We all remember (or at least I do) that around the end of Seasons 3 of Vanderpump Rules, Stassi Schroeder basically said, "I'm too good for this show, my boyfriend is a 'man' unlike all of you, and I'm done." She left SUR to move to New York with said man... then fast-forward about a year and she's crawling back. I bring this up because it's kind of what Naomie Olindo did with Southern Charm.

And much like Stassi, she admitted to giving up the show for love. On the podcast The Skinny Confidential Him & Her (hosted by Lauryn Evarts Bosstick and Michael Bosstick, found basically wherever you get your podcasts) Naomie recently discussed why she left Southern Charm after Season 6, and it was mainly because of now ex-boyfriend Metul Shah.

Naomie said, "He was a resident and he needed to apply for fellowships. So a lot of things played into that, but I was totally willing to give up the show for what I thought to be a healthy and loving relationship because that's what I would prioritize over a reality show, obviously. So I had no problem doing that."

But now that that relationship is over, and over very publicly, I might add, she has no problem getting back into the reality television game.

When asked about how it was coming back to film another season of Southern Charm, she said she essentially had to plead with them to come back. "I had to, like, beg my way back. I was like, 'Guys, please. I know I quit and I know I told everybody to fuck off, but please I'm very depressed and I really want to come back. I don't know what I'm going to do if I'm back in Charleston.' They were like, 'All right.'"

But... why did she have to beg? Well, she kinda left – like Stassi did – with a balls to the wall attitude. Let's take a look back at the bridge-burning Naomie did when she left Southern Charm in 2020, and be thankful that she mended them.

She Didn't Like Her Co-Star's "Filming Strategy"

This shouldn't come as a huge shock, if you watched Naomie's last season of the show, you can see her frustration with Kathryn and how Kathryn handles friendships (and relationships).

In 2020, Naomie went on The Skinny Confidential podcast and said, "I mean I feel kind of bad saying it but I think I can say I have a strained relationship with Kathryn because I struggle with her filming strategy, I guess. But everyone else I mean, I love Whitney, I love Pat, I even get along fine with Craig and Shep, I saw him just the other day. I have a relationship with pretty much everybody, except for Kathryn I would say.”

Reality TV Is Only For A "Specific Personality Type"

She went on to say on that same podcast: "I don’t want to be like, shitting on people that are still doing it or anyone in reality TV because I have lots of friends in reality TV and I think they’re great people — but I do think there’s a certain element of a very specific personality type that it takes to do something like that," which obviously. And she was one of these people, and clearly still is, hence why she is coming back. It was a shady thing to say; iconic, really.

The Atmosphere Had Become Toxic

A lot of times on Bravo you can sense when people are over-producing behind the scenes and orchestrating moments, and Naomie opened up about some of her cast mates doing that on Southern Charm. She told The Skinny Confidential, “I mean some people on Southern Charm will literally write notes and read books and write notes in the margins, ‘Oh this is what this cast member does so I want to crush my enemy and I’m gonna follow this strategy.’ So people will strategize and once it starts getting to that point, it can get so toxic."

But when reading these old quotes, I try to put myself back in that time and what happened her last season, and Season 6 wasn't easy for her. Metul got a lot of shit from fans for telling her not to eat a cookie and even her friends were pointing out red flags, and that was probably very difficult.

Naomie said, "So that’s why for me, and I think I could probably speak for Chelsea too, when it reaches that level where some people just have nothing to lose and are willing to sing for their supper and do whatever it takes, whether that’s try to ruin your marriage or your relationship or say something about your children or whatever, it’s just too much and personally for me, I can’t be in that because it makes me depressed.”

She Didn't Want To Associate With Negativity

Listen, I think when you're riding a relationship high, it's easy to kind of want to stay in that bubble, to stay in your happiness and not have people penetrate that. But at the same time, I think it can also come from a place (like with Stassi) where you think you are suddenly above it all while trying simultaneously to seem grounded.

I think back on when she was talking about the show to The Skinny Confidential, she said, "I don’t want to be associated with that kind of negativity because it’s like a really dark side of life. I mean I was telling you, Lauryn [host of The Skinny Confidential], Los Angeles makes me anxious because I feel like there’s a level of superficiality here and I just can’t vibe with it, I don’t like it, and the show is kind of like that but to the extreme, I guess.”

But things change, and people change. What was Naomie's truth in 2020 is not Naomie's truth in 2022, and that's fine! I for one cannot wait to see her back on TV... with or without notes on how to dominate cast members.