When Summer House star West Wilson was in Toronto earlier this year, he shared with Yahoo Canada that he never watched last season's reunion, where he famously got frazzled having to address his relationship with costar Ciara Miller. This time around for the Summer House Season 9 reunion (on Hayu in Canada), Wilson came prepared with notes.
"I don't think I'm very good at funnelling my thoughts," West told Yahoo Canada. "TV kind of helps, ... where everything is condensed."
"This show is therapeutic in a way where you kind of have to deal with what's going on."
Early in the Summer House reunion, we looked back at how Wilson was greeted by Miller in the house in Season 9, with Wilson also facing questions about what he said to The New York Times about their relationship, defending how he handled the breakup.
Wilson apologized to Miller in this season's reunion, but she was quick to point out that if Wilson could comment on their relationship to the media, he should be able to talk to her honestly, face-to-face. While they don't get to a point of close friendship, there was a sense of understanding by the end of the reunion.
With Wilson being relatively new to the reality TV space, there's certainly a lot to get comfortable with, not just in terms of sharing ones personal life on TV, but managing reactions and responses from fans of the show, and rumours spreading about who he could be romantically connected to next.
"Weird to navigate. It's fun, until it's not," Wilson said. "It's bizarre. And nothing I've really been involved in has been that serious, but it's kind of become talking points, I guess, whether that's my fault or just how the internet works."
"It hasn't been dating or breakups or anything. So it's all very juvenile. ...I think because I had a public breakup already, people are going to care no matter what. ... I feel like I'm still learning. A lot of this stuff I think I'm learning it by the day, for better or for worse. ... Now you have to be hyperaware of people being nosy, people doing research, people just caring more than I do."
'It's not even really politics, it's just being a human'
While several Summer House fans weren't on Wilson's side for how he handled the breakup with Miller, one interview he did earlier this year resulted in a lot of praise for the reality TV star and sports reporter.
Back in March, Wilson spoke to Uncloseted Media about "manfluencers," toxic masculinity and voting for Kamala Harris in the last U.S. election. Wilson said he was "softly promoting" his liberal stance on political issues in the last American election, but stressed that he really wanted to make "positive" actions in addressing these topics publicly.
"When I get negative feedback on stuff like this, ... it always makes me feel better about what I said to begin with," he explained. "So almost kind of like soft-launching where I stood politically, getting shit talk back, kept me moving forward, and more comfortable and confident in what I believe in."
"I do think because I'm a white dude who has a cowboy dad and I'm from Missouri, I think a lot of people expect me to be a ... Trump-y redneck. ... I'm not a confrontational person, ... but I think now, it's not even really politics, it's just being a human. A lot of the feedback I've gotten that says, 'Thanks for doing this. Not a lot of people in your position do talk about it.' Made me feel good. If I can do anything positive right now, it's that."
