Mama June Shannon has finally introduced the world to her new boyfriend.
The reality television star, who first gained fame on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, has reinvented herself with a slim-and-trim persona on her new show, Mama June: From Not to Hot! and as such she has officially moved on from Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson and to new beau, Geno Doak.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“I have found love y’all. I have a great wonderful guy, Geno, and I feel like a kid again,” she said on the season premiere, adding, “obviously, I love this motherfโer.”
Doak was teased but kept private for the last couple of weeks in the lead up to the premiere with Shannon simply promoting the new man in her life. What fans did learn is that the 42-year-old is in the construction and remodeling business as he is the CEO of G & J Home Improvements. According to Radar, the couple met when Mama June hired his company to remodel her Hampton, Georgia home. They ended their relationship at one point, but got back together last year.
Doak, like Mama June, is also a single parent, with an adult son and two daughters.
The show featured the pair on a date that was a near recreation of Ghost, with them sitting close; molding wet clay while flirting, and locking hands as well as locking lips.
Shannon also said during the airing that this is her first relationship since she transformed with a near 300-pound weight loss — the subject of the series.
“Geno is the first guy that I’ve dated really seriously since I lost the weight,” she said. “I’m trying to keep this one to myself to see how it’s going to work out. I’ve had some really terrible luck with guys and I’ve got burnt. So it’s really hard for me to fully trust him right now.”
Her past and public relationship with Sugar Bear was, as Shannon described, to be both physically and emotionally abusive — which sometimes the cameras hinted at during the run of Honey Boo Boo.
Shannon expects this chance at love to be better than her previous experiences.
“He is very, very awesome,” she told E! News. “He actually restored my faith and the girls’ faith in men. It’s the little things…he is above and beyond anything that I could ever expect.”
As for Honey Boo Boo, well, she is happy is Mama June is happy.
“I’m very proud that Mama got with him because she smiles if you say anything about him,” the 12-year-old told Us, “I’m like, ‘Mama has been so happy!’”