Bradley Carter, Joe Bradley, Maddie Reese, Andy Cohen, Leva Bonaparte, Emmy Sharrett, Michols Peña, Lake Rucker at the 'Southern Hospitality' season four reunion. Jocelyn Prescod/Bravo Logo text Southern Hospitality has all the makings to be part of Bravo‘s upper echelon of unscripted television.
The show sports a dynamic cast full of a diverse group of nightclub employees based in Charleston, South Carolina. It, too, has a pre-existing link to another Bravo series, tied to Southern Charm alumni Leva Bonaparte who employs (most) of the cast at Republic Garden & Lounge.
But the main element making Southern Hospitality the network’s hottest upcoming series is its wealth of story. Maddi Reese is one of Bravo’s sprawling DJ personalities; her boyfriend, Joe Bradley, drew even more eyes to the series after an alleged hook up with RHONY‘s Countess Luann de Lesseps; Michols Peña, Lake Rucker and TJ Dinch have each opened up about what it’s like to be gay in the South; and on season four, Grace Lilly let viewers in on her substance abuse struggles.
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It’s reminiscent of the golden days of Vanderpump Rules, where everyone on the cast is willing to bare all for the cameras among a group of close confidantes. That rawness is part of what Kemar Bassaragh, Bravo’s vp of unscripted lifestyle, tells The Hollywood Reporter sets Southern Hospitality apart from other reality shows.
“They let it all out there in such an intimate way that you have no choice but to pay attention,” Bassaragh says.
The cast’s close bond, as most worked together at Republic nightclub before Bravo came knocking, is what makes the show work. Those closeknit relationships have also contributed to the serious tone of Southern Hospitality‘s fourth season.
At the center of the conflict was a moment that played out off camera after filming for season three’s reunion wrapped; Emmy Sharrett alleged that Bradley Carter made her feel “unsafe” after he texted her and said he could hear her having a phone conversation in her hotel room.
“Using the verbiage ‘unsafe,’ when it comes to me, a Black man, you have no idea what that can do not only to my reputation, that can put me in jail,” Carter said during a season four confessional interview. Sharrett’s fellow Black co-stars, mainly her two close friends Peña and Rucker, attempted to explain the damage of her words throughout filming on season four (as did most of the cast) as the internet critiqued Sharrett’s handling of the situation and, in some cases, called for her to be fired.
“[Emmy] made a lot of mistakes along the way, but eventually she got herself in a place where I felt, by the time you watch the second half of the reunion, you will see a lot more growth,” Bassaragh says of the conversation Carter and Sharrett have in part two of the season four reunion.
Below, Bassaragh gets into Sharrett’s season four journey, reflects on the series being recognized with a GLAAD Award, dishes on Bravo’s push into Charleston-based programming (and if that could hint that another flagship franchise in the Real Housewives could be heading to South Carolina) and shares what he sees for Southern Hospitality‘s future.
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Southern Hospitality is a Bravo hidden gem. It has diversity in the cast, but also no shortage of drama. What do you think sets it apart from Bravo’s slate?
It’s finding that right group of friends who are really connected. If you go back through season one, they’re so interconnected on and off camera that the drama feels so real, so authentic. They’re arguing about things that happened off camera, but they brought it to us like, “It’s very important to me. You’re going to listen to me.” What sets it apart is that they’re really, really raw, and so vulnerable. They let it all out there in such an intimate way that you have no choice but to pay attention, and also the fact that we all were that age. That’s what connects a lot of viewers — they can relate to someone. It’s such a diverse blend that there is a place for everyone to feel welcomed.
The show recently won a GLAAD Media Award. What did it mean for the show to receive that recognition?
A lot, because it’s one of the few shows on television that shows queer life, gay life, the LGBTQ in the South. It’s very important to take it out of a New York and L.A., where [in a smaller town,] a lot of times you feel alone. What [Southern Hospitality] does is show people in smaller communities that you are not alone. It also shows how time has evolved.
