This time last year Olandria Carthen was sitting at a desk inside a corporate office building in Houston, probably on a Teams call staring at her own face. I should not be selling elevators, she’d think. It has to be better.
Indeed, the woman we now know as Bama Barbie, with more than 2.2 million followers on Instagram and 1.7 million on TikTok, once spent her days selling elevators and escalators before she went to Fiji to film one of the biggest reality TV shows of 2025, and probably ever. Carthen was good at her job, make no mistake—but she knew “dealing with pissed-off customers every day” just wasn’t it.
Meanwhile, some 7,000 miles and an ocean away, Nicolas Vansteenberghe (1.9 million on Instagram, 2.5 million on TikTok) was in Japan, eating ramen and snowboarding while working as a model. “I was making enough money to travel and do what I wanted, but I felt like I had no purpose, just partying and vacationing—no future plan, just going with the flow,” he says.
To think, just 12 months later they’d be collectively known as Nicolandria, arguably television’s most talked-about couple of 2025, who can’t go out in public in New York City without being swarmed by fans. I know this because my first pitch for our meeting—a festive hot chocolate outing in the heart of Manhattan—was politely but swiftly turned down by their management teams for that very reason.
Celebrities often spend their whole careers vying for the visibility these two have, and yet to call them household names would be misleading. One has to wonder: How did this happen?
During the course of six weeks this past summer (every day but hump day), viewers watched their individual journeys unfold on season seven of Love Island USA—having an initial attraction to one another but ultimately coupling up with other people; watching those relationships play out; becoming friends; almost getting eliminated and having to come together in order to stay in the villa; going back to other connections; and, following some more twists and turns, finding their way to each other. By the finale, NBC Universal announced the season had amassed 18.4 billion minutes streamed on Peacock, making it the number one streaming reality show in the US during its entire run.
They might’ve been disconnected “from the outside” while in Fiji, but those of us watching the action unfold from home clocked their chemistry pretty much from the jump. The moniker Nicolandria, in fact, was given to them by the fans and had been embraced by everyone from celebrities to their families before word even reached them in the villa. Some viewers cried “producer intervention” when they finally came together (which the couple has repeatedly refuted), but ultimately, their relationship was just that compelling—a friends-to-lovers arc, a better-than-fan-fiction love story playing out in real time, on our screens. He was giddy around her, attentive and fiercely protective; she was able to loosen up with him, letting her humor shine. They might’ve come in second place on the show, but they won what mattered.
Since leaving the villa in Fiji, the fervor around their relationship has only grown, their every move, post, and interaction dissected on social media accounts and Reddit threads. To say their lives look different now would be an understatement.
I almost can’t believe I’m actually sitting across from them—from Nicolandria—eating edamame on a chilly December evening in a semi-private room at a discreet sushi spot downtown. Vansteenberghe is fresh off a plane—well, two planes and a train—from Jacksonville, Florida, where the 24-year-old spent Thanksgiving with his family. (“I slept so much. Fifteen hours a day.”) Carthen’s a little more refreshed, having come up from her own holiday celebrations in Decatur, Alabama, the night before.
The next day they’ll be on set with Glamour. Then Vansteenberghe will be back to the airport, headed to Los Angeles for the Skims “Kimsmas” shoot; Carthen, meanwhile, will go up to Boston to speak at Harvard, where she’s receiving an award at the school’s Women in Business Gala. (“I’m excited. I’m nervous as heck, though. Really? Harvard?”)
Sitting close together in a wooden booth, sipping miso soup, the two tell me how they’re still trying to wrap their heads around it all—the parasocial spotlight that follows them, the opportunities being presented to them, the rooms they’re finding themselves in. Some things have remained the same, though: Carthen has maintained her home base in Houston; Vansteenberghe’s more of a nomad. (Technically, his main residence is still his parents’ house in Jacksonville.) They both thought about moving to LA but have since decided against it.
“Being from the Deep South, it’s kind of hard to jump to the West Coast. It just doesn’t feel like home,” Carthen says. “Going there for work makes sense. But going there to live and for tax purposes, it doesn’t.”
Vansteenberghe’s of a similar mind: “I’m 24, looking to move out of my parents’ house. It’s just that traveling every other day is kind of hard. LA would be interesting for business, but the tax things—”
“He was in LA before the show—you didn’t even like LA,” Carthen interrupts.
