Andrea Denver chats with ET about Danielle Olivera and Ciara Miller's unexpected altercation and more from 'Summer House' season 6.
Looks can be deceiving. Promos for season 6 of Summer House had fans thinking Andrea Denver was distraught over housemate Paige DeSorbo opting to pursue a romance with their Winter House co-star, Craig Conover, over Andrea; in reality, though, Andrea was crying over a different woman.
"It's after the Italian dinner that I hosted," Andrea teases to ET of his tear-filled moment. "I also did something from the tradition of the ancient Rome ... to talk about a topic during dinner and celebrate about that topic, and I said, 'Let's talk about love. I want to hear everybody's feelings and idea what love is for you guys.' And it got really emotional. It got really emotional."
"I was thinking about a girl," he shares. "I was thinking about some mistakes that I made in the past. It was really emotional. And then, I erupted in a big cry, and I ran outside -- I ran outside! Luke [Gulbranson] came along with me, and ... it was really an emotional moment for me. I got really emotional talking about love and thinking about a beloved person to me, and also about certain things that I did wrong in the past."
That person is Lexi Sundin, Andrea's now-girlfriend! The pair first connected between filming Winter House and Summer House, when Andrea still thought he and Paige might have some sort of future together. His feelings for his castmate held him back from going all-in on Lexi.
"It was a long run to win her back, but I think you got to manifest things," Andrea reflects. "After a long five months -- and after especially a while I was trying to get her back -- I was able to win her back. And we have been stronger than ever, and I feel like we're both really happy."
Andrea says he and Lexi, a fellow model with a Bravo connection herself (she appeared on Project Runway), reconnected in late November, months after he had his breakthrough about his feelings for her while filming Summer House.
"A problem from the previous time that we dated is just that she was really honest about her feelings," Andrea shares. "She was really open about her feelings, and I was really afraid. I wasn't in the mindset for that ... and that was the deal breaker that kind of separated us."
"She didn't want to hear anything from me, because when she opened up about her feelings, I couldn't say anything back," he continues. "I put myself in her shoes, I understand that must have been really frustrating. ... But when I came to the realization that my feelings for her were still there, and I thought I could really see myself with that person, and when finally, I had that second chance that I really hoped for, I decided to go full on."
Andrea says it took Lexi some time to believe he had changed, but now he says, "I'm her man, she's my girl, and everything's been great since then." Andrea calls this "the most serious relationship I've ever been in through my life."
"I just feel like I'm more mature, and I feel like everything that I went through in the past helped me to be in this spot right now," he gushes. "And even if it was a lot of struggles sometimes, I'm glad that it happened because it made me ready for this moment."
As Andrea had his "aha moment" about Lexi, though, some love was lost inside Summer House as Ciara Miller and Danielle Olivera found themselves in a physical altercation, with wine glasses thrown both ways.
"We didn't even know ... in the house, it was the end of the world," Andrea notes. "When I walked back into it, there was wine on the walls. The table was a mess. There was glasses on the floor -- I think somebody was cleaning the glasses -- and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, what happened?' And I think there was people screaming on one side of the house, people screaming on the other side of the house. So, I was really confused."
Andrea didn't know exactly what unfolded between his housemates until the season trailer debuted online. His initial reaction? "It was bad. It was bad. It was bad."
"I understand sometimes people can lose their temper, we're all human, we all make mistakes, but that was bad," he reiterates. "Watching that trailer was like, wow. I don't even know what I would've done in that situation. Probably would've jumped in and separate the two? I think I would've done what Craig did in the trailer [and jumped in and pulled Danielle back]. I think that's the best thing to do."
Andrea says "a lot of emotion" was bubbling up in the lead-up to the explosive dinner, with Ciara frustrated by Lindsay Hubbard -- Danielle's BFF -- over her unwillingness to discuss their love triangle with Southern Charm star Austen Kroll. Ciara ultimately apologized to Danielle for getting physical, but Andrea predicts there's more to unpack at the group's soon-to-tape reunion. Andrea also hopes Austen gets a chance to speak, as cast members and viewers seem confused about his behavior in the house.
"I feel like the situation got so bitter that I would've stepped aside or made my mind up and go just towards one of the ladies," Andrea admits. "And I feel Lindsay was having a lot of fun -- it was her birthday -- and she was already past Austen, even though she always had a big friendship with him, and still she had feelings in the past. But I feel like Ciara's feelings, in that moment, they were stronger for Austen."
