Last summer, beautiful Naomie Olindo dumped her cheating boyfriend, receiving widespread support from fans.
She had quit Southern Charm and moved to another state to be with him. Now, she’s back.
The Season 8 trailer shows her return to the show, alongside endless further drama.
Austen Kroll and Craig Conover’s fight is taking center stage, however. This nasty brawl could mean a permanent end to their bromance.
In 2020, Naomie Olindo joined Cameran Eubanks and Chelsea Meissner in walking away from the series.
Like her move to New York, her retirement from reality television turned into something closer to a hiatus.
She is returning to a cast that is fuller than she may remember, but still filled with familiar faces.
Leva Bonaparte, Craig Conover, Kathryn Dennis, Austen Kroll, Madison LeCroy, and Shep Rose are still full time members of the cast.
Patricia Altschul and her son, Whitney Sudler-Smith, will be recurring this season — and so will John Pringle, a familiar face from Season 7.
Season 8 also welcomes new full-time cast members Venita Aspen and Taylor Ann Green.
Olivia Flowers, Marcie Hobbs, and of course Chleb Ravenell are also newcomers to Season 8.
The Southern Charm season premiere airs right as summer begins, on June 23.
And the trailer for the new season features fights, a new love triangle, more fights, and a major herbo moment for Leva.
For one thing, after Naomie ditched Metul Shah, she and Craig — who of course is also her ex — rekindled things somewhat.
In the trailer, when Naomie confronts Craig for being “awkward around me a little bit,” he explains why.
“We’re not just exes,” Craig explains. “We hooked up recently.” He, of course, is now dating Paige DeSorbo from Summer House.
At one point, we see Paige sit down with Craig to talk about this.
“I think that hanging out one-on-one with an ex while you are dating someone is inappropriate,” she warns him.
But that is just one small piece of the equation.
While Madison is clearly happily engaged (her impact upon the entertainment news landscape basically gave us Bennifer 2.0, never forget), others are struggling.
Shep Rose and Taylor Ann Green seem to be in a make-it-or-break-it point in their romance.
“I want to go places with you,” Shep says, “and see the world.”
Later, Shep admits: “I don’t know where I’m going to be in six months” before being advised that, if he has a child, that decision will be made for him.
In another context, he admits that Taylor “gets jealous.”
Austen is also concerned for Taylor and the way that Shep treats her during their relationship.
“The way that he talks to you sometimes,” Austen tells Taylor, a tone of worry in his voice.
A clip shows Shep calling Rose “a f–king idiot” during a loud, and very public, argument — something that should be an absolute dealbreaker in any relationship.
“What is going on?” a tearful Taylor is later shown asking. “I’m starting to question everything.”
Meanwhile, Kathryn Dennis and Chleb Ravenell — who we already know broke up in the back half of 2021 — are having clear issues.
“I can go to all your friends and ask, ‘Hey is Kathryn a problem?’ Yes, you are, the problem!'” Chleb tells her during a tense confrontation.
Well, that relationship is doomed, but we probably won’t know all of the details until it airs, if then.
The biggest fight, however, comes between Craig and Austen, as they get into a physical fight.
Craig puts Austen in a headlock, demanding that he say “sorry.”
One imagines that producers had to step in not long after what little we saw in the trailer.
In another scene, Shep also goes after Austen.
“Austen, you’re a f–king joke!” he yells. “I can’t believe i’m sharing oxygen with you!”
Harsh words, totally devoid of context. This summer, we’ll find out more.
