Why Summer House: Martha's Vineyard's Jordan Emanuel Is Celibate: "I Learned a Lot"
“Ultimately, I want women to know that we can make our own rules,” the Summer House: Martha's Vineyard and Winter House castmate said.
Jordan Emanuel shared a very personal journey with fans when she explained on Season 1 of Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard that she was practicing celibacy.
Jordan told castmates Alex Tyree and Amir Lancaster, “Dating was always hard for me…I’m just so picky…and it’s part of the reason why I’ve been celibate for the past year.”
This came as a surprise to some viewers as Jordan's first brush with fame came in 2019, when she was chosen as Playboy’s Playmate of the Year, making her the first Black Playboy Bunny to hold the title. And though her choice was questioned by some, heading into Season 2, she’s now opening up about why she made the choice, how it empowered her, and if that’s still her goal back on Martha’s Vineyard again.
Here's what you may have missed on Bravo:
Dog Fights, Flirtations, and More — Everything That Happened on Summer House: Martha's Vineyard Season 1
"Nothing's Off the Table" in the Summer House: Martha's Vineyard Season 2 Sneak Peek
Here's Where the Summer House: Martha's Vineyard Cast's Relationships Stand in Season 2
Why is Jordan Emanuel celibate?
Jordan previously explained that part of her decision to be celibate stemmed from being a Playmate. At the time, she realized that some men she dated were bragging to others that she was a Playboy model.
“There are many people who think that because I posed for Playboy, that means I signed off all the rights to my body — comments about my body, interactions about my body,” she told Yahoo Life. "If I'm talking about my body, I'm talking about my body. It's something different when somebody else is making statements."
And though she went celibate around the same time she posed for Playboy, she said the publication wasn't the cause of her newfound outlook, explaining to Glamour, “It just happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
In Episode 5 of Season 1 of Summer House: Martha's Vineyard, “Jamaican Me Crazy,” Jordan marked one year of celibacy with a brunch and told her castmates more about a bad relationship that made her decide to be celibate.
“A year ago, I was in a different place. I got caught up in a situationship that I really had no business being in,” she said. “I thought that I had control over it…we were very close friends for a long time, and I thought, ‘Wow this is going to be great, I’m just going to have a little f-ck buddy.’ I knew he had just gotten out of a situation…[but] it turns out he had never gotten out of the situation.”
After that, Jordan, who is also a DJ, resolved not to have sex unless she was officially in a relationship. And she told Glamour she has no regrets.
“For the most part it was pretty easy. I had people that I liked and I had people that I’d make out with, but it wasn’t that hard to be honest,” Jordan said to Glamour. “I feel like I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about my former self and relationship and where things went wrong. When you think about it, for the majority of my life, I wasn’t having sex right up until the moment I lost my virginity. To me, it was like that’s when I had a lot of my most meaningful relationships, because you really are just getting to know somebody from the inside out. I valued myself so much more after I prioritized myself in setting boundaries.”
Jordan's Current Outlook on Celibacy
Jordan was adamant at the brunch with her castmates in Season 1 that even though she was marking a year of celibacy, that didn’t mean the journey was over.
“I think now that I’ve reached a year of celibacy, I’m kind of like, ‘That was the goal. I accomplished that goal,’” Jordan said. “Am I going to go bust it wide open tomorrow? Probably not. Because it is a big deal for me.”
But even back then we could see her struggling with her decision.
“I think at first when I decided like, ‘Okay, I was not going to have sex until I’m in a committed relationship,’ like, that could be a LONG time,” she said on the show. “And now I’m like, ‘Okay, maybe I will indulge in some adult behaviors.’”
However, when Jordan appeared on Season 3 of Winter House, which aired in October 2023, she let viewers know that she was still celibate — hitting a year and six months while in the house with the rest of the cast. Not to say there weren't moments when she considered ending the practice. In the Winter House season premiere, she expressed interest in Below Deck Sailing Yacht’s Alex Propson as a “vacay bae,” but it never worked out.
She later updated Bravo about her dating life in October 2023, sharing she’d recently been “stood up” by a potential date.
“I will start actively trying to date, which is really hard, because I hate dating,” she said. “I was always particular. Now I’m just more particular. If I’m not feeling it, I’m not even gonna try to force myself, you know? But I do try to keep an open mind. I’ll always try anything once.”
Is Jordan Emanuel single?
As for Jordan potentially dating during Season 2 of Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard? Jordan told Glamour she didn’t go on a single date in all of 2023 — putting an end to the idea of a summer romance on the island.
“Ultimately, I want women to know that we can make our own rules,” Jordan told Glamour. “It’s our life to live. It’s our body to share or not. We don’t have to play by everybody else’s rules or by what everybody else is thinking about us…so you may as well do what makes you happy as long as you’re safe and you’re not hurting anybody or hurting yourself.”
Watch the Season 2 Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard premiere on Sunday, March 24 at 9/8c and the next day on Peacock.
