Why Matt Rogers and Fraser Olender Took Space After a Health Scare

Matt Rogers just gave a candid status update on his thing with Below Deck chief stew Fraser Olender, and it comes with a pretty wild backstory involving a health scare that started the same weekend they went public. Yes, that escalated quickly.

Where things stand now

On the Wednesday, April 15 episode of his and Bowen Yang's 'Las Culturistas' podcast, Rogers, 36, said he and Olender, 33, are good but taking a little breathing room. Fraser is away filming - Rogers coyly called it 'creating the television program many people like,' which, translation, is Below Deck - and Matt is busy with his own stuff. After a very intense few months, they decided to take some space while he is gone. Rogers added he will see Fraser soon.

The hard launch that turned into a hospital run

The relationship went public in November 2025 at BravoCon, but not because they plotted a red carpet reveal. Rogers said they had been dating for three months when they hit the event together. Fraser wanted a photo, Matt posted it on Instagram, and suddenly the internet decided, 'Oh, they are dating.' Then, that very same weekend, things took a scary turn.

'As that was happening... he had a heart attack in front of me.'

Rogers said it did not immediately look like a heart attack. Fraser had severe chest pain, felt short of breath, could not get comfortable, and had to bail on their night out. Matt checked on him later, and the symptoms were still happening. They ended up in the hospital until around 5 or 5:30 a.m. Rogers noted on the podcast - with guest Lena Dunham backing him up that it was traumatic, not dramatic - that you do not always know in the moment that a heart attack is what is happening. Tests that came back later finally explained it.

What doctors told Fraser afterward

• Fraser says he was diagnosed with EVALI - an e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury - after 'poison' from a vape got into his lungs and triggered the crisis.
• He described it as a coronary artery vasospasm, meaning the arteries feeding his heart suddenly clamped down.
• That spasm cut off enough oxygen to cause an ST-elevation myocardial infarction, aka a STEMI - a heart attack caused by the spasm, not by a blockage.
• He spent a week in London hospitals seeing specialists, and the pain was brutal. Two rounds of morphine did not touch it; the strongest pain relief they could legally give in the ER only dropped his pain from a 10 to a 7.
• He has not touched a vape since and urged followers to quit cold turkey. He said he is grateful to be recovering and shared the story because he had no idea this could happen.
• Bonus detail from his December 2025 post: nearly three weeks off vaping and he swore his skin was brighter and clearer - his words, 'best skincare hack.'

After Matt's update, Fraser posted too

The day after Rogers talked about all this, Olender posted a carousel on Instagram captioned 'Here & there ft. 🫶🏼,' which included a couple shots featuring Matt. Consider that a low-key 'we are fine' from his side.

Bottom line: they started quietly, the universe threw a medical curveball, and now they are pacing themselves while he films. Scary story, happy to hear he is recovering, and yes - the vaping part is the surprise twist none of us were expecting.