Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
“This room brings back happy memories because I’m always so excited when I’m here,” Naomie Olindo said with a big smile as she settled into the chair at Dr. Zimm’s office on the Upper East Side of New York City. It’s not a common sentiment shared in a doctor’s office, but this is the plastic surgeon that performed the Southern Charm star’s nose job almost a year and a half ago. It’s a nose job that has garnered a lot of comments online, but here in this office, it’s frequently described as a “beautiful result” and one Olindo couldn’t be happier with.
Dressed in a casual long black shirt, black leggings, and sneakers with her hair in a ponytail, there’s very little about her that can be described as self-conscious or insecure or vain, certainly adjectives used to describe fellow reality TV stars. When I ask if she minds if I take pictures of her during her hour-long Forma procedure she assures me it’s fine and doesn’t even care about photo approval. She’s not really counting the procedure as reunion prep, even though the big Southern Charm reunion is taking place the next day. Instead, she’s mostly stopped by at the urging of Dr. Zimm, both to say hi and to try it out since she’s in town — though the timing’s not bad.
Dr. Zimm is not just her plastic surgeon, he’s also her friend. “I spent so long researching and there were probably 20 surgeons I kept going back to and looking at before and after photos,” she said when it came to her process of finding the doctor that would give her her dream nose. She even put a down payment down with another doctor but pulled out at the last minute, and met with a top-rated surgeon who couldn’t even be bothered to make eye contact with her during their consultation, distractedly running in and out of the surgical unit right after their discussion. But when it came to Dr. Zimm, she knew he was the one. “The initial consult, he was so patient.”
And Olindo wasn’t the only one who loved Dr. Zimm. When she woke up one day and decided it was time to get her nose job, she recalled, “I walked to my parents’ house and was like, this is what I’m doing, I’m not asking you to pay for it, but please be supportive. My mom was like, if you’re doing it, I am too.” And so they both got the procedure done that day and then stayed in an Airbnb in the city for two weeks to heal. Dr. Zimm returned the favor by visiting Olindo and her parents, as well as her boyfriend Metul Shah, in Charleston earlier this year, and as she reported, “We all got so drunk, it was so fun.”
In fact, when Dr. Zimm arrives in the room, he’s sure to ask about the things that matter most to Olindo: how her parents’ recent trip to France went, when’s “handsome” Metul coming up to visit in New York, is she a billionaire yet from her clothing business, L’ABEYE? The answers: good, not anytime soon because he’s using a large portion of the vacation days off from his residency so that the couple can relax in St. Bart’s for nine days, and she “wishes.” But more about all of those to come.
In the meantime, Olindo leans back and gets ready for the non-invasive procedure, which she is warned by physician assistant Heather Struhl will simply feel like a hot stone massage as a heated wand moves in circles around her lower face and upper neck, focusing on her jawline and up to the cheekbone. It’s perfect timing considering this treatment is referred to as “red carpet ready,” giving the face a tiny lift while the collagen and elasticity are stimulated on a cellular level. Struhl tells me it is suggested that patients get the treatment once a week for about six weeks for the maximum effect and warns Olindo that it’s relaxing enough that she could fall asleep — which wouldn’t be the first nap of the day for her. Again, with no trace of vanity present in the room at the plastic surgeon’s office, Olindo shares that she fell asleep on her early morning flight and drooled on herself, a story that could’ve been kept from the world due to the fact that her friend Cameran Eubanks declined to photograph it, but Olindo is able to laugh it off.
Olindo continued to lay still as the machine beeped, but didn’t nap, offering, “I was just thinking about the hot dog I didn’t get before I came here,” she said wistfully, only stopped by the fact that she had no cash on her at the time to purchase one from a street vendor. She later told me, “I eat like a trash witch sometimes,” which is one of the reasons she was annoyed that the moment where yes, the cookie that Shah called “diabetes in Saran wrap” was later inhaled by Olindo but didn’t make it into the show this season.
After we left Dr. Zimm’s office and got into a car back to her hotel downtown where a spray tan awaited, we discussed the portrayal of her new(ish) relationship which has come under question by both viewers and, naturally, her ex Craig Conover. In the matter of Carb-gate, which will be addressed during the reunion, it’s one of the only times Olindo even slightly raises her voice. “He’s like, I care about your health, you really shouldn’t eat that and then I do and he just shakes his head and rolls his eyes and we laugh about it,” she said in defense of her boyfriend’s behavior that came off as judgmental or dry to some viewers. “I think he was uncomfortable,” Olindo, who has been on the show for about three seasons now, this being her first as an official cast member, offered of that scene in particular. “We were filming in a public place too, which is even stressful for me sometimes.”