“I bounced around,” he clarifies.
Before we met him on Love Island USA, Vansteenberghe spent three years moving around the world, mainly due to his modeling work but also out of a desire to travel. He’d spend three months at a time in places as far as Bali. “I’m so undecided. We’ll see. I’m thinking it would be me and my suitcase for a couple more months.”
He’s still very much a go-with-the-flow type, he admits, but life post-reality TV has given him “a lot more purpose and thought about my future and more work ethic towards social media.” In addition to working with different platforms, he’s also building a career in music (his DJ name: Nic Vans) and dabbling in acting. (Hallmark Channel, call him!)
Carthen, for her part, has been able to pursue a lifelong dream of modeling post-villa, walking Sergio Hudson’s New York Fashion Week show and appearing in campaigns for Reebok and Ugg. She’s had her share of brand partnerships (a nonexhaustive list: Sweetgreen, Nyx Professional Makeup, Raising Cane’s, DoorDash, Microsoft Copilot, Vaseline, Aveeno, EOS, Shark Glam, and Liquid I.V.), and used her new platform to speak about the role higher education has played in her life. (She graduated from Tuskegee University with a degree in logistics, materials, and supply chain management in 2022.)
Yes, there’s a lot happening, at all times, in their lives. But there’s also a lot of genuine excitement about what they’re able to do and what’s yet to come. Carthen just wrapped her busiest month to date (if you followed #Olavember, you know), and has big plans for 2026. Vansteenberghe, for one, is not totally ruling out gracing our television screens again—“I’m down for anything but a dating show,” he says. Though he’s never watched a full season of Dancing With the Stars, he really, really wants to be on it.
“I’m going to start training soon. I’m manifesting,” he says.
“Have you seen him dance?” Carthen asks me, to which I politely—but encouragingly—say no, I haven’t. (You know, except for the Megan Thee Stallion twerk-off on Love Island.)
“But the thing about it is the progression would be insane,” Vansteenberghe continues. “I would win most improved. I just want to dance.”
During our 90-minute meeting, the two go back and forth in a very couple-y way, adding to the other’s answers, playfully bantering, hinting at inside jokes they’d rather not say into a recorder, and hyping each other up. It’s very charming—not only because they themselves are so likeable, but because they really seem to be each other’s biggest champions. Few people can relate to how much their lives have changed in the past year, so they lean on one another, cheer each other on, and provide a space where they can just be.
If that isn’t partnership…
Ahead, Glamour talks to Carthen and Vansteenberghe about life after reality TV, redrawing boundaries, the holidays, and what’s coming up next for Nicolandria.
With these reality shows, you never really know what’s going to happen after—you just know that your life is going to look different. When you signed on, officially, to be on Love Island, what were you hoping to get out of it?
Olandria Carthen: I was hoping I’d find love and go there for my actual person. In season six, you got a few couples that came out with actual partners, and they’re doing life together. That’s kind of beautiful. Me, being single for five years, I was like, Well, the dating pool in Houston fucking sucks. Let me try my luck.
Going on TV is kind of scary, because people are going to see you in your vulnerable state, and you don’t know how things are going to work out. While you’re there, you don’t have your phone, you don’t know the time, you don’t have access to the outside world. At some point I literally would forget I was on the show and that we were being filmed. I wasn’t thinking about, Oh, what are people thinking about me? Am I popular? I was there for this purpose of finding love. There were even points where I was begging, “Can y’all vote me off? I’m ready.” It just got very emotionally draining.
Even before I went, I told my general manager to keep my job. I did not think life was going to take off like this for me. Me actually having to have that phone call with my general manager, “Okay, so about this job….” My freaking customers are now fans. I don’t think work could ever be the same for me. My life is outrageously crazy. I never imagined myself having to quit my job. I was going to go back to work, even though I really did not care to go back to work.
Nic Vansteenberghe: I didn’t really know what the show was prior to going on. It got brought up to me, and I was like, Okay, pretty girls in a villa in Fiji. Honestly, at that time in my life, I was very in the present, not really thinking too much about the future. I just went on the show to have a good time. I did. I had a great time. And now everything that came from it is so beautiful and amazing. I feel like that’s why we did well. We enjoyed ourselves and had fun with it.
