‘Southern Charm’ Star Craig Conover Says Viral TikTok With Ex Naomie Olindo Was All Her Idea: “I Got Nervous”

Craig Conover‘s formative years have all been documented on Bravo’s Southern Charm, including every girlfriend, every breakup, and every makeup. That’s why fans lost their minds when he reunited with his ex-girlfriend Naomie Olindo—who appeared as a cast member on Seasons 3-6 and Season 8 of Southern Charm—for a TikTok reenactment of one of their most famous scenes.

The newly single Bravoleb told Decider that the video—in which they acted out their iconic, “What’s wrong with my sewing,” fight—was all Olindo’s idea. Despite initially feeling “nervous,” Conover decided to take the plunge when he reunited with his ex at a mutual friend’s wedding last month.

“What great closure for everyone who’s been invested in our lives,” he added while speaking to Decider about his partnership and upcoming BravoCon activation with State Farm. “I thought it was a pretty great idea of hers.”

With Olindo currently dating model Brooks Nader’s ex-husband, Billy Haire, the chances of her and Conover rekindling any past flame are slim. The Sewing Down South founder, for his part, has been dipping his toes back into the dating pool in light of his highly publicized breakup with Summer House alum Paige DeSorbo last year. In the Southern Charm Season 11 trailer, it seems that Conover has caught the attention of several women, including his co-star, Salley Carson.

“With a town as small as Charleston, it’s really hard to find space, or at least enough space, to not develop feelings for people you hang out with,” he said, sharing that he’s still open to exploring showmances with his co-stars. “I think you really get to know someone well when you’re filming with them. You just do. It’s a unique experience and I prefer it.”

When Decider caught up with Conover via Zoom, he also spoke about his friendships with Shep Rose and Austen Kroll, Southern Charm’s “fun and flirty” eleventh season, and whether he wants to be the next Andy Cohen with his new production company, Plaid Horse Productions. Check out the full interview below.

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DECIDER: Are you excited for BravoCon this week?!

CRAIG CONOVER: I am. I love it. I’ve messaged my cast and told them to try to get out there Wednesday just so they can get prepared. Some are super excited, some are nervous. I love it and I know we skipped last year, but I’m ready to be back. I do all of my meet and greets at the store across the country anyway, but this is a giant one. This is the first time I’m using a stylist, so I don’t know what I’m wearing. This is a little nerve-wracking, but I’ve got some backup options. I’m excited. I bring my parents out and I bring a whole team, and we’ve got a massive booth for the bazaar this year, so that’s gonna be great. 

You will be bringing your male Martha Stewart persona to life in the Bravohood this weekend. Can you speak a bit about your collab with State Farm and what can fans expect from your activation? 

Jake and I – a.k.a Kevin, as I got to know him – had so much fun shooting a commercial earlier this year that we’ve decided to run it back. I just got to see the finished roadmap of what fans will get to experience at BravoCon, which is Patricia’s infamous dining room table and Madison’s porch and my sewing studio and the backyard, which is awesome too. To be able to follow my journey – I started filming when I was 24, I’m 37 now – and the roller coaster ride of the sewing and where it came from … to now be able to embroider something with me at BravoCon or sew something on your own. We’ve got these quick little souvenirs you can make and take that home. For me, I just think there’s no better way to celebrate how far we’ve come and how much we love the fans. Jake and I are excited to see each other again, and we’re going to be doing lots of little activations. I get to have Madison and Patricia there too, so I think it’s a really fun thing to highlight at BravoCon. The Bravohood is always something fun. But this just feels special this year. 

I want to talk about the Southern Charm Season 11 premiere, which I just watched the other day. I noticed that you never mentioned your ex by name. Was that intentional? Was that a direct response to what she said at the Summer House reunion? Can you speak to that a bit?

Oh, no. Yeah, I can see how that would come off. Life’s funny, and that’s why watching our lives on these shows is so interesting because we actually are just doing this for the first time, right? Everything you see me going through, I’m just trying to figure out for the first time ever. I get to speak around the country and I get to speak about small businesses and home shows and stuff. You never know, out of respect, whether to say your ex’s name now that she’s not on the show. So you’re like, “I don’t want to say your name if you’re not comfortable with it.” But then when you say, “My ex,” you’re almost, not dehumanizing them, but taking the personalization out of it. You’re like, “I have no problem saying your name.” But we had just started filming again for the first time in a year. It was the first time we were filming since the breakup. And what you’re watching is me just trying to navigate life in this new chapter that I definitely didn’t plan on being in, but you just put your best step forward. Hopefully, the premiere was good. I hope you liked it. 

