Did you catch the premiere of Season 2 of Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard?
Global Grind Sr. Content Director Janeé Bolden chatted with Summer Marie Thomas about Season 2, bringing her friend Noelle into the fold, her closest friendships and whether or not she regrets calling out Alex in front of the whole house.
“Let me tell you, there’s so much more!” Summer told GlobalGrind about coming in hot in the season opener. “I forgot that’s what happened, because it happened a couple months ago, and it’s like, there’s so much more in the first episode — which is a lot, but it’s entertaining for sure!”
“I don’t have any regrets,” Summer continued. “And it’s going to be crazy when you watch it, like, ‘Are you sure you don’t?’ But I don’t because I think everything that’s happened has led me to this point where I’m at now in life and I love my life so much! I learned so much the first night. I learned so much overall. I’m very happy that I was able to learn what I’ve learned and I appreciate the cast for being the vessels in which I learned those things coming in.”
One of those vessels happens to be Atlanta native and current Brooklyn resident, Noelle Hughley, who joins the SHMV crew as a first-timer this season via Summer’s invitation.
“I just loved Noelle’s energy,” Summer told GlobalGrind about why she felt Noelle would be a fit in the house. “When I first met Noelle she was just a personable person, she wasn’t reserved in any way, she wasn’t trying to put on in any way, she was just a great conversationalist. When I first met her, we sat and talked for two hours like nonstop, so it was just like, ‘Oh I think she’d be a fun addition to the house!’ She did remind me a lot of of Shanice some and how much she likes to have fun and that’s kind of what this house is about so I think she’d be a great addition… I just was so adamant about her and I know that when they met her as well they’re like, ‘Oh yeah it’s a no brainer,’ just because she was so fun and she’s so free so she she knocked everyone else out of the park.”
One of the most pivotal moments in the Season 2 premiere has to be when Summer addressed Alex neglecting to invite her and Jordan to his event and in the process let the whole house know that Alex had been “inside” her. Despite their history, Summer assured us that when we see her give Noelle her blessing to pursue Alex, it was done genuinely.
“I was never checking for Alex like, that because I never wanted that type of commitment with him,” Summer told GlobalGrind. “The night before or the day before we come into the house, which you won’t see, but Noelle and I went shopping and I was giving her the lowdown on everybody in the house and I was like, ‘We’ve hung out, but there’s nothing there, so if you want to pursue that please [do]. Who’s to say that — because we’re adults, we do adult things — I don’t want that to get in the way of what could be. He could be the love of your life. That is not the person for me, so I am big enough to not stand in the way. Just because we’ve engaged in activities, doesn’t mean that he’s mine forever.”
And as for the “inside me” comment?
“You know the drinks were definitely hitting in the humidity,” Summer joked. “I blame — you know, it was a lot.”
But back to Noelle and Alex, Summer finished by clarifying she’s seeing Noelle’s roommate and really doesn’t care if Noelle and Alex choose to connect.
“I was just like, ‘You guys could be happy together and beyond anything, that’s a friend.’ I just don’t care and I’m no longer seeing him I’m seeing Noelle’s roommate, so it’s like, why does it even matter anymore? To me? I don’t care. It’s so interesting because some women dislike the woman that comes before them… But I’m like, if I’m getting this type of this man right now, I have to thank the woman that came before me, because they put in the work to give me this man that I have now, so I’m so like ‘Whatever! Do what you want, you know? It didn’t end in a bad way.”
We also had to ask Summer if she felt any kind of way about Nick telling Alex she’d sent a photo of him to Jordan. In the first episode Alex makes it clear he thought it was red flag behavior that Summer was letting other folks in their friend group know they were having one on one time in Los Angeles together between the first and second season.
“That’s the point of having your guy friends and your girlfriends,” Summer said, revealing she had no hard feelings toward Nick. “I sent a picture to my girlfriend, that’s perfectly fine. That’s what you do. It’s not like I posted it on social media, that would have been a weird thing. Like, ‘Look who came to visit me.’ I said this to my girlfriend. We’re all friends. Nick, Jordan and Preston are very close, so I felt no way about it, and Nick is one of Alex’s good friends. We’re all friends, it’s not that big of a deal.”
We had to ask Summer if she thought Alex was looking for a reason to head for the hills, but she assured GlobalGrind they were always both on the same page about keeping things casual.
“There was never a time where I would text Alex and be like, ‘Hey what are we?’ Or ‘What are we doing?’ Or anything like that,” Summer clarified. “I was never checking for Alex unless we were in the same vicinity. If it was convenient. Because I was dating someone seriously in LA and because I was seeing other people, I was not trying to have him blow up my spot either. I don’t know if his past situations have caused him to want to set that standard at the beginning, but when we talked about it I was like, ‘I don’t know why you’re even bringing this to me because I’m not checking for you like that.’ In his defense I think he also was just trying to be honest and to not set expectations, which I appreciated as well, but I was like, ‘Don’t worry we’re literally on the same page.’
So there you have it — and Summer assured us that as tense as things got between her and Alex on the first episode, there are calmer waters ahead as the season progresses.
“When you’re in a house together, you’re typically forced to see each other and we still are friends at the end of the day and I don’t want to see anybody in the house do bad, so we do come to a better relationship throughout the process.”
Listen — we have our popcorn ready and we are tuned in to see how this is all about to go down.
Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard airs Sundays at 9pm EST on Bravo and streams on Peacock the following day.