I don’t think people really tap into this much; Michols and TJ are really good friends with Brad, who is a heterosexual man. They’re really good friends with Joe, who is a heterosexual man, and it does not matter. No one cares who’s gay or who’s straight. They’re just friends, and they look at each other as just people. It’s special because it shows how we, as a society, not only as a network and as a community, have progressed. That was a very big thing for me, especially coming from someone who came from Jamaica, where that representation and visibility isn’t so present. Them winning [a GLAAD award] was very… it touched me a lot, to be honest. Like, I cried. (Laughs.)
This was the first year that Emmy was on the show without Will, her fiancé. Do you think that greatly impacted her dynamics with the rest of her cast members?
It did. And this was the first time she was really coming in on her own. She didn’t have her support. If you are married and you took your first vacation without your spouse, how would you act on that vacation? I think [season four] was her trying to find her own footing, finding her own voice outside of him, because as you will see from previous seasons, she’s always been lumped [in] as if she didn’t have a thought for herself.
Now that she was by herself, she had to navigate that space, and you have to give a little bit of grace navigating a space when you’re always accustomed to someone being there next to you. She made a lot of mistakes along the way, but eventually she really got herself in a place where I felt, by the time you watch the second half of the reunion, you will see that there’s a lot more growth, picking up those spaces where she really lapsed in the beginning of the season.
Leva Bonaparte, Emmy Sharrett, Michols Peña and Lake Rucker at the Southern Hospitality season four reunion. Jocelyn Prescod/Bravo As a viewer watching the season and then the reunion, it was surprising to hear Emmy take accountability, specifically for using the word “unsafe” to describe Brad. Do you think she really has made progress and understands the weight of her words, or do you think the online backlash became too loud where her hand was forced into giving a sincere apology?
A lot of people don’t realize this, because she took accountability in episode 11. That was way before she saw the backlash, so she did take accountability sooner. I think it really was that she took a while to get to understanding and people really talking to her and educating her along the way. She asked me questions, she will ask the showrunners questions, she will ask Michols and Lake questions, and they were taking the time to really educate her on why these words were not okay.
It may take her longer than what you and I would want, but it did take time before she eventually got there on her own without the backlash. I’m sure the backlash did not feel good, but I cannot say that was the real reason why she took accountability, because I know that she did take it earlier, and then the reunion was filmed a few months later.
Where Emmy and Brad left things at the reunion, it seemed like she is going to have to prove herself to him. Do you see a world where Brad and Emmy will be able to coexist on the show, or even forge a friendship in the future?
I can’t speak about for the show, and the reason why is that they are in such a small town that things will happen if we’re not filming. They’re gonna run into each other at a bar or a club [in Charleston]. They have a history that goes so far before the show that I’m sure they’re both hurt by the friendship, and I think Brad needs time to really process everything that happened before he can move forward with Emmy. I think we have to allow him that space and time to feel how he feels before he moves forward.
If Emmy does the work that she did say she was going to do at the reunion, knowing Brad, he will, after he’s processed it, give some grace and at least hear her out, because that history and that friendship goes so far back. When someone you love hurts you, the hurt cuts deeper than if it was someone that you did not care about, and I think that’s what we are experiencing in real time with this friendship.
Something else I noticed about the reunion was Emmy made it clear that she doesn’t want to discuss Will in terms of the show. She kept on specifically calling him her fiancé. Do you see that as a feasible future for the show? Will was a main cast member, he’s her fiance — how is the cast expected not to bring him up?
I don’t think it was in fact that she doesn’t want to talk about him or bring him up. I think it was in that context where she did not want it to feel like, “I don’t have a brain, so this person is putting words in my mouth and telling me what to do.” She was probably just saying, “I don’t want to speak about him because he’s not telling me what to do, I have my own words, my own faults that I need to take accountability for. This is not his issue.” I don’t think it was more about not speaking about him and their life or anything like that. I think it was more about, “Don’t say I don’t have a brain.”
There are cast members on the show who do not work at Republic anymore. Do you think as the cast continues to grow in their own careers and that transitions them out of working at Republic, this will be accepted for Southern Hospitality? Or do you think that the show needs that core of people working at Republic?
I’m going to ask you a question off that question. What is it called? The theme of the show; Southern what?
Hospitality.