As a viewer, I got a sense of who you were as people, which I think is what others connected to; why people felt so strongly about both of you, and why folks have been rooting for you as individuals and as a couple. Do you agree?
Olandria: With [reality] shows, some people go in with a plan when they get cast. The audience can see through that. Just go and be yourself. Even though there were some points after the villa that I wasn’t necessarily okay with the way I was edited, I know I was authentic. I know it probably was edited in a way to make it come off a certain way, but at the end of the day, I was me. And I think that’s where my support from my fan base comes from.
And then afterwards, you’re able to show yourself on your own terms.
Olandria: Exactly. That’s been the most fun part, taking control of the narrative. Because at first, I was so upset at the thoughts that people had about me. I’m like, You know what? They’re only going off of what they were seeing, what they were shown. At this point it’s up to me to control that narrative and show them the real me, the part that’s not edited. The rest of my life is not going to be edited. If you like it, you love it. If you don’t, whatever. It’s going pretty good. I’ve been using my platform for the right reasons. I’ve been showcasing myself and my personality as much as I can, whether that’s through livestreams, speaking engagements, whatever it is.
I’m curious how you approached the immediate aftermath of the show. Did you feel like you wanted to say yes to everything just because it felt so new? Did you think strategically about those opportunities?
Nic: It depends what it was. I was very wary and cautious, more about the back office things. I would take my time. But as for events, people inviting us places and doing cool stuff, I would say yes to everything. And I’m cool with that.
Olandria: We wake up, “Oh, we’re going to Snapchat headquarters today.” I’m like, “Oh, who set that up?” Him.
Nic: I forgot about that. But looking back on it, it led to so many more things, like this good partnership with Snapchat.
Olandria: Chilling with the CEO and things. He’s doing a bit with Snapchat.
It's is a completely different trajectory than you both could have ever imagined a year ago, but you have each approached it in a really interesting way that feels very true to both of your interests. How would you define your goals now?
Nicolas: I would say easier to obtain. All of the goals that I had for being a DJ and starting on YouTube, it’s been propelled because of the success of the show. So I feel like it’s just a step-up platform.
Olandria: Same. I’d have personal goals for myself, but they would be so far-fetched. Even post-show, when I got my phone back, I kind of shut down, I’m not going to lie, because of the weight of the world, the voices, the opinions, and all these crazy things that come with the internet. My friend set up an email for me once I got on the show where brands can email me directly to try to work with me, and it was overflowing with thousands and thousands of brand deals. I’m like, I don’t have a team yet. I don’t have anybody to negotiate for me. I don’t even know where to start.
I would find myself comparing myself with other people that already had teams. He already had a management situation going on with modeling—I never had anything like that. I came from a 9-to-5. I was literally one of the last islanders to get a team together. But I was so happy that I actually took my foot off the gas to breathe. I interviewed 15 different agencies and management companies. Thank goodness I took that break, because I think my team now is a powerhouse. They all have an amazing vision for me. We move very strategically when it comes to brand deals and things I attend.
There’s so much noise, you must feel like, ‘If I don’t say yes now, is it going to disappear?’
Olandria: That’s kind of what it came down to. Because once I got a manager—it was like a month or so after the villa—some of the brand deals that had reached out to me passed because I took too long. That stressed me out—like, if I would’ve moved faster… But it’s like, No, it’s okay. They passed this time. I took too long. But they’ll come back around.
Every time I would get a ding from Gmail, I would be like, Oh my gosh, I need a manager. I was literally in Greece after our [bikini brand] Kulani Kinis shoot on the phone with my now manager and the president of [influencer management and marketing firm] Digital Brand Architects, like, “I need help. My inbox is overflowing. I’m in Greece, stressed out about this—I should be on vacation enjoying myself.” But once I got a team and I handed over my inbox…I’ve been living scot-free ever since.
Looking at the last six months, at everything you’ve been able to do, what would be your top three memories?
Nic: Taking my dad to F1 was cool. He was a fan for 30 years, so I got to bring him to that first race. Smashing a guitar in front of 30,000 people at a music festival—that was sick. Also, the club appearances and meeting the fans in person. That was 35 events wrapped in one memory.
