West Wilson nailed it while hosting Summer House’s season 8 “doomsday” bash — but he revealed housemate Jesse Solomon wasn’t his best assistant.
“It took Jesse six weeks to learn how to put up one single decoration last summer,” West, 29, exclusively told Us Weekly on Monday, July 22, while promoting his partnership with Captain Morgan Sliced. “So we had to teach him that.”
West teased that Jesse, 31, took a while to get the hang of how house decorating works with the Bravo crew.
“He walked around with a piñata for 40 minutes and we were like, ‘Dude, to hang it up and then grab some more stuff,’” he said with a laugh, recalling Jesse’s season 8 shenanigans. “So you just learn.”
West noted that despite Jesse’s slow learning curve, planning parties is usually a joint effort. “It all happens pretty last minute in real time, to be honest,” he revealed. “But we always like to have one person host. That way you can kind of have some creative control and someone who’s at least delegating things, but then everyone’s got to help chip in.”
Outside of West and Jesse, who were new for season 8, the rest of the cast has been doing these lavish events for years, which isn’t easy to maintain.
“It is hard now though. They’ve all been in this house for eight years, and so there’s not a zillion themed parties,” West continued, referring to his castmates Kyle Cooke, Amanda Batula, Carl Radke, Lindsay Hubbard, Ciara Miller, Paige DeSorbo and Gabby Prescod. “So coming up with unique party ideas requires a good collaborative effort.”
West and Jesse were fresh faces last season, but instantly became fan-favorites partly because of their party prowess. The season filmed in summer 2023, and West is still not over his epic “doomsday” party that played out during the May finale.
“I got to host the last one last summer, and respectfully, it was the sickest party of the whole summer,” he gushed. The bash included a lot of smoke, silver and black outfits and apocalyptic vibes.
When it comes to his dream party theme for the future, West told Us, “Anything that involves makeup for dudes I think is really fun.”
He recalled having “goth night” with his college pals in the past that he’d want to bring to the Hamptons someday.
“We all did makeup with a lot of skulls and [wore] black. If I can host one ever again, that’s what I would go with,” West said. “That’s hard to decorate for. I don’t know. You do rock band posters or something. I have no idea. But the look itself is sweet, like grunge. It’s awesome.”
While fans met West in the Hamptons, his favorite hotspots in Upstate New York are actually in Montauk.
“You want to know something crazy? And I’m whispering this. … I think Montauk is [the] most fun. You got to keep going east a little bit and really tear it up,” he confessed. “I like a good divey bar more than a club. Montauk’s got a good low-key bar scene, which I find more endearing.”
The reality star pointed to the Surf Lodge in Montauk, which the Bravo cast frequents, as one of his go-to places. “It’s fun and I don’t care that it [has] stereotypes and that it’s super cliche. It’s cool, it’s on the water, go do it. Have fun,” he said.
West noted that the Hamptons themselves are “very spread out,” but revealed that “you can’t really go wrong if you are just doing what you think is going to be fun.”
For West, traveling no matter where the destination is a must. He recently teamed up with Captain Morgan Sliced to promote the “Sliced is Better” Sweepstakes. Starting on Monday, fans can enter for a chance to win one of three vacations in the U.S. curated by West.
“I’ve been to all 50 states, not to sound like I’m bragging, but it is something I’m very proud of it. It’s a cool little fun fact,” West told Us, noting that he wanted to work with Captain Morgan Sliced to keep people traveling within America.
He explained, “I feel like people are so into international travel right now. People are forgetting about the good old U.S. and hitting some fun places that I think sometimes maybe get forgotten. So this is cool for me to get to team up and promote these very unique experiences through Captain Morgan Sliced.”
The getaways include the “High Seas of the Sunshine State,” which is a private yacht experience off the coast of Florida, the “Northern Lights in Minnesota,” which takes travelers to see the Northern Lights and “Wild West in Colorado,” which features a western trip to a Colorado ranch.
“I’m stoked to partner with Captain Morgan,” West gushed, adding that as a Missouri native being able to “help encourage other people to go do this stuff and things that are in the Midwest and their Rocky Mountains, [is something] I’m obviously a big fan of.”
In addition to entering the sweepstakes, fans can try Captain Morgan Sliced, which are now available nationwide in four flavors: Strawberry Margarita, Passionfruit Hurricane, Pineapple Daiquiri and Mango Mai Tai.