Andrea speaks from a bit of experience, seeing as he was in a love triangle with Paige and Craig. Now, seeing where everyone's landed, Andrea says he's very happy with the way these relationships shook out.
"I'm really happy to see the love between Paige and Craig blossoming, and I'm really happy for them," he professes. "I feel like, at the end, they're a great match. And they're both my friends, so I'm excited for them."
"I deep down hope one day they're going to live in the same city and do the full relationship in the same city, under the same roof, because I think is a necessary at some point," he adds. "But I'm really happy to see them succeeding in their love and getting stronger and stronger. I'm happy. They're two friends. I'm always going to care about them."
Andrea says, at his core, he's a big lover of love -- and Lexi's only adding to that.
"She's been really supportive, and she's my best friend," he says. "We talk about everything. We're really open about everything. ... She's a big part of my life, and I'm happy for it, because that's why you're looking in a partner. You're looking to someone that is always there for you. And I try always to be there for her, for her profession, for her job, and I love her being there for me and be next to me every time."
Andrea could even see Lexi joining the Summer House crew for season 7.
"She had the chance to meet Mya [Allen], to meet Ciara, Alex [Wach], Luke," he reveals. "And she has a really good personality. She's fun. Also, I think she can be a really good friend. I think she can be a really loyal friend that you can rely on. So I could see her totally match with my other friends from the Hamptons."
Dialed-in viewers will recognize the name "Lexi" from the show, seeing as it's what Andrea kept calling Mya by accident.
"So I go to go through the entire Paige [triangle] to come to the realization that maybe I let go a person that I had feelings for, a person that I wanted to be with," he recalls. "It's just that I didn't want to admit to myself."
"I don't even know why I ended up calling Mya 'Lexi,'" he continues. "Probably [because] I always thought of her. ... But week after week, and also with the romance with Paige fading away, made me realize that I made some mistakes in the past and I probably let a person that I really have feelings for stepping away and getting away from me. And I tried to reconnect, and that's when it come the hard time and she she didn't want to hear anything from me."
Andrea says he was almost fighting instinct when his and Lexi's first attempt at romance fizzled, because he was afraid of his feelings.
"I was trying to put all that in front, telling myself, 'Really? You want to be in a relationship and stuff?' And it was a big lie," he admits. "It was a big lie, because the feelings that I had for that person were really strong, but I didn't want to admit it for myself. I wanted to put myself first for once in my life, and I'm not that kind of person. Now, I'm fully aware that I'm never going to be that person."
"If there is somebody that I really care about, I'm always going to put those people first," he adds. "It's always been like that, and is always going to be like that. .... I did that even in the past. I gave up medical school 10 years ago for my ex-girlfriend at the time. We ended up dating for four years. I was supposed to go to Spain to do medical school, but I had a connection with that person. I didn't want to do that."
Andrea say he now accepts his approach to love and is leaning into Lexi. "I'm probably the happiest that I've ever been with someone, and that's all that matters," he says. "And I'm really excited for the future."
As for that whole skipping out on med school thing, Andrea says he has no regrets.
"It's true," he beams. "I wouldn't [have] done any of this experience, and I wouldn't have met Lexi. So at the end of the day, life is a full circle, and I feel like there is timing for everything. And probably the first time around wasn't the right timing. Today, I feel like now is the right timing. And I had to go through mistakes, I had to go through breakups, even going through our break with Paige and all that stuff, to come to the realization that my heart belonged to someone else."
He also wouldn't have wound up in Taylor Swift and Jennifer Lopez's music videos if he had become a doctor.
"I've always been a Swiftie, and I love Taylor Swift, [but] I got to say J.Lo's video was a lot of fun to do, to shoot," he shares. "It's always been fun memories. I mean, both of them, but that was in Miami. We filmed for two days, the yacht, the villas, it was a lot of fun. And J.Lo is a sweetheart, really down to earth. We had a lot of chats. She was really sweet, so I had the best time."
Plus, chances are if he were a M.D., Summer House would be without all those shots of him walking around in his briefs. Andrea gets a kick out of the editors' apparent interest in his underwear -- nearly every episode features a moment of the model changing.
"If viewers enjoy it, I'm happy with it," he cracks. "I just find it really funny because there's always a shot of that!"
Summer House airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.
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