During the third season of Bravo‘s Southern Hospitality, resident bartender TJ Dinch and new assistant general manager Michols Peña shared a kiss which resulted in a friendship rather than a partnership.
“It was very nice to finally, you know, just be able to break the ice and be super transparent about my story,” Peña told GLAAD’s Anthony Allen Ramos in a recent interview. ” I feel like TJ and I’s friendship has always been surface level and we had to go through a lot of growing pains to get to where we are now.”
He continued, “I feel like there was eventually gonna come a time where it was like, ‘listen, you’re my first gay friend. I’ve lived here for almost 4 years. I’m newly gay. I’m just trying to figure it out.’”
Dinch agrees and said that it was an amazing moment. “To get know more about Michols, his story, and his journey of coming out — it was a really hard, honest conversation and it definitely brought us closer, and also allowed us to have more honest conversations like that with each other.”
Peña and Dinch shared how it is to be living their life authentically and out loud on TV in the South. For Peña, who is “newly gay”, he has received lots of messages thanking him for sharing his story.
“I’m honestly very happy that I shared that story because I feel like a lot of us in the gay community have strained relationships with our families,” said Peña. “I’m very happy that my story is helping some people.”
Dinch added, “We’ve gotten like an extreme amount of messages of support and people sharing their own experiences, and that’s just been very rewarding.”
Southern Hospitality was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in 2023. The reality series follows The series follows Southern Charm’s Leva Bonaparte as she manages Charleston’s very own “it” crowd, otherwise known as her larger-than-life staff at Republic Garden & Lounge.
Southern Hospitality airs Thursdays at 9pm on Bravo.