I know, I know, it’s hard to focus on anything but toe-sucking-gate, but Jesse Solomon has displayed a whole portfolio of red flags worthy of dethroning West from his spot as #1 Hamptons fuckboy (and that’s no easy feat). Other than flip-flopping between telling everyone been “bullied” into moving too fast with Lexi and continuing to move fast to “keep her happy” because “that’s what girls like,” Jesse’s social media hyperactivity has become a point of contention in his new relationship. No, I’m not talking about the sex anthems Jesse has been dropping as an unironic follow-up to WWJSD in the apparent hopes of kicking Bruno Mars off the charts, but Jesse’s OTT flirting/trolling with his female castmates that he’s been up to since he joined the show. A lot of the Bravoverse (you know who you are) finds his silly showboating to be harmlessly hilarious, but actually, Jesse Solomon’s social media flirting is a bright red flag. Go grab a Loverboy, and I’ll tell you why.
Jesse Solomon Social Media Flirting: An Investigation
Jesse started going out of his way to gratuitously flirt with his female cast mates online (just the female cast mates, mind you, because I guess it wouldn’t be as entertaining to aggressively love on his bros) as his first season of Summer House aired. At the time, his attention whore fixation was mostly targeted at his married gal pal Amanda, so much so that fans started shipping Amanda and Jesse, given the low-key shaky status of her marriage to Kyle at the time.
Still, at the reunion, Jesse made it clear that calling Amanda a “smoke show” under every other TikTok was just for giggles. The rest of the group, including Kyle, seem to accept that’s just What Jesse Solomon Would Do (though it’s worth mentioning Kyle did call Jesse out for flirting with Paige while she was dating Craig in season 8 and snapped “enough!” at Jesse for excessive commenting about Amanda’s “cans” on the beach in season 9).
Since season 9 began filming, Jesse’s social media shenanigans have only increased, with Jesse spreading the love over to Paige and Ciara, too. But after meeting Lexi and pursuing her with two hands (voluntarily!), Lexi expressed she would need Jesse’s constant sexualization of his besties to be toned down. Lexi explains this is because she doesn’t need to be made to feel insecure by the guy she likes and wants her territory publicly marked. Jesse tried explaining he just likes gassing up his gal pals for fun, but Lexi’s “jealousy” (or clearly communicated boundaries, one might call them) temporarily put the kabash on his digital PDA to other women.
Is it immature to check your significant other’s social media?
On episode 9 of Summer House, Jesse tells West that Lexi has taken issue with his following of random women on Instagram. Naturally, West is gagged a girl Jesse told that every night they spend apart is a “shitty one” would care about such a thing, while Jesse is confused how Lexi even noticed this. He feels “watched,” considering he’s already on thin ice for joining a foursome for 37 minutes and flirting with Ciara IRL while Lexi was away.
Jesse asks Paige if she, as a fellow lady, thinks Lexi clocking his recent follows is “normal,” and Paige classifies the internet stalking as very “26-year-old.” Now, I, as an elder millennial, don’t know what technique or software one would need to detect new followers, so in that sense, I’ll give Paige that it’s very Gen Z.
But the desire for your partner to not be filling their feed with Insta Baddies is a pretty standard concern for many women, not just the youth. Jesse doesn’t explain why Lexi didn’t want him following these women, but he also doesn’t explain why he did in the first place, either. Were these new friends he met in the wild? Were these new friends single? Were they fans who DMed him? Or even strangers from, IDK, a dating app?? It’s impossible to know without his explanation, which Lexi also wouldn’t have when assessing his following list.
Paige herself said Jesse’s behavior when Lexi isn’t around would have to change if Jesse wanted to upgrade his situationship with Lexi from exclusive to girlfriend and that she would “cut his other ball off” if she was in Lexi’s shoes after the pirate party. Why would how Jesse behaves when he’s scrolling in the sheets be any less valid for criticism than how he moves in the streets?
Why does flirting matter if it’s just a joke online?
Following random hotties or flirting with friends online matters because even if your relationship is solid as one of Carl’s pearly white veneers, relationships should be built on respect. A loving sig O who would never even consider cheating still shouldn’t go out of their way to be flirty, sexual, or overly complimentary to other people online out of appreciation for their partner, wanting only their partner to feel that special in their eyes, and not wanting to make their partner look (even if it is only how it appears) foolish.
It would be one thing if Jesse was commenting messages of enthusiastic brotherly love (“beautiful!” “fire fit🔥” “keep smiling, queen👑”) under the girlies’ posts. Instead, his comments are about them being 10s, hot, or even joking about how they are in a secret relationship. It reads like he is doing this to get a rise out of people since inside jokes are, you know, kept inside the group chat.
Someone tell me what the punch line of this knee-slapping bit is, quickly, because the only implication I can gather is that Jesse thinks it’s funny to act like a total simp for gorgeous women he doesn’t actually have to commit to. When a man is in a relationship and doing this, the girl he is supposed to be prioritizing becomes the butt of the joke, intentionally or not.
Sorry, not sorry, but this is weirdo behavior for an adult man who is not trying to push people’s buttons in a middle school cafeteria. Would you giggle if you found out a 31-year-old romantic suitor often posted videos of themselves cuddling with a friend or wrote “holy fuckamole” on her thirst trap? My guess is probs not.
This is because it’s never just a joke or just happening online, and Jesse Solomon being unable to go “incident-free” for a singular weekend is living proof of that. His flirty shtick had already escalated to telling Ciara he loves her boobs in her bedroom before the midseason mark. For anyone who isn’t an expert catfisher, who you are online is a valid version of yourself, not an entirely separate persona. So why would Lexi be wrong for worrying if Jesse’s virtually handsy behavior took physical form the next time she left the house? TBH, it seems like Lexi cut Jesse off already, so I’ll be waiting with bated breath to see how Jesse’s boundaries with the women (or lack thereof) played out in their breakup.
