Southern Hospitality’s Mikel Simmons Is Friends with This Southern Charm-er

When Southern Hospitality premiered on November 28, viewers got to know a bit about 10 of the people who work for Southern Charm’s Leva Bonaparte and her husband/business partner, Lamar Bonaparte.

The power couple owns Mesu, 1st Place, Bourbon N’ Bubbles, and Republic Garden & Lounge, but the last spot on that list is the “crown jewel of their kingdom.”

Many of the Southern Hospitality cast members work at Republic, and they spend their downtime together as well. 

VIP host Mikel Simmons has a long history with Republic. Find out more about who he is — including his link to another Southern Charm-er (no, not Leva) — by scrolling below. 

His background

Like fellow cast member Will Kulp, Mikel is from Charleston. The 25-year-old was born and raised in the Southern city, and he grew up in a religious Christian household. 

His work life

Mikel is a VIP host for Leva, which means he’s in charge of bringing guests to Republic and selling tables to them. However, when the show begins, viewers learn that Mikel has actually been suspended from Republic for promoting an event at another club. While Lamar wasn't very interested in bringing Mikel back, Leva wanted to give him a second chance.

Based on the teaser trailer for the debut season, he’ll be opening up a lot about his personal life too. 

His personal life

On Southern Hospitality, Mikel will come out to his church family. In the teaser trailer, Mikel notes that he feels like he leads "two lives" because some of his loved ones don’t know that he is gay. 

Outside of his journey to share more about his personal life, Mikel is friends with Southern Charm’s Kathryn Dennis. He has shared several photos taken with the mom of two on his public Instagram feed. 

You can see more of Mikel on Southern Hospitality. 

Watch Southern Hospitality on Bravo Mondays at 9/8c and next day on Peacock. Catch up on the Bravo app.