships."
For the most part, tough, it seems the majority of friction Jasmine and Silas experienced was between each other, as they were just figuring out how to navigate the world as a couple, rather than two separate individuals.
"I learned that I could work on being more flexible, and and and being more present," Silas confesses. "I think that's something that I learned about myself, and what I learned about my wife is that she is super important, for me to be flexible in a sense of, to listen to her and to be more receptive, to change it, right?"
Silas works in finance, but is also a member of the U.S. Army. Enlisting was his way, he says, of giving back to the country that's given him so much. He immigrated from Liberia when he was just five years old.
"When the Bravo audience watches the show, I think one of the things I want them to get out of that is that, hey, look, it's OK to be authentically who you are and share your experiences," he says. "You know, whether it is my military -- what we call them battle buddies, right? My folks in the military -- whether it's my battle buddies, you know, the vets that are going to watch, or even the spouses right of and military families and gold star ... we want them to feel like they can completely, authentically be themselves and have a good time. And that is OK to just let loose!"
The pair's only concern is that they may have let loose a little too much in front of the cameras. The bedtime romp featured in the trailer is apparently them.
"You would think being married makes us less uncomfortable when we have our little intimate time, but it doesn't," Jasmine blushes. "So, you know, y'all enjoy that!"
"Like, having my mom watch, it is going to be interesting, very interesting," Silas adds. "So that's not [something I'm looking forward to]."
As for what they are jazzed about is showing off Martha's Vineyard and its rich history. They call Martha the "13th roommate."
"You really get to just see us be, and I am excited about that because, at the end of the day, we are friends," Jasmine shares. "The vineyard is an amazing, fun place to be. You can just chill and you can turn up all in one day."
"I think Martha's Vineyard has this reputation of being uppity and prestigious, but everyone is people," she adds. "And little known fact: one of my family members, who is quite up there in age, really thought that Martha Stewart had something to do with it. And as much as that might make you laugh, the show I hope makes you laugh that much, too. It's like, what is happening? But no, for the record, there are no vineyards and Martha Stewart has nothing to do with it."
Summer House: Martha's Vineyard airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo, starting May 7.
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