Now that Peacock has given six queens of pop culture the chance to find love across two seasons of “Queens Court,” it’s time for some kings to make their move with the new Bravo spinoff “Kings Court.”
Ahead of the Sunday premiere, supermodel Tyson Beckford told TheWrap all about entering the reality TV dating pool alongside co-stars NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer and WWE legend Thaddeus “Titus O’Neil” Bullard. And while this wasn’t his first television competition, he admitted he was surprised by just how dramatic and emotional things got.
“You want to be respectful, you want to be the life of the party, you want to be all these great things to take care of the queens that are in your court. I think that’s what my other two Kings and I wanted to do, and we were successful about it,” Beckford teased. “But anytime you’re doing a dating show, there will be drama. And my whole thing is, mind my business, stay out of it. That was the mindset I had when I went on, but it’s unavoidable when men and women get together and there’s feelings. There’s going to be a little drama and there are going to be some tears shed. I mean, I cried. These girls cried. I don’t know about the other Kings, but I think I was the most sensitive person on there.”
“That’s an interesting part that I want to see, what the girls were up to. Because obviously they’re going to put on a face for us Kings. But I need to know what was going on, who was fighting with who,” he continued. “We always said, if you have a problem with somebody, go to that person first before you turn it into something messy. So we were trying to avoid that situation.”
Still, with 21 single women competing for the attention and affection of three eligible bachelors, there’s bound to be some jealousy at play — on both sides.
“I think we all ended up with who we were supposed to, as far as who we paired up with to go on dates. If there was one woman that I had and she wanted to go date Thaddeus, I was fine with it, you know? What was so great about the women, they were upfront. I mean, I don’t get jealous. I’m not a jealous person. So for me, I wasn’t territorial. But, you know, I think maybe one of the Kings is like that,” Beckford revealed. “I’m not a player. I didn’t want to come off as a player. But with this experience, I wasn’t just going to pick one-and-done. I was going to go down the line and and meet them and understand them and talk to them and figure out what was good for Tyson.”
Luckily for the fashion icon, he already had a history with the “Kings Court” co-hosts Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peete, who even came to his defense at one point on the show.
“The crazy thing about that is I’ve known Holly and Rodney for a long time, and Holly has been like a big sister to me. So when I was told that it was with them, I knew I was in good hands. She was looking out and and there’s even a point where both my big brother Rodney and my big sister Holly defend me. When they jump to my aid, I wasn’t surprised. I was just like, ‘Yeah, get ’em.’ It’s nice to have those two like that,” Beckford shared. “Regardless of what happens on the show, I have four people that I can call my friends. We’re on memes together on Instagram, we’re on text messages — Happy Birthday, anniversaries — it’s so nice to be a part of this ‘Kings Court’ family. I really feel like people are going to love it and they’re going to want more.”
Beckford has previously appeared on other reality shows like “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!,” “America’s Next Top Model,” “Dancing With the Stars” and “Make Me a Supermodel,” but he never actually saw himself doing a dating show: “They talked me into it. I said no many times, I couldn’t help it. I had to get on there, I had to find out.”
“This was so different, because I didn’t look at it as a contest. I looked at as I’m trying to find a girlfriend, I’m trying to find a fiancée, a wife. I’m trying to find the future mother of my kids,” he explained. “The two guys — Thaddeus and Carlos — don’t want to have any more kids. So I was the only option to that, which separated me from the other guys. So I tended to get the younger girls, because they were the ones who were interested in getting married and having kids. Whereas they got the older ones who weren’t really into that.”
“The motto we always spoke about, we’re going to be gentlemen and we’re always going to remain gentlemen. We’re not going to yell at anyone, we’re not going to raise our voice. We’re just going to be gentlemen. We’re going to open doors, pull out chairs, say thank you ma’am, no ma’am. You know, that was the mood for us. We put on these tuxedos, we tied our bowties, we made sure the jacket had a pocket square, we made sure the cufflinks were where it needed to be,” Beckford added of his fellow Kings. “We were definitely distinguished gentlemen, that is something that I will always respect about my co-stars. We always maintained that we’re going to be gentlemen and we never got into anything messy. We were having a good time, and you can tell that we’re having a good time. Nobody was miserable — none of the Kings were miserable, I can’t speak for the ladies.”
See how “Kings Court” plays out when it premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo before streaming next day on Peacock.