“Not everyone is comfortable in front of the camera,” she said, explaining that the serious guy we’ve watched this season is not the personality she knows and admires her boyfriend for having. The goofier side of Shah can be seen frequently on her Instagram stories, where she often catches him dancing, smiling, joking around. “That’s when he’s relaxed. When you’re a doctor, you do doctor things. And then you have three cameras shoved in your face and are told to be fun and cute and convey your personality, you can’t, it’s impossible, I get it.”
It’s even taught her to modify the way she watches other shows. “When I see other people’s relationships on a different show, I judge. But now being on the receiving end of that, I would never judge another couple. I would never date somebody that’s such an asshole, I just wouldn’t. He’s the best and just doesn’t look like it on the show always.”
She’s not the only one that thinks he’s great: Eubanks’ crush on him has been a running joke on the show, one that Olindo says, “I think it’s hilarious. Literally, my own dad has a crush on him, everybody.” Olindo’s own fondness for him found her attempting to cook a traditional Indian dinner this season, and when I asked if her culinary skills have improved at all since then, she told me flat out, “I haven’t even tried,” explaining that when it came to those particular leftovers, “We left it outside for possums and raccoons to eat and they didn’t even touch it. Any old food, anything rotting in my fridge, I leave it outside for the animals in my neighborhood to eat because I don’t want to waste and I feel sorry for them. They didn’t even touch it! I was like, okay this isn’t even rotten, and you won’t touch it.”
What she sees in Shah as a partner she credits to his values and discipline which she says is “better than me, I’ll tell you that,” sure to note that he “prioritizes time with me really well and we hang out all the time. We spend the night together every single night unless he’s on call.” So as far as Conover’s claims that her boyfriend isn’t available to attend weddings with her as her plus one, Olindo says calmly, “There’s never been a wedding he hasn’t been to with me, I don’t know where that comment came from.” She continued, “I think what Craig’s talking about is a wedding that I went to by myself when Metul and I first started dating but that was because I didn’t have a plus one,” sure to say, “I don’t think he was trying to make it up.” Because even though storylines of tension or the need for closure between the exes were present during this season, Olindo tells me, “Craig is such a nice person. Now that I have the step back, he’s fine.”
“Oh my god, a hot dog stand,” she says longingly, spotting one as she stared out the window of the car while we sat in rainy, New York City rush hour traffic. We cover some more of the internet’s burning questions about the season, including did she really drive home after drinking all that wine during her conversation with Ashley Jacobs? “Oh, no I didn’t drive home,” she says, explaining that a shot of her getting into her car was filmed before she started drinking. “I think actually a PA drove me home because I got drunk. That was a long conversation.” Though it was perhaps a bit shorter than the time Jacobs stopped by Olindo’s table in a restaurant (off-screen) months before to call her a bitch, a moment which shook Olindo more than expected. “It was really uncomfortable,” she sighs. “We were with our friends and people were looking at us because she made it a scene. You might think that I’m used to that, but I really am not used to that at all.”
Olindo’s made her own amends, explaining that she recently spoke with a Season 5 frenemy, Peyton Pritchard, after the two were shown getting in a shouting match at a Halloween party. “I felt bad and was really down for the way that I treated her,” Olindo admitted. “We met for drinks and we talked it out and I was like, what I did was wrong and I’m sorry. We ended up having the best time. She doesn’t harbor any bad feelings and when she says it’s okay, she means that and not everyone’s like that in this world.”
Perhaps even including some of the people Olindo will share a couch with the next day. But as far as reunion nerves go, there were none present in this car. “I feel really calm. I can’t wait to watch what happens with Madison and Austen and Shep,” she said, admitting she “didn’t realize how intense it was,” when it came to that group’s feuding. “The reason I think that everyone gets nervous for reunions, even if they don’t have anything to hide or anything bad going on, is because even if someone says something untrue, even if after they say sorry, I was wrong, just putting something out there can cause enough of a stir. But you can’t do anything about it. I’m just not gonna worry,” she said with a shrug, explaining that even her physical prep isn’t much more than a mani and pedi, getting hair done, and a spray tan.
