Molly O’Connell. Michelle Watt/Bravo
Molly O’Connell is new to Southern Charm for season 10 but she’s no stranger to reality TV after competing on America’s Next Top Model.
“Top Model was harder, definitely,” Molly, 37, revealed on the Thursday, January 16, episode of “The Viall Files” podcast. “It was 24/7 filming. They had motion sensor cameras in the corner of our bedrooms.”
The model, who came in second during season 16 of ANTM in 2011, recalled the showers being “see-through except for one little frosted part” and the bathrooms only having a curtain instead of a door.
“You couldn’t escape anyone. They could just come in,” Molly explained, noting that the cameras didn’t burst into the bathrooms if you were actually using the facilities. However, “If you wanted to hide from the cameras, they’d come find you,” she claimed.
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Molly alleged that the production team would “purposely mess with us” and heighten everyone’s emotions with “really late” interviews.
“I would get low blood sugar attacks and need food and they would dangle a sandwich in front of me. ‘Just a few more questions Molly and then we’ll feed you,’” she told host Nick Viall of her time filming back in 2010. “It was so toxic.”
While Molly called ANTM “a bit of psychological torture,” she said, “I would still do it again. It wasn’t so horrible that I wouldn’t do that experience all over again.”
During her first season of Southern Charm — her debut episode premiered in December 2024 — Molly has been open about her challenges as a model. She has discussed her weight gain and ups and downs with self-confidence as a result.
After talking about her weight on camera, Molly was fat-shamed by pal Whitney Sudler-Smith for eating a cupcake during the December 12, 2024, episode. “He’s very insensitive,” Molly told Viall and his wife, Natalie Joy, of Whitney on Thursday.
When asked if Whitney or Tyra Banks was “more rude about food,” Molly said it wasn’t even close.
“God, honestly probably Tyra,” she replied. “Whitney just made that one comment. He doesn’t say stuff like that to me often. It was just like, ‘Oh, come on read the room.’”
Molly noted that Banks, 51 — who created the model competition in 2003 — was “so toxic” but claimed, “She didn’t say stuff about us eating.”
“She wasn’t like, ‘Don’t eat.’ But she did come and film a segment with us about healthy food to eat,” Molly recalled, adding that there was a skewed perspective on the model’s sizes on ANTM. “The people who they would be like, ‘You’re plus size. You’re the biggest girl here.’ They’re smaller than I am now.”
She remembered it being “a toxic time” when they shot her season. But even with the bad, Molly said it was “very fun” and she had “a lot of amazing experiences” that helped her career.
All she needs is her signature smize! Tyra Banks got her start as a model, but she is perhaps more well-known as a TV host in this day and age. The businesswoman took the world by storm when she kicked off America’s Next Top Model in May 2003. She not only served as a host and mentor […]
Molly still talks to “almost all” of the models she competed against to “some extent,” especially the season 16 winner, Brittani Kline. “We stayed very good friends,” she shared.
“I talk to [judge and photographer] Nigel Barker,” Molly added. “He was super nice. The judges weren’t as in on the [toxicity].”
When it comes to Southern Charm, Molly said that the drama is coming — but her experience on the show has been pleasant.
“It was fun. I’m really high stress all the time. I’m very high-strung. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, am I boring? Does everyone hate me?’” she recalled of filming in 2024. “Every situation I go into I overthink it. I actually think it went really well.”
Molly teased that during the remainder of the season fans will see Craig Conover and Austen Kroll’s tension “escalate” and Salley Carson and Taylor Ann Green’s feud come to a head.
“I don’t fight anybody,” Molly concluded, noting she does “dip my toes in a bit [but] I try to be the neutral person.”
Southern Charm airs on Bravo Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