The thing about Charleston and that area that people don’t realize is that hospitality is a very big, lucrative business in Charleston. The fact that the show is based off that profession gives room for it to grow in ways that other shows can’t, because you’re getting to follow their journey professionally in hospitality. As you see in the finale, Joe really wants to own a bar, and his issue with Leva was really more, “Please give me a chance.” So whether or not he stays with Republic and grows with Leva or he goes and finds his bar to be hospitality, he’s still in hospitality.
A lot of people really make their money in hospitality [in Charleston]. TJ’s hot dog business is a hospitality business. Brad’s run club is a hospitality style [business]. They genuinely really want to work in this field, so that’s always the good news for us. While Republic will still be the base [of the show], it gives legs to everyone to explore their careers in different ways.
Joe Bradley, Maddie Reese and Andy Cohen at the season four reunion. Jocelyn Prescod/Bravo When bringing up Joe, as a viewer, it felt like Joe, Leva and Lamar talked about going into business, but then he went on tour with Maddi, and it seemed like the conversation reignited while they were filming and Joe had this expectation they would go into business. I don’t want to continue comparing the show to Vanderpump Rules, but this was very reminiscent of that TomTom storyline with Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz. Do you think that Joe thought, I could potentially have that story for myself on the show, or did they have behind-the-scenes conversations that viewers weren’t privy to?
There’s always been talk of doing more with Joe. While you see some of the conversations play out on camera, there have been conversations that did happen off camera. As I said, their world goes whether or not the camera is on or isn’t on. I’m sure there have been multiple conversations, some we caught, some we didn’t.
I do not think it was a TomTom situation, just because hospitality is Joe’s life. He lives and breathes it, so I feel like he really thought he was going to do something with [Leva and Lamar]. But at the end of the day, as Leva pointed out, you can’t just expect me to give you something if you’re not showing me that I can rely on you, and I think that’s where the disconnect between them happened.
Another story I appreciated this season was Grace Lilly. At the reunion, she said that she believes that her charges will get dropped. Do you think that we will continue to see the rest of her story, not only with her arrest, more so with her recovery on Southern Hospitality?
That will be a stay tuned. (Laughs.) The one thing I would say about Grace, there is nobody like Grace. Grace Lilly magic is real. I love her. I think she is a star. She sparkles, and we’re all rooting for her to take the steps, get the help that she needs, and come out of this stronger and better.
Leva Bonaparte, Joe Bradley, Maddie Reese, TJ Dinch, Molly Moore, Bradley Carter, Mia Alario, Andy Cohen, Lake Rucker, Michols Pen?a, Justin Assada, Emmy Sharrett, Grace Lilly. Clifton Prescod/Bravo Let’s talk about Bravo’s Charleston-based projects. There’s Southern Hospitality, which was birthed out of Southern Charm. Also, Bravo FanFest is going to be held in Charleston later this year. Why do you think that Charleston was picked as the next location for FanFest?
We have to take Bravo everywhere! Like, we’ve done Miami [FanFest], why not Charleston? Charleston has given us many seasons of good television, so why not go back there and honor it with a Bravo FanFest, and show the love they’ve given us.
Does this lean into Charleston-based programming and events hint at anything else in Bravo’s future? It’s been long speculated that maybe Housewives would go to Charleston.
Ooh, that would probably be a good one, but I cannot speak about that. I do not know. But we have a lot of great Housewives now, so (laughs). But I know everyone always wants a new one. I can always say you never know.
What is the status with Southern Hospitality? I don’t think that it hasn’t been renewed for season five yet, has it?
We are still in discussions, but I’m very hopeful.
While you are in discussions about the future, do you have an idea of who from the cast would potentially come back?
Ah, maybe, maybe not (laughs.) You just have to stay tuned.
What hopes do you have for the future of Southern Hospitality?
The hopes that I have for it is that people will realize how amazing of a show it is. Yes, we tackle some tough subjects, but what I love about this group of friends is that they do not live in the negativity. I think that sets an example for a lot of shows in the future; that you can bicker, but you can still have fun. The future of it is only going to be bigger, and it’s going to be better. It’s going to still have that close knit group of friends, and it’s going to still have a lot of fun, and a lot of tears, and a lot of laughs.
*** Southern Hospitality season four is now streaming on Peacock.
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