It’s that same laid-back attitude that taught Olindo a big lesson when it comes to her business, L’ABEYE this season as well. While she wasn’t surprised to get questions about what she wears on the show, she was surprised to realize that when she’s wearing items from her own line, ones that won’t be seen on television until almost nine months later, she should prepare to have them in stock at the time the episode airs because those items will fly off the shelves. “It didn’t seem logical for me to hold inventory that long,” she explained. She ended up having to call manufactures to reorder large amounts of pieces and as she notes with a small laugh, “”It’s worked out swimmingly.”
Olindo is also preparing to move offices in October as the business expands. “We bought a new building, it’s gonna be a huge warehouse. We just don’t have room in the office anymore, and it’s kind of bittersweet but it’s really exciting. We got to pick out light fixtures or our new office, it’s very cool,” she said stressing how giddy and mature picking out the office decorations truly made her feel.
The next morning, Olindo arrived at the studio near Hudson Yards for the taping of the reunion with her hair still wet and wearing a similar relaxed outfit: black top, black leggings, and flip flops, while clutching her two dress options in a bag — garments she picked from those already hanging in her closet at home. “Today I feel like I’m ready to go,” she told me, a bit more fired up since our conversation the day before. She spent the night with Danni Baird, who Olindo described as being “a nervous wreck,” Kathryn Dennis, and Chelsea Meissner, ordering room service at the hotel, ignoring the STD-gate episode of the show that was airing that night. Olindo vowed she was ready to stand up and defend Baird during that day’s festivities.
As hair dryers buzzed around the trailer, producers and cameramen filled the small area where most of the women got their hair and makeup done, peppering the cast members with questions about how they’re feeling, what they’re ready to discuss, any new developments in friendships (or lack thereof), the snippets of which you can see at the beginning of the first reunion episode. Olindo carefully studied the options for jewelry presented to her by Nicole Rose Kopelman of Nicole Rose Jewelry, a go-to for the cast and many other Bravolebrities, as Eubanks and Dennis would also be borrowing pieces for the day. “It’s impossible to pick because it’s all so pretty,” Olindo gushed, finally settling on sparkly leaf earrings, a ring with a pink center stone that Denise Richards had worn just days before during her Watch What Happens Live appearance, and a sparkly cuff bracelet worth $20 thousand dollars. Her boyfriend had a much lower budget when he purchased two small rings from Kopelman earlier this year, which Naomie proudly showed off. Behind her, Julius Michael was hard at work on the “sexy pony” hairstyle she’d be sporting that day, and Caroline Blanchard got to work on the stunning makeup. The women chatted quietly and calmly, even if the nervous jitters could be felt throughout the room in anticipation of the long day ahead.
“I’m feeling good, I’m excited,” Meissner told me, stating that her only worry was a potential nip slip as she would be “wearing a dress that’s a bit scandalous that I’m not used to doing, but I’m going for it.” Perhaps it’s also because she feels like she “had the most fun this season,” which spawned her dad into a local celebrity. “He thinks he’s famous now,” she said in her signature Southern accent. “He got spotted on the beach the other day and I think he went up to the woman and said, do you want a picture with me, instead of the woman asking, so he’s a bit full of himself right now.”
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In the next trailer over where the guys were getting groomed, there were significantly fewer people buzzing around, but the apprehension was still present. Shep Rose planned to “get dressed, go in there, and try to tell the truth. That’s all I would ever do,” while Austen Kroll said he was “looking forward to, believe it or not, apologizing.” While he says he and buddy Rose are “fucking great,” it’s Baird he hoped to speak to. “These wounds were closed and now we have to reopen them today and I just really really hope that we all walk out high fiving and grabbing a beer.” Though the cast won’t be toasting with Kroll’s own beer, Trop Hop, as they did last year. “Today I have friendships and relationships and people’s feelings to deal with, and I’m not worried about hey, bring out the beer,” he said.
Back in the ladies’ hair and makeup space, Madison LeCroy was just arriving with her glam squad, pushing the other ladies’ dresses that were hanging to the side so she had a clear image of herself in the mirror as she got settled in. As a producer encouraged the women to start getting dressed, I stopped by Olindo’s chair to say goodbye. She apologized for the second time in two days for being “boring,” though that a reality TV star could even achieve that quality is about as fascinating as it gets.
Southern Charm airs Wednesday at 9pm ET/PT on Bravo.
