‘Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard’ Star Jordan Emanuel Dishes On The First Dinner Of The Trip: “Tales Were Told And Tails Were Cracked”

Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard is back for its sophomore season on Bravo! No one in the cast deserves more a vacation than Jordan Emanuel. In addition to her stint on the last season of Winter House, the talented multiple hyphenate had been juggling her many obligations. Whether it’s working on her non-profit organization, Women With Voices, or her swimwear line, 844 Swim, DJing or cooking up a mean potato, Emanuel is always on the go. Luckily, she has her bestie, Summer Marie Thomas, by her side through it all.

Yes, Thomas is her new bestie, which may come as a shock to fans given how close she was with Jasmine Ellis Cooper last season. Emanuel, who values authenticity above all else, didn’t think Cooper was being honest about herself or her marriage to husband Silas Cooper last summer in Martha’s Vineyard. Emanuel knew she and Cooper needed a moment (or two) before they could truly enjoy the trip together. “The initial conversation we had on the boat to me was just scratching the surface,” explained Emanuel. “There’s definitely more deep conversations that need to happen.”

Even in spite of tricky house dynamic, Emanuel remains the theme queen of Martha’s Vineyard. Her “Tails And Tales” dinner kicked off the two weeks with a bang, thanks to cast mate Bria Fleming’s liberal use of seasoning and Thomas stirring the pot. When asked how she felt about Thomas revealing to the table that she and Alex Tyree had slept together, Emanuel said she was as shocked as anybody else. “Summer expressing her frustrations with Alex in that manner was certainly not on my bingo card for this summer,” said Emanuel. “I was shocked, but tales were told and tails were cracked.”

Emanuel stopped by the Page Six studio to speak with Decider about her struggles with alopecia, her love of Pinterest, and whether or not she shared a moment with a certain Southern Hospitality cast member at BravoCon.

DECIDER: The girls had to work quick to relegate the boys to the mancave on the lower level. Were you the part of the squad that orchestrated the move?

JORDAN EMANUEL: I was absolutely part of the scheme that become known as “Bedroom Gate.” We had to put the boys in the basement because there was no bathroom down there. The girls worked together to delegate the bedrooms amongst ourselves and Preston [Mitchum].

You and Summer made quite an entrance together. Were you happy with your decision to share a room?

Summer is always visiting me, so we are used to sharing space. Sharing a bedroom was not that weird for us.

You got to kick off the trip with your “Tails and Tales” party. How’d you come with the theme?

Pinterest always helps me come up with the themes of my parties. Titling things and coming up with nicknames are something I enjoy. I wanted to have a play on the fact that we were doing lobster tails while catching up with one another. So “Tails and Tales” was born.

I know you’re a great cook, but I was happy to see all the girls pitching in with the meal prep. How did you feel about Bria’s liberal use of Old Bay seasoning?

So I’m from Maryland originally. Crabs and lobster bakes are our thing. Bria has a different technique than I’ve experienced before, but my pieces of meat and lobster were good. Now as for everyone else, I don’t know, but the pieces I had were great.

Yes, I believe her recipe was just dumping two cans of Old Bay in a boiling pot of water.

Yeah, Old Bay galore was her technique [laughs]. Just add a bit of water.

I’m sure it was spicy, but even more spicy was the conversation at the dinner table. Were you shocked by the way Summer revealed that she and Alex were friends with benefits and claimed that she deserved a little more respect from him?

Summer expressing her frustrations with Alex in that manner was certainly not on my bingo card for this summer. I was shocked, but tales were told and tails were cracked [laughs]!

New at the table was housemate Noelle Hughley who made no secret of her interest in Alex. Will Summer’s chill attitude towards Noelle’s pursuit of Alex last?

Summer’s chill attitude towards the Noelle-Alex flirtation was pretty consistent. I think there were some other people in that dynamic that changed up a little bit though.

That’s a tease. You and Jasmine also started a conversation at the “Tails and Tales” party that was continued during the boat party the next day. I know you both wanted to address how your relationship has changed since last summer. Were you satisfied with these initial chats?

There’s more to be hashed out with Jasmine and me. The initial conversation we had on the boat to me was just scratching the surface. We had to get it out of the way so that we could move on and have a good time. There’s definitely more deep conversations that need to happen.

I did notice you had to get your caviar in order before speaking with Jasmine on the boat. What’s your preferred way to eat caviar?

I love a caviar bump, but I also love caviar on a potato chip. You have to have that salty crunch. Add some creme fraiche, chives, and hot sauce. You can put some egg white on there… don’t need it, but appreciate it.

You don’t address it in the first episode, but the season trailer shows you opening up about your struggles with alopecia. Were you at all nervous about sharing that with the group?

Well, I hadn’t officially intended to share it with the group. I intended to share it with the people that I was closest with at the time. It ended up being shared with the whole group, which it is what it is. I wasn’t keeping it a secret by any means. It just is something that’s very personal that I was dealing with, especially at that time. I didn’t really have a plan for how I was going to reveal that information. I knew it was going to come up. I just didn’t actually think about it too much.

Did you feel the group was supportive of you?

[long pause] Yes and no. I felt support, but I felt like some people just didn’t need to know. Their opinions didn’t really add any value.

I don’t love how long you paused.

Yeah, you’ll see. You’ll see about that and then you’ll tell me.

We see in the teaser for the second episode that Nick appears to be invading your personal space. What can you tell us about the incident?

I don’t think Nick has done anything wrong towards me per se. I think sometimes when you’re feeling in the moment and you’re having a good time and you’ve got little drinks coming, some people get a little more friendly and more touchy. I feel like he’s one of those.

Let’s talk about another guy in the group. In the trailer, you say, “Amir is not keeping it a buck.” Can you explain why you said that?

Amir sometimes feels like he needs to check off a lot of boxes. When those boxes aren’t being checked, it’s like we’re talking to Amir’s representative rather than the real Amir. We don’t know what he’s really feeling.

I don’t know if you saw, but you were name dropped at the Southern Hospitality Season 2 reunion as someone who might have had a flirtation with Bradley Carter.

Yes, I did peep this actually and I put it on my Instagram story where I asked Andy [Cohen], “Where did you get that information? Fire that source. Never happened.” Love you, Brad, but never happened.

Fair enough! What can you tease about the rest of the season?

We have some really fun themed parties coming up. We get a lot of costumes. It’s going to be a good time. There’s the drama, there’s the tears that are coming, and more Milo.

Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard airs Sunday nights at 9PM ET on Bravo