Bri Balram was left upset when Too Hot to Handle partner Demari Davis kissed Valentina Rueda Velez on their date, and she’s still not over it.
“I’m still upset watching it, hearing about it, seeing all the comments … and everything. It’s just actually seeing it in real life hurt more than knowing about it,” Bri, 26, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, July 25. “I think it’s just something that we’re just actively working on trying to get past it all, but it is very hard to watch on TV.”
Bri found an “instant” connection with Demari, 27, inside the Too Hot to Handle season 6 villa. After conquering her kiss with Chris Alli and a Lana-imposed banishment, Bri and Demari’s bond only grew stronger. Bri was ultimately sent to exile for a second time when late arrival Valentina invited Demari on a private date. On the outing, Demari and Valentina, 23, shared a kiss to Bri’s dismay.
“I was very invested at this point, and I feel like we did spend a couple days together and people think it’s so light because it was just a couple days, but a couple days there together feels like a week,” Bri explained to Us. “Because you’re just with each other most of the day. I think that’s kind of what upset me because we [would] kiss [and] cuddle every night. We [had] these intimate conversations that they just don’t show all the way. I just felt very heartbroken.”
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While Bri and Demari filmed Too Hot to Handle a while ago, watching the love triangle back on Netflix is still a “very sore” subject for her.
“Me and Demari actually had a disagreement last night,” Bri quipped on Thursday. “It was more so, like, he was validating my feelings.”
Bri, however, has not been able to have the same open conversations with Valentina.
“[We] do not get along in real life, I’ll just say that now,” Bri said. “She’s just not my cup of tea. We’ve had our disagreements and I’m cordial, that’s all.”
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On the show, Demari ultimately chose to return to Bri instead of jumping ship with Valentina. Bri, however, made her man prove himself before she forgave him.
“It was important for me to show him because he couldn’t see it himself,” she told Us. “I think he’s used to girls just chasing after him and forgiving him so easily. I’m not used to that. I have standards. I have boundaries and those were so important to me even before going into the show.”
Bri continued, “Anytime I date anybody, I’m like, ‘It is a privilege for you to be here with me, sharing my love with you, sharing my feelings with you, sharing my presence with you.’ I was like, ‘This is not a light situation, and I don’t want you to think that it ever is or will be.’ Once you let a guy slip the first time, he’s like, ‘Oh, she’ll be fine with it next time too.’ And I’m like, ‘No, that’s not the kind of girl I am. You’re going to work for it and you’re going to work 10 times as hard as you thought you were going to.’”
Too Hot to Handle is currently streaming on Netflix. New episodes drop on Fridays.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
