Jesse Solomon Found it 'Hard to Care' About Summer House Drama amid Concern About Testicular Cancer Return (Exclusive)

Emotions ran high in the May 16 episode Summer house.

“There were a lot of tears shed by the boys that weekend — some were justified, some maybe not so much,” star Jesse Solomon tells PEOPLE.

At the beginning of the episode, Jesse, 30, was nervous about his upcoming five-year cancer scan because he thought he felt a lump in his testicle. “I’m just not comfortable being freaking emotional,” Jesse, who was first diagnosed with testicular cancer in August 2017, told West Wilson.

Jesse tells PEOPLE that he confided in West, 28, because they became “fast friends” after moving into a house together.

“West really brought it out of me,” says Jesse. “I wasn’t trying to talk about this terrible thing. He just knew how to tell when something was wrong, and he’s a good friend, and he asked, ‘What’s wrong and is it on Tuesday?’ And then I just broke down. I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”

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Meanwhile, Kyle Cooke confided in Carl Radke and Danielle Oliver about how it felt to hear wife Amanda Batula tell him she wanted to work on a side project she was more passionate about than their Loverboy company.

“The way Amanda talks to me actually disgusts me,” said 41-year-old Kyle.

The Loverboy founder and CEO cried in his car in the driveway, telling Danielle, 35, he felt “very defeated” by the situation. Later in the episode, Kyle spoke to Amanda, 32, by the pool and broke down in tears as he told her he felt “really, like sad” about the way their conversation went. “I’ll be there for you,” he promised Amanda.

‘Summer House’ stars Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula at BravoCon 2023 in Las Vegas.

Rich Polk/Bravo via Getty

Jesse didn’t understand what Kyle and Amanda were dealing with that weekend. “I didn’t know Kyle was really freaking out, but I was sitting there whenever he cried by the pool,” he told PEOPLE. “I just came out of the camera frame and I was just sitting there like, ‘I can’t believe this guy is crying right now.’ ”

Jesse was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 24 after he went for a routine check-up and told his doctor he was feeling a “stabbing pain in his testicle”. The doctor recommended an ultrasound, and Jesse asked for an STD test.

“I go and pee in a cup and get an ultrasound and they call me right away. And I was at work, and I missed the call, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I probably have chlamydia. My life is over. I’m going to have to tell this girl I’m seeing and this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me,’ Jesse recalls.

When Jesse finally spoke to a doctor, they informed him that he had a tumor on his testicle that was probably cancerous and would have to be removed.

“It was pretty shocking and I was really scared and pretty freaked out,” says Jesse. “My parents took it well and came to New York and we ended up doing everything in New York because I wanted to continue living as normal a life as possible.”

Jesse had one testicle removed and didn’t need chemotherapy after the initial discovery, but then the cancer returned a year later, after which he began four rounds of chemotherapy. The University of Miami linebacker started losing his hair during the second round. “It was difficult, but I knew it was coming, so I was ready for it,” he says.

Also going into the second round, Jesse caught a cold, which delayed chemotherapy by a week.

“Then I go into the third round of chemo still sick and get pneumonia and then I’m in and out of the hospital,” says the reality star. “The whole four rounds of chemotherapy were supposed to last three months, it ended up being about four. I went to the hospital so many times before they gave me the all clear. I ended up with no eyebrows and no hair, and I was just skinny , fat and lost muscle and veins, but it’s all coming back.”

After four years of clean scans, Jesse entered Summer house season 8 in hopes of continuing the streak and celebrating five years cancer free. But he told West and Ciara Miller over the phone on the May 16 episode, “The doctor felt something and then I felt something separate and both things were like abnormal.”

“Summer House” stars Ciara Miller and West Wilson.

Felix Kunze/Bravo

That’s why Jesse had to have an ultrasound.

“It was smooth sailing, but I was really like, ‘Fuck,’ when I found this bump,” Jesse tells PEOPLE. “Your chances of a relapse go way down after you’ve had chemotherapy – they say mine went from a 13% chance of a relapse to a 2% chance – but when it happens to you twice, it’s 50/50 in my opinion. You kind of have PTSD.”

He says “having fun with friends” and “having fun” served as a “solid distraction” as he awaited the scan, “but it’s never going to be a solution to anything.”

During that same weekend, Carl and his then-fiancée Lindsay Hubbard had their own drama when she reopened the discussion about his career options.

“I want softness and tenderness,” said Carl (39) Lindsay (37). Lindsay replied, “Are you sure you even want to marry me because I won’t always be this soft, like smooth…”

“Summer House” stars Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard.

Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty

At the end of the weekend, Lindsay drove with Danielle so they could have lunch on the way back to New York, leaving Carl to drive himself to him. “I personally need some space,” Lindsay told Carl, who left without taking his luggage with him.

Jesse knew about the tension between Lindsay and Carl that weekend, but his health concerns took precedence.

“It’s just so hard to worry about the things in life when you’re just worried about your health, because if you don’t have health, you don’t have any of these things in life,” Jesse says. “That’s something cancer has taught me, and sometimes you just have to zoom out. It’s still good to be motivated and ambitious, but sometimes when things don’t go your way, it’s really liberating to just be alive and well and able to do any of these things.”

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The episode ended with Jesse waiting for his test results. Jesse teases him about feeling “good” today.

“I’m healthy, I’m happy and I’m just trying to live in the present,” he says. “If I knew I would be fine, if I knew I would be involved Summer house and if I was living my best life at 30 and doing my job, it would be a lot easier. But I got all these amazing messages from people saying, ‘You’ve inspired me to go see a doctor. I intended to come for the follow-up, but I kept putting it off.’ It was super rewarding, even more than I thought. That was a big reason why I wanted to do the series and I’m really glad I did.”

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Summer house airs Thursdays at 9pm ET on Bravo.

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Source: HIS Education