‘Summer House’ Newbie Dara Levitan Reveals How a Hinge Date With West Wilson Led to Bravo

You know when someone joins a friend group and instantly has lore? That’s Dara Levitan on Summer House.

The 33-year-old Massachusetts-born beauty creator joined mid-season and was instantly wrapped up in the drama—history with West Wilson, chemistry with KJ Dillard, a quick Ben Waddell detour, and zero warm-up time. Not bad for a first weekend in the Hamptons.

On We Met at Acme, host Lindsey Metselaar gets Levitan to open up about all of it, from the Hinge date that accidentally started this whole thing to her unfiltered thoughts on West and Ciara Miller. 

Whether you’re fully locked in or just trying to figure out why everyone’s talking about her, here are some of the highlights from the conversation, adapted from the episode.

How did a Hinge date with West lead to Summer House?

“We matched on Hinge. He was just a guy and I was just a girl. We were just living our little New York City lives. His and my relationship was the first one I had that lasted more than even like two dates after I had gotten out of my last relationship the year before. The relationship I was in before him was a really bad one. It was super toxic and mean and ugly. And I had a lot of trust coming out of it. And I always like to say I really cherish the time [West and I] spent [together] because it gave me a safe enough place to remind myself that not all guys are narcissists and going to do you so unbelievably dirty. But it also wasn’t something that I was like crying, wailing on the bathroom floor when it ended. It was just kind of like, it didn’t work out…

…It was around the beginning of last year that [West] was like, ‘Feel free to tell me to f off, but I feel like you would have a great time…You’re still single after all these years. Would you want to?’ And I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like in my mind’s eye to gun for reality TV…But as soon as I started the process of entertaining it and having conversations and meeting people within the show, it just felt right and my gut was like, “I think this would be a great thing to do.’”

Why KJ over Ben?

“KJ made me feel safe and he felt warm and kind and a little bit different than guys I had known in the past that were probably not the best guys. And there was something about Ben, conversely, that felt familiar in a way that I didn’t want to lean into.”

What do you really think about West and Ciara?

“In my fantasies, my girly brain would love for West to swallow a maturity pill and wake up one day and be like, I can be beholden and I can take the responsibility of being a partner. I do think that his biggest reservation is that he doesn’t think that he has it in him to do right by someone in such a consistent way. He loves his freedom and his independence and I think that plays into it a lot…

…I just feel like he is who he is and she is smart enough to know what she wants in life…like there is an element of if he really wanted to he would…but then it’s like I want [Ciara] to find exactly what she wants.”

What’s the green flag you swear by?

“Genuine interest from a man. I feel like that whole thing from Sex and the City, men like to commit when their cab light is on. I haven’t had enough empirical evidence to suggest the opposite. The biggest experience that I’ve had is that when the cab light is on and they see just a glimpse, like a caricature of the type of woman they want, they don’t even bother to really get down into the nitty-gritty of what makes you you. And then because they haven’t bothered, they are disappointed or surprised or frustrated by the reality of who I am and all of the good and the bad and the nuance and the flaws. So genuine interest, really asking questions for the curiosity and the desire to gather more knowledge and information, is very important to me early on.”

What’s the biggest sign a relationship is toxic?

“The biggest one I always tell women is when you start to hide things from your friends. When you start to make excuses, when you start to leave out bits of the story, when you find yourself canceling on your friends, wanting to include your significant other in activities that maybe it’s like, why are you bringing your significant other around? Those are the biggest warning signs.”

What’s Summer House actually like behind the scenes?

“We are cooking, cleaning, shopping off our own dime. It is a shared house. Like we’re doing all that stuff by ourselves with ourselves. If someone forgets to order groceries, there’s no food in the house…There is no secret cleaning lady coming. It’s whoever wakes up and puts the ‘I’ve got it’ hat on. It’s not secretly more plush than you guys would assume…

…It’s a mess unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Something about the parties and the people coming in and out and then you get drunk and then you end up going out immediately after but then you’re starving. It’s just mess piling on top of mess.”

Listen to the full episode on We Met at Acme with Lindsey Metselaar, available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read Next

• 5 Things Scheana Shay and Zack Wickham Just Revealed That Bravo Fans Need to Hear
• Jordin Sparks Is Almost 20 Years Post-’American Idol’ and Finally Saying What She Really Thinks
• Hailey Bieber Reveals the Health Scare That Left Her Unable to Speak at 25