Olandria: This last month alone felt like a year. Bringing my parents to one of my award shows, and my mom actually getting to present the Give Her FlowHers award to me. That was beautiful. That was the first time she got to step into my world a little bit. I'd have to say the CFDA [fashion awards] was a big moment. That brown on brown. Honestly, I feel like the VMAs, too, was a breakout moment for me.
Nic: I’m going to add that to the list. That was so fun.
Olandria: VMAs was sick. I was in awe the whole time. Growing up and watching things on television and now being a part of it, actually getting to see it in person—and that was my first red carpet, and I blew it out of the freaking water. That’s when I feel like I made my first move into the fashion world a little bit. I was inching into the door. That was a big moment for me. Huge.
I was scared shitless. I was so nervous, and I killed it. We found out we had to walk separately, too. He was so upset. He had to break it to our fans, like, “Oh, sorry, guys. Just a quick update: We have to walk the carpet separately.”
You two are under a level of attention and scrutiny that few people can understand. I appreciate how you both, since coming out of the villa, have redrawn boundaries for yourself of what you want to share and how much you let people in. What made you realize you needed to do that?
Olandria: It was kind of hard at first. These are the people that met us through a TV screen and watched us every single day for six weeks at a time. They’re hungry for more. We felt obligated to let them in, still, in the beginning. He was the Nicolandria updater, literally, because I was so shook up and just not really friendly with the internet at that time. They would get all the updates from his Snapchat account—what I’m doing, what we’re up to. They were so used to seeing us on the screen and they loved us so much. It was like, “We have to keep giving them content.”
But eventually it became mentally draining. People started to nitpick. They were doing that on the show, but we didn’t have our phones to see it—now that we’re actually having to live with it and hear about it, it’s like, “Oh, maybe we don’t need to share as much anymore.” Because they’ll find the smallest little thing and it’s a big discourse all over social media. I’m like, Where did you get that from? Who did you hear it from? “Alright, maybe we need to put some boundaries to try to draw back on how much we decide to share.”
Because mentally, we were both just drained. We depend on each other to uplift and be there for each other when we’re going through things, but it became draining for both of us. I’m like, “Okay, maybe if we share less, that’s better.” But even then, discourse starts because we don’t share enough. I’m like, I don’t know how to find a happy medium in this life now.
Nic: Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Olandria: Literally. We’re living it right now. I think we’re still trying to get used to being in the spotlight. Things that we used to do before the show, we can’t necessarily do now, because that starts discourse. Being in the spotlight is fun, the glamour is all fun. But you have to rearrange your whole life and how you move going forward. And when you’re extremely popular, like him and me, it’s just like, Alright, I want to still be me and have fun. How can I do that when there’s always a camera and people purposely trying to talk down on you for whatever reason? I don’t know. It’s weird.
Right. They’re not just scrutinizing you as individuals, but also your relationship.
Olandria: It’s so draining. We always have check-ins, like, “How’s your mental? How are you today? I’m always here.” I wish we didn’t have to do that as much as we had to. Thank God we’ve got each other, because I don’t know what we would do without each other, literally, when it comes to that.
Nic: It’s also interesting because, being in the social media space now, people want to be let in, and the more you let in, the monetary gain is nice. So finding that balance of, “Okay, this is our work now, but it’s also our life,” was kind of hard in the beginning, but now I feel like we’ve got a better grip on it. Missing out on some monetary value is so worth it for your mental health.
Olandria: People are always like, “Olandria don’t post enough.” I’m like, “I don’t care to.” I’m trying to get back into the groove of things. I want to let people in but it’s hard when people are always going to try to rip you to shreds. I hope they understand that I’m not purposely trying to keep them out of the loop. It’s like, imagine you being in the spotlight and people find little bits and pieces to pick you apart about.
When I just had to go on the show, I never thought about the aftermath. I only went in thinking, I want to find a person. I never thought about what my actual life would be. I’m still trying to make sense of it. I honestly forgot there was a prize because I had such tunnel-vision, I was so focused on the overall goal to find someone. Then when shit was going left, I’m like, “Send me home.”
How do you navigate this type of attention in your day-to-day lives—like, beyond events and opportunities, going out in a city like New York?