You guys are capturing this new chapter in my life. No, I’ve got no ill will. I just didn’t know … You just get thrown back into it. When cameras picked up this year was kind of when I was starting to come to terms with everything. You’re just going to watch me go through figuring life out, which is what so many people, I realize, are going through. A lot of times you don’t talk about it, and then when you do, you’re like, “Oh, so like there’s plenty of other people going through similar journeys.” 

You and Shep are both single for the first time in a long time, and you’re going to BravoCon later this week. Have you guys been finding yourselves falling back into old habits? Do you view him as having actually evolved after he promised to change his relationship with alcohol after that messy BravoCon experience a few years back?

I think he’s going to make it through Sunday this year. I got hopes that we’re going to have a great time. He’s excited for it. He self-admittedly does not volunteer himself to go to Vegas in regular life. He knows his boundaries, but he’s ready. Shep and I are actually in probably the best place that we’ve ever been. It was such a nice thing to have our friendship get to a level where we both accepted each other for who we are, which is complete opposites. We just are. We’ll never understand each other [and] both of us have finally accepted that that’s okay. I think the love that we have for each other …  We’re the only two that started this journey 12 years ago. I know it’s the 11th season, but we started 12 years ago. Well, Whitney, too. But, you know, Whitney’s Whitney. 

Shep and I … I really think you’ll get to see our friendship flourish this year. Now we are in different stages in life, but I think we want the same things. Eventually, both of us want families and to experience the world together. We both were fortunate in different ways. It was just nice to have him around. I wouldn’t characterize it as falling back into bad habits. It really is just me trying to figure it out. I would rather stay home and watch movies with someone all day long. But now if you don’t have that, you have to go out and meet people. Jumping back into that world is interesting and not as easy as some people would think. There’s plenty to see on that front. But Shep’s just Shep. He’s pretty much the exact same person that we met 12 years ago. 

Well I’m happy to see that you guys are on the same page, as much as you can be.  I have to say, I was upset that you and Austen are still kind of going at it, at least as we see in the trailer. I know you’re very entangled in your businesses and stuff like that. How has your turbulent friendship kind of had an impact on your professional relationship with him?

You never know when Austen’s going to have an issue with something I do. It’s very unpredictable. I’m just as surprised as everyone a lot of times. But, fortunately, we have such a great team of people around us. My partner, Jerry [Casselano], is a great glue between Austen and I, and our other partners in our businesses, that fortunately, when it comes to business, he doesn’t get frustrated with that stuff. Our synergy there has never been affected because our businesses are all the things that we share in common. Our bars are all the things that we enjoy traveling together with. The restaurant we opened, the music, the menus are all the things that we enjoy. When it comes to the minutia of how we live our lives or our day to day, or the quality time that we spend together, that’s where we seem to be missing. Once again, you’ll just see us try to figure out what our friendship is. Austen had some issues last year with me not being around enough. This year, you’ll see the opposite concern. It’s hard to keep track of. But I love him to death and hopefully we have a great BravoCon together. 

JT Thomas was back in the news this week after having gone on Instagram and proclaiming he’s sold all of his worldly possessions and moved to Bali. Do you see a world where you two could ever mend fences?

Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t know he moved to Bali. That’s cool. Again, we’re all just trying to figure our life out, and if that’s what works for him then I wish him the best. I’m going to root for him, and if he decides to move back to the States, I don’t see why not. But we don’t really cross paths that much. We just don’t cross paths. I’ll have to catch up on that story. I haven’t seen that. 

In the trailer, it seems like you and Salley are showing some interest in each other. I’m sure we’re going to see it all unfold this season, but how do you feel about showmances/Bravo romances at this point in your life? 

When I was like 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, I bartended and waited tables and I had the best friendships and relationships with the people I worked with. You can only bartend with someone so long before you start to catch feelings. With a town as small as Charleston, it’s really hard to find space, or at least enough space, to not develop feelings for people you hang out with. Also, as you get later in life, you don’t meet as many people as you did when you were younger. When really big personalities come around and cool people, you’re going to have to navigate that, because sometimes someone’s going to like one person, and that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always going to be the same on both sides. You’ve only seen me really meet people on television. Paige and I filmed a whole show in Vermont together. Our relationship came from spending, like, three weeks together in the same house. I think you really get to know someone well when you’re filming with them. You just do. It’s a unique experience and I prefer it. It hasn’t worked out for me yet, so I don’t know if it’s the best thing to do, but it is my life and so I would say that I have a positive feeling about it. I’m not saying it’s the healthiest thing in the world, but I think it’s fun to meet people on television and then see where that goes. 

