West Wilson of ‘Summer House’ Discusses His First Taste of Infamy

When a 28-year-old unemployed journalist named Westling Wilson, who goes by West, was enthusiastically embraced by Bravo fans during his first season on the reality TV show “Summer House”this year, it made some wonder: Could he keep the good vibes going?

Last week many viewers issued a resounding answer to that question: No. Over the course of the first episode of the “Summer House” reunion on Thursday, Mr. Wilson went, in some viewers’ eyes, from fan favorite to villain, due largely to the way he handled a breakup with his co-star, Ciara Miller.

Ms. Miller, a 28-year-old nurse and model from Atlanta who has been on the show for several seasons, is known for not warming easily to new people, which made it all the more surprising when she and Mr. Wilson seemed to hit it off almost immediately.

By the middle of the latest season, the two were cuddling, sleeping in the same bed at their shared Hamptons house and going on dates in New York City. Their will-they-or-won’t-they tension was a main story line, and audiences were fervently rooting for them to make it official.

Their romantic fate wasn’t revealed until last week, when Mr. Wilson and Ms. Miller said in the first episode of a two-part reunion that, after several months of dating — during which Mr. Wilson took her to Missouri to visit his parents — he told Ms. Miller in December that he wasn’t ready to commit to a monogamous relationship.