Nic: I’ve integrated it into my norm now. It’s kind of white noise when someone comes to ask for a picture. I expect it every time. But it’s nice. Like, I stay at my parents’ for four days without speaking to anyone, and then I go to the airport and people ask to take a picture—I almost forget sometimes. I don’t mind it. It depends, though. If you’re on a date or you’re with your family, that’s where it gets a bit weird.
Olandria: Usually, when we go out, he’ll ask, “Hey, are we doing pictures today?” I’m like, “No.” So he’ll be the vocal one, going like, “Hey, guys, no pictures.” We decide before we go out. You have to set those boundaries because some days, you just really don’t feel like engaging. And people are always respectful if we decide not to, and I’m like, Thank goodness, because I don’t want this to turn into a big thing. At the end of the day, we’re still human. Our lives have been flipped upside down, so we like to do normal things.
Speaking of normal things, the holidays are coming up. Do you have any traditions?
Nic: No traditions, but I wake up at 5 a.m. for presents. I get really excited the night before. When we were younger, we used to do road trips to Ohio with my family and go to this snow hill for tubing.
Olandria: We would wake up—not at 5, but probably like 8 or 9—and my mom had all our gifts sectioned out for the three kids. We'd open gifts one at a time. She wasn’t one of those parents that had set out cookies and milk. We knew from a very early age that Mom was Santa. She did not give us a chance to believe. I’m like, “That’s whack. Why didn’t you?” She was like, “Girl, I’m a single mother of three. You know I bought this stuff.” And you know what? That’s fair.
Nic: I’ll never forget, my mom told me that Santa wasn’t real the day that Michael Jackson died.
Olandria: Why did she do that?
Nic: I think she was telling me in the car and then on the radio, “Michael Jackson has passed away.” Double whammy. Worst day of my life—Michael Jackson’s dead and Santa’s not real. Imagine that.
Olandria: What made her say Santa’s not real? Did you make her mad that day? Did you get in trouble?
Nic: No, no. I think it was pressing her about it. I was like, “How the heck is this possible?” She was like, “You don’t want to know.” And I was like, “I want to know, Mom.”
Are you New Year’s resolutions people?
Nic: Absolutely not. You’re not going to change from December 31st to January.
Olandria: Yes, you are. Have faith.
Nic: I believe in balance too. For the people that do [fitness challenge] 75 Hard, just do 365 moderate. You know what I mean?
Olandria: It’s crazy because in the previous years, I would always draw up my goals for the new year. But this year in particular, I did not. I decided to go to church last New Year’s. It was my first time doing that for the new year and honestly, this has been the best freaking year of my life. Maybe I need to keep going to church. People always say, “If you want to tell God a joke, tell him your plans.” I prayed over my life and my new year, went back home, and went to sleep. I did not write any goals down. February, Love Island called. April, Love Island called again. May, I was off to Fiji. June, it took off. Like, dang—the year I decided to not write my goals down, every single one that I’d ever imagined came true.
Do you have anything booked for 2026 that you’re excited about?
Nic: I got five or six [DJ] sets next year. I’m excited about that. That’s going to be my 2026 goal, I guess, but I’m going to start now instead of January. It’ll be a new journey.
Olandria: 2026 is going to be full-fledged.
Nic: Music, acting—we’ll see.
Olandria: I’m not going to lie, I’m booked up until May, but I don’t like to say things prematurely. I like to pop out when I pop out. But it’s some really exciting things that I have coming up within the year.
Nic: What about the—
Olandria: [Interrupts] This is why I don’t tell him anything, because he has a big mouth. He’s just super excited. I have to have him closer to the time or the day that it happens.
Nic: Actually, that’s a Christmas tradition—spoiling people’s presents because I can’t wait.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Photographer: Emma Anderson @emmaxanderson
Stylist: Tchesmeni Leonard @tchesmeni
Hair: Dhairius @dhairiusnyc
Makeup: Jimmy Stam @jimmy_stam
Groomer: Walton Nunez @waltonsworld
Manicurist: Leanne Woodley @she.nails.it
Set Design: Milena Gorum @commerciallyviable
On Set Producer: Tiffany Bloomfield @insidetheglow