Bravo’s ‘Southern Charm’ Star Rodrigo Reyes On The Importance Of Latino Visibility
Rodrigo Reyes joined the cast of Southern Charm in Season 9 and his participation gave Latinos visibility on the Bravo reality series for the first time in the show’s history.
Although Reyes seemed to appear out of nowhere to viewers, he has been running in the Southern Charm circles for years.
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“I am happy to be a part of it. I’ve known everyone for so long, so it’s been comfortable to slide into reality TV,” Reyes told us.
Coming into the Bravoverse was easy for Reyes as he tells us he was already close to Shep Rose and Austen Kroll.
“When I first moved into Charleston, Shep was one of my first friends that I made well before the show because we met through mutual friends,” he adds. “I met Austen because he’s really good friends with some of my closest friends. Charleston is very small and if you live downtown, you basically know everyone’s business and everyone knows each other for the most part.”
Reyes is the first representation of Latinos in the long-running reality series. His dad is from the Mexican state of Durango, while his mom is a third-generation Mexican American. Reyes grew up in Arizona where there was a lot of diversity and living in Charleston has been a significant change for him.
“Coming to Charleston I didn’t initially feel like an odd man out because Charleston has a lot of history, and culture that people take pride in,” he says. “For me, making really good friends that were open and accepting didn’t feel like a hard task to make this place home.”
Reyes notes that he’s “grateful for the opportunity” to represent Latinos on Southern Charm and Bravo. As one of the few Latinos on the cable network, his visibility is essential to Latino viewers. At BravoCon, Reyes connected with Danielle Olivera from Summer House, who had been one of a handful of Bravolebrities from the Latino community until now.
“It was nice to see somebody else who I can relate to in that sense,” Reyes said about bonding with Olivera over their heritage. “I grew up [in a Latino household] and Selena [Quintanilla] was everything. Then when she was killed, that was huge. I remember going to a vigil, in the next town over from where I grew up, for Selena because it was such a big blow because for once Latinos and Chicanos had representation. So, I understand how important it is for people to see reflection of themselves on the media they consume.”
With a couple more years of experience on Bravo, Olivera gave Reyes some advice telling him to “keep being you and people will respect you for that.”
“I think that can be said in many different aspects of life,” Reyes noted. “To just be yourself and represent who you are to the best of your ability. I think people will be able to tell who your authentic self is versus a betrayal of what you’re trying to put out there.”
Reyes told us that he is attending the Southern Charm reunion, which is set to film in the coming weeks. The Bravo personality said that this will be the opportunity “to get a lot of things off their chest” and predicts “the hot seat is going to be “Taylor [Ann Green] and Austen.”
“I feel like people are very consumed with what happened to them and a lot of people are not getting the answers they want from them,” Reyes teased about the drama after Green and Kroll shared a kiss.
Reyes has been a fan favorite for his reactions to the drama around him. Despite being one of Kroll’s closest friends, Reyes says he tries not to give too much of his opinions on the drama surrounding him.
“I’ve learned a long time ago not to give too much advice to anybody on the show,” he said. “I just think it’s better to be genuine about how you want to come across and more often than not, anytime I’ve actually given advice, someone’s taken the opposite. So I’m like, ‘Let me just stand back and watch the slow train wreck.'”
Reyes has a lot more to give Southern Charm as he is also representing the LGBTQ+ community, also a first for the Bravo reality series. With one season under his belt, Reyes is ready to return for Season 10 of the franchise.
“I really appreciate Haymaker and Bravo for giving me the opportunity to be here and to have a chance to have an interview with you about inclusion,” he says. “I’m very grateful for this opportunity and I think that representation is important because I remember growing up and looking up to the few people that were Latinos on TV. For me growing up it was Mario Lopez and I’m like, ‘Wow, he’s somebody who looks like he could be my cousin.'”
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