You also need somebody who understands your life and what you do for a living. Somebody who’s an introvert and wants to hide is probably not the one for you.

I think the shared experience, that’s what brings me closer to people. Yes, what you get to see on television is real, but they still have to capture it. That small fourth-wall part of your life is a shared experience you have with the people filming with you. I think it brings you together. Now, whether or not that keeps you together, we’ll have to wait and see this season.

The internet was SHOOK when you and your ex-girlfriend Naomie reunited for an iconic TikTok. How did you two reconnect? What are your thoughts on her new boyfriend? 

I’ve only ever heard great things about her new guy. I don’t know him. I haven’t met him. But I was at dinner with a friend in LA and we went out in Venice Beach and the couple knew him – they were friends with [his ex-wife] Brooks [Nader], I don’t know – but they were just like, “We miss him! He’s a great guy.” And I was like, “Well, that’s good to hear.”

She and I had messaged months ago because I was going to France with my brother and sister-in-law. I was just getting recommendations with the old list that we used to do, or something came up, and she was like, “We really should recreate the, ‘What’s wrong with my sewing thing,’ one day. But you do my part and I do yours.” And I was like, “You know what? That’s really funny.” So, we were at one of my best friend’s weddings, and she was there too. It was a Charleston wedding. She was like, “Alright,  we’re going to do this.” I got nervous, and I was like, “I don’t know if I’m ready.” I was like, “Okay, whatever, we’ll just do it.” What great closure for everyone who’s been invested in our lives and stuff. I thought it was a pretty great idea of hers. We have a very, I guess, normal relationship now. Charleston really is small, like I can keep saying, but we have all the same friends, and so it’s nice to be able to coexist in a friend way. 

I was excited to see you launch your own production company, Plaid Horse Productions. Do you want to be the next Andy Cohen? 

Oh, I mean, who doesn’t? He’s just an incredible role model and someone to look towards. There’s a couple people that I look up to where they stayed in front of the camera while also running a production company. I think that’s the goal. I don’t want to disappear at all. I love sharing my life with people. I just have 12 years of experience now. I think that there’s a value add that I can bring to the table. We’re actively casting three shows right now, and it’s been really cool to be able to participate in that side of things. I’m really excited for it. I think it was the next logical step. We’ve got two great partners in it, and I’ve already gotten to do a lot of neat things because I am fascinated with the industry. I love my sound teams and my camera teams and the producers outside of filming. But just to be a part of the other world, the other side of things, has been really great. So hopefully, something comes together. But yes, if I could be anything like Andy, that would mean I was succeeding.

I could see you hosting reunions!

I would love to host one day. It’s really one foot in front of the other, and I try to implore people or Bravolebrities just to say yes to opportunities. I have something that’s coming up next week that came from something that I said yes to that was not paid for. You go up there and you just gotta keep moving and participating. I love the TV world, and I would love to be a part of as many facets of that. I just I filmed my first movie two years ago, and it just premiered at the Austin Film Fest, and I walked the red carpet with my co-stars and watched the movie for the first time with the other actors, and had to watch myself on the big screen for the first time, and felt really proud of that. I worked with some really big names. I don’t know, I like to do a little bit of a lot of different things.

That’s awesome. You wear a bunch of hats. 

Yeah. If you find something you’re proud of,  just keep doing it. That’s why sharing my sewing room with everyone involved in the Bravohood at BravoCon is going to be awesome. Maybe people will walk away and buy their own kits for it. State Farm orchestrating it for us is just really great. I’ve been with State Farm for 20 years. I just think sometimes things come full circle in a really great way. So hopefully, I don’t know. Can I watch the premiere? I don’t know, I haven’t watched in a little while. 

It’s very good. I was talking to Ms. Patricia [Altschul] last week, and she was like, “It has an old-school Southern Charm feel.” And I think she was right. 

It’s fun and flirty. Sometimes people go their own ways. We were all together on Halloween at By The Way, me and Austen’s bar. The drama did not stop when the cameras went down. This is a very organic thing. It’s going to be funny to see everyone at BravoCon. That’s what’s kind of old-school about it. We can’t quit the drama for some reason this year. It’s fun. This is the first time that you’ll see me really exploring new relationships and stuff. You’ll get to see some new sides of me that you’ve never seen before. You get to see Austen going through changes in his life and Shep trying to figure out what’s next for him. I’m glad we were able to capture the months that we did. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Southern Charm Season 11 premieres Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.