Inside ‘Southern Hospitality’ Star Justin Assada’s Relationship & Dating Show History
Justin Assada is the newbie on Season 4 of Southern Hospitality, joining the staff of Republic as a VIP host. “I have a bit of a history with Charleston,” he explained in the premiere episode. “I used to live down here in Charleston in 2019. I did my time in Boston, L.A., and Sydney, Australia, and ultimately I was at a crossroads in my life.”
He continued, “I was in a relationship. The relationship went south, so I said, f**k it, I’ll go south, too. I got in contact with an old friend, TJ [Dinch], told him I was moving back to the city, got some abs, a new haircut, and here I am.”
But Justin is no stranger to reality television. In fact, he’s appeared on multiple shows in the past, including two dating shows. Plus, he’s been linked to a famous country singer. Scroll down to learn more about the newbie.
What happened to Justin Assada on Surviving Paradise?
Justin’s first foray into reality television was on Netflix’s Surviving Paradise in 2023. The show starred 12 contestants who were led to believe they were spending the summer in a villa, only to be banished to the wilderness where they had to fight for their survival. There was a $100,000 cash prize at the end of the show.
While Justin was not a finalist on the show and did not win the final prize (he was eliminated during the final episode), his appearance on Surviving Paradise was the catalyst for his dating show future.
What happened to Justin Assada on Perfect Match?
In 2024, Justin was a contestant on Season 2 of Perfect Match. He entered the show during Episode 5 and formed a fast connection with Elys Hutchinson from Too Hot to Handle. However, he was eliminated in Episode 9 after Elys turned on him to match with Bryton Constantin instead.
“I went full certified loverboy and paid the price,” Justin admitted to Tudum afterwards. “I don’t regret my approach, though. I tried to stay authentic to myself, and I had such a fun time.”
Justin opted not to return for the Perfect Match finale. “I wasn’t going falsify any emotions or attraction towards someone that I wasn’t genuinely interested in, just so I could drag them along for the sake of screen time,” he explained on TikTok. “Call me crazy but I was there trying to find my perfect match.”
During the finale, the eliminated contestants get to vote for who they think is the best “perfect match” of the finalists, and Justin explained on the Positively Uncensored podcast that he had no desire to “sit there and be spiteful and come at people,” adding, “Who am I to be sitting in the peanut gallery and saying whose affection is real?”
What happened to Justin Assada on Miss/Match?
In 2025, Justin appeared on an episode of Miss/Match, a show that tested whether sparks could fly between “two very different OnlyFans creators in just one afternoon.” He was paired up with Dainty Wilder.
Despite Dainty living in Australia and not being Justin’s “traditional type,” he voted to “match” with her after their date. However, she said the date was a “miss” because she’s normally into “nerdy, geeky guys” who can “help [her] with her IT,” and Justin didn’t fit the bill.
Justin did end up moving to Australia for another girlfriend, Mykeesha Nelson, though. “Always fall for the ones that live across the globe,” he captioned a TikTok video before the move. By the beginning of 2025, he was sharing content from living Down Under, but by July, he revealed that the two had split.
Did Justin Assada date Maren Morris?
In 2024, shortly before the move to Australia, Justin was briefly linked to Maren Morris, who had finalized her divorce from husband Ryan Hurd earlier that year. They first sparked romance rumors that August when Justin posted a photo of Maren on an apparent dinner date. People reported that the two were “newly dating” the following month.
Assada had recently moved to Los Angeles from Boston at the time, while Morris confirmed in an interview that she’d been using the dating app Raya after her divorce.
Things seemingly fizzled out fairly quickly between the two, as Assada was living in Australia less than one year later.
Southern Hospitality, Season 4, Wednesdays, 9/8c, Bravo
