‘Southern Hospitality:’ Meet the Cast of the ‘Southern Charm’ Spinoff

Powerhouse Southern Charm star Leva Bonaparte runs the Republic Garden & Lounge with her husband, Lamar. Together, they own four restaurants along Charleston’s King Street, but Southern Hospitality revolves around their shining star, Republic.

Bonaparte, who was born in India and raised in Canada, moved to Charleston where she established an extremely successful career through her high-end restaurants, according to Sportskeeda. With a reported net worth of $3.6 million, Bonaparte is used to living in luxury. Throughout the show she channels her inner Lisa Vanderpump, running a tight ship and directing her chaotic staff as they navigate their own personal drama.

Vulture has deemed Maddi Reese “the Stassi of the show,” as she’s ready to shine on reality television – making bad decisions and referring to herself as the face of Republic. Although she now lives in Charleston, DJ & VIP Manager Reese grew up in Charlotte before beginning to work for Leva four years ago. Although she considers herself the Queen Bee of the restaurant, Reese (a la James Kennedy) wants to level up her music career.

Throughout Southern Hospitality, Reese will be pursued by two guys, as she’s forced to choose between dating a close friend and coworker or getting back together with an ex that cheated on her, according to E News.

VIP Mikel Simmons not only brings the party, but based on the first episode, it looks like he brings the drama. As Vulture details, Mikel was “hire to promote a ‘new magazine’s party…at a competitor’s club,” stirring up gossip amongst Bonaparte and the rest of the staff.

As an openly gay cast member, Simmons works through processing his emotions, as he details in a preview that he has not yet come out to his friends and the community at his church. “Imagine living two lives, both living in one body,” he says in the clip. “My family has no idea that I like men.” It looks like Simmons will bring balance of heartwarming moments and chaotic scenes (cut to the trailer when he throws a drink).

Kentucky-born Grace Lilly moved to Charleston in grade school. Grace has a passion for astrology and mysticism, which translates to her lofty personality. Vulture puts it best, saying “she’s so self-assured, charmingly delusional and utterly delighted with herself that you can’t help but watch her every move.”

Even in the trailer, Grace stands out, excusing herself for being late because of the “Scorpio full moon, lunar eclipse, Friday the 13^th” and more. Bonaparte explained to us in an exclusive interview that, “At the end of the day, Grace, for example, who didn’t show up for one of our openings because it was like a red moon or something, got in trouble for showing up to a managers’ Zoom meeting in a bikini top. These things happen all the time, but at the end of the day, I didn’t hire her necessarily for anything except for that. The girl’s like magic at the door. I mean, she really is warm and creates an atmosphere. It’s just non-transferable.”

Atlanta native and VIP Host Joe Bradley dropped out of college before finding his calling at the Republic. The career-driven staff member hopes to one day run a restaurant empire of his own, just like Bonaparte. While he continues to try to prove himself and land a management role, his coworkers resent him for his overly ambitious antics.

In the show, Bradley is quick to reveal that he believes to have felt a “glimmer of something” between him and Reese, but he “never told” her about his feelings. As Bravo points out, in a separate interview Reese believes that Joe “never made a move” but it would have been “easy and convenient” to date him.

Not only is Lucía Peña a New Yorker, but aside from working nights at the Republic, she’s also raising her two-year-old son, Lucas, according to Sportskeeda. Working as a VIP server, Peña struggles to strike a balance between work and family but brings that motherly instinct into her friendships with the staff, guiding them through issues. In the midst of learning to raise her son, Bravo teases that she tries to give her son’s father another chance. Outside of Southern Hospitality, Peña is associated with Lulu Lemon, and is part of the Omega Phi Bea sorority, “which serves and educates people of diverse backgrounds.” She’s an adventurous, fitness enthusiast who loves her dog.

Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Mia Alario not only works nights at the Republic, but she spends her days working at a financial institution. After moving to Charleston for college, Alario graduated with two degrees in economics and, although she works two jobs, she's dedicated to her role at Republic and mostly does it for pleasure, not the money.

Her intense drive has been with her throughout her life, but in her role at the Republic, it rubs some staff the wrong way.

Emmy Sharrett is used to the complicated relationships between the Republic staff, having grown up as one of four sisters. While she appears to have an ideal relationship with her boyfriend, Will, a rumour goes around about Sharrett and a coworker’s boyfriend quickly threatens that.

From the first episode, Sharrett offers up a lovable, funny personality who is self-aware of the interesting dynamics of reality TV despite being on the show.

Born and raised in Charleston, Sharrett’s boyfriend Will Kulp still lives with his parents, as we learn in the episode. Although he drops that he and Sharrett are “definitely in the honeymoon stage,” it looks like that could change in the coming episodes.

After pursuing modeling in New York, Kulp returned home and has been struggling with career uncertainty ever since.  While he has a lot of untapped potential at the Republic, as Bonaparte notes, he seems to believe he’s above the role – preventing his own growth.

Also not a Charleston native, bartender TJ Dinch is originally from Virginia, but when he moved to Charleston, he established himself in the restaurant industry. As Vulture notes, bartender Dinch is "another out gay male" and he's quite protective over Bonaparte and the Republic.

Dinch reportedly is an adventure-seeker, posting about his travels to locations like South Carolina, Yosemite National Park and more on social media.

Not only is Bradley Carter a VIP host at the Republic, but he also works as a personal trainer. Carter graduated from Citadel military college on a football scholarship, but now he hopes to make his own personal training company. Bravo explains that Carter is not "afraid to use his looks to gain clients, meet girls or bring customers into Republic."

In terms of his social media, Carter reportedly posts about his friends, travels, workouts and pet on his personal account.

Tune in to Southern Hospitality on Wednesdays at 10EP on Slice, the Global TV app or STACKTV with Amazon Prime Video Channels, fuboTV, Rogers Ignite TV and Ignite SmartStream.