Credit: Stephanie Diani/Bravo
Bria Fleming, one of the stars of Summer House‘s new spinoff, Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard, is speaking out about what viewers can expect from season one.
Ahead of the premiere of the debut season of the latest Bravo reality show, Bria teased her drama with her co-stars, revealed who she’s most and least close to on the cast, and expressed her concerns about her interracial relationship after first sharing her reality past.
“I did do one show. I haven’t really talked about this yet,” Bria told Reality Blurb during an interview on April 27. “I did one show back in I wanna say 2015, 2016. It was called Stranded With $1 Million on MTV, and that was a survival show.”
Looking back, Bria said she’d never do anything like that again.
“I’m skinny, and I knew what I was signing up for, but I didn’t know it was so real,” she explained. “From there, I just realized if I was ever to be on another show, it would have to be lifestyle, travel, and luxury. That’s something I would wanna be on, showcasing my life.”
So, when Bria’s friend and now-castmate, Shanice Henderson, pitched the idea of Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard to her, telling her, “This is just showing our lives, our work, our friendship, how we get drunk, how we travel, [and] our activities,” Bria was immediately on board.
“I’m like, ‘I’ve been [looking] for something like this for so long,’” she shared.
Although Bria said she “can’t stand” dating shows, she’s a long-time fan of Bravo reality.
Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard star Bria Fleming
“I’m a big, huge fan of The Real Housewives of Atlanta as well as [TheReal Housewives of Beverly Hills]. I started off with those shows, and then I was introduced to Summer House and then Winter House,” she stated. “I got really hooked to it because when you start watching the beginning of Summer House, it’s so much fun, and you get hooked to it.”
Bria also experienced nostalgia watching Summer House because she previously lived in the Hamptons for two years.
“I’m like, ‘Someone needs to turn this into a show because it’s so much drama and so many things going on during the summer,’” Bria recalled thinking to herself as she spent time there before the premiere of Summer House. “For me, watching [the show] brought back memories, and I’m like ‘I wanna do this with my friends one day, hopefully,’ and I got the opportunity to do so.”
And Bria got to do so with “really close friends.”
“You have people that went to college together, LB brothers, or sorority girls. Or for me, [Jasmine Cooper], me, and Shanice, and [Jordan Emanuel], we are all Playboy bunnies,” she said of her co-stars. “We’re part of the Playboy history… We [have] a sisterhood with that, and going into this on vacation with my good friends, it was great to share that bond and that part of the side of how we met and how we’ve been friends for such a long period of time.”
As of today, Bria doesn’t know any of the Summer House cast and feels her show has a bit more of a Real Housewives feel to it with more activities.
“We are the type of crew that we get bored in the house, and we wanna do fun things, so we have a lot more outings than the original Summer House… Events, we have a dog (my dog Milo)… And we are always just doing something,” she teased. “It’s never just sitting in the house, drinking, starting drama. We are always doing something fun, and we are a good-looking crew… [And] there’s a lot more Black history in Martha’s Vineyard, and we get to learn…. It’s very, very meaningful.”
In addition to standing on its own, Bria said Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard will showcase “Black excellence.”
“You never really get to see young, Black professionals all together in a home that are all entrepreneurs,” she noted of her cast. “They all have different things going for themselves, and they’re all very successful, wealthy individuals in that way [and] we never really had that on television. So to see that, especially for the Black viewers, it’s great, and they can be motivated and want to be like us. We set a great example.”
While Bria’s boyfriend, Simon Marco, wasn’t initially expected to make an appearance at the house, Bria confirmed he did join the show for “a short period of time.”
Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard star Bria Fleming poses with boyfriend Simon Marco
“At first, I didn’t know he was coming, and then last minute, he decided he will come,” she explained.
Currently, Bria and Simon are living in Munich, Germany. But they’re planning to relocate back to New York City this month and potentially remain there for good.
“I didn’t think he would be able to make it nine hours from Germany to Martha’s Vineyard and to be able to stay the amount of time that he did and be able to get to know my friends. That was a struggle but fun at the same time.”
According to Bria, she and Simon faced criticism from some due to their interracial romance.
Bria Fleming and Simon Marco
“We are an interracial couple, and some people are opened minded to that [and] some people have [other opinions]. So I was a little bit nervous about that and how they would accept him and how he would fit in, but he’s very confident, so I wasn’t scared on his side.”
As for her biggest drama, Bria said she butted heads the most with Jasmine and Silas Cooper during filming.
“I struggled with the Coopers,” she admitted. “It’s the differences, different lifestyles… One of the biggest struggles was me having my dog there. My boyfriend was a big issue as well. [But] the biggest one was my dog.”
When all was said and done, Bria revealed Jasmine was the cast member she was the least close to, as she named Jordan as the co-star she was closest with.
“I was the closest with Shanice [going into filming but] leaving filming; I was closest with Jordan,” she shared.
Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard season one premieres on Sunday, May 7, at 9/8c on Bravo.