'Summer House' season 8 breakout star West Wilson explains to ET why he won't be tuning in to relive his 'not great' performance.
West Wilson has three words that sum up his experience taping Summer House's season 8 reunion: "awful, horrible, terrible."
"Yeah, not great," West laments to ET, reflecting on how he handled his first-ever all-cast sit-down with Bravo maestro Andy Cohen.
The 28-year-old sports journalist joined the long-running series as one of two Hamptons newcomers last summer, alongside Jesse Solomon. He quickly sparked up a romance with Ciara Miller, who's been a part of the ensemble since season 5, but the two never defined their relationship before cameras went down last September. The reunion will see West and Ciara finally explain what they are... or aren't. Part 1 premieres Thursday night on Bravo.
"Deer in the headlights, I think that is a perfect metaphor for that whole experience for me," he says. "If I get the opportunity to do another one, I think there's really nowhere else to go but up."
Days after filming the two-part special, Ciara's bestie Paige DeSorbo told Page Six she and the nurse-turned-model "cooked or over-cooked" West when it was his turn in the hot seat.
"I never felt -- honestly, I'll even defend Paige; I don't think anyone said anything, like, unnecessary, or anything uncalled for, that I would want them to take back," he notes. "[It was] just, you know, a little heated five, 10 minutes, and I kinda had to buck up, which I didn't do. So no, it was fine, but Paige is, like... Paige is very skilled at reunions, I think."
West says Paige's main aim was to make him understand he could've "been probably more thoughtful and forward thinking with my actions" when it came to Ciara. The two played a bit of relationship chicken over their three months together on camera, with each party seemingly waiting for the other to make the move on going official. Ciara gave West an opening to do just that at a horseback riding date late in the season; West told her he needed to get his "s**t together" first.
"Sometimes the best way to learn things is have your friends tell them to you," he offers of what Paige unloads on him at the reunion. "It's therapy in the weirdest way possible."
"I probably could have stood up for myself maybe a little more," he confesses. "I tried to react too much, instead of just speaking how I felt and give my side of the story. I think I just kind of heard things and tried to turn those around, you know?"
In the weeks since filming, his "every thought, every second" has been filled with things he wishes he would have said on set. He doesn't plan to tune in for the episodes.
"I am super uncomfortable in any type of very conflicting environment," he explains. "I don't need to watch. ... I was there."
Viewers already got a hint at the cringe to come when Bravo dropped the trailer for the reunion, with West stumbling over his words in an attempt to explain his inability to commit to Ciara.
"The Bravo fanbase is all women, just things I've never..." he started, before Amanda Batula cut him off to ask, "Too many temptations?"
"Awful sound bite for me, for sure," West admits. "I think I probably panicked and was just like rattling s**t off, to be honest -- and that's not to say that that's not a real thing, I think, I naturally -- and this is a fault of mine, for sure -- but I do really lock into relationships. I like consistency and like a very clear picture of what's to come, and I just like had no clue of what dating on TV was like, and [I was] a little bit afraid."
"I think I probably worded it all horribly wrong," he continues. "I know I worded everything terrible, but there were just so many questions I had, and I brought those up to her in real time, and then I think I tried to get those same words out at the reunion."
West notes he was navigating "a weird new territory," existing in a state of pre-fame limbo ahead of season 8's February premiere. In that time, superfans caught on that he was cast before the network officially announced it, and fan pages dedicated to Bravo-lebrities were labeling him "Ciara's new man" without any official confirmation. That initial attention threw West for a bit of a loop, and only became a bigger concern once the show started airing and he was almost instantaneously branded a fan-favorite.
"I for sure sounded like an idiot there," he reiterates.
West is now dealing with the pendulum swing of the Bravo fandom; beloved for most of the season, he says the temperature has cooled (at least in the comments section) as viewers speculate he and Ciara didn't make it.
"My biggest worry is that... I mean, it's already coming true, but [being put on] the pedestal early on, one screw up... it's like I was set up, kind of," he rattles off. "Not set up to fail, but it's like everyone, the second things go wrong, is going to be like, 'Oh, we were all wrong about you, you aren't whatever people want to say...'"
West clarifies that "85, 90 percent" of the experience has been positive, just 100 percent "overstimulating."
"I tried to have, like, a very smart POV from the beginning to just stay equilibrium and not read too much into the good, because obviously that comes with it," he says, while shutting down speculation he's let a taste of fame go to his head.
"I think if I was going to turn into, like, a huge douchebag a**hole, I would have done it by now," he says, referencing his time as a D1 college athlete and sports personality as proof.
"I think I have gotten to where I am and gotten a lot of cool things [because] I have always stayed me," he continues. He's well aware that Summer House is only part of his life, and a relatively small part at that. While shooting season 8, he landed a new job at Complex Sports.
"I want to have a career," he declares. "F**k my f**king Instagram and contribute to something other than that and [reality TV]."
"I interviewed Patrick Mahomes, who -- as a lifelong Chiefs fan -- doing that a month ago was, like, that is going to be hard to top," he says. "For me, just being able to be West, a producer at a relatively respectable media company, is important to me and, you know, the TV stuff can come after that."
West is very much down to return to the Hamptons for season 9, though Bravo has yet to make any official casting announcements about who is or isn't coming back. Tensions remain high between Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard; the two called off their engagement at the tail-end of filming season 8. Much of the reunion is expected to focus on the fallout of their breakup.
"At one point, after what felt like eight hours of just arguing, Carl said something where he was like, 'And I feel like today has gone so well and I have learned so much...' and all, every one, of us looked at each other like, 'You think today has gone well?! After hours of just yelling?'" West previews. "We were like all just like, today has not been that good, but ... Carl seeing the beauty in them getting s**t off their chest was, like, such a moment for everyone that we were just like, 'Oh my god, that is such a surprising POV to have.' But, I will never knock anyone for silver-lining anything."
West says he would not be surprised if they both stay in the share house (and therefore, star on the show again) come July.
"Their relationship is, like, so complex, because they've been in these houses together in so many different capacities with each other, that being an ex-engaged couple, they can both somehow make it work," he says. "I wouldn't choose to do that, but I wouldn't put it past either of them to be like, 'Yeah, f**k, I will just ignore him for a whole summer.' I don't know. I am like such a, I can't ignore people. It's tiresome. It feels like more work than just being cordial."
Other highlights from the reunion for West include Paige and Danielle Olivera getting into it and Andy cutting off Kyle Cooke's much-maligned mullet. As for whether the reunion finally answers the question, "What would Jesse Solomon do?" West has some not-great news.
"Damn, I don't even know if it does," he reveals. "I think we all sang [that song] again, though."
Summer House airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. The reunion episodes will debut next day on Peacock, extended and uncensored.
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