Craig Conover from ‘Southern Charm’ Talks About the Increasing Rift Between Him and Shep Rose and Austen Kroll: “They are Sad about Losing Their Drinking Buddy”

Craig Conover, an ambitious young man at 24, initially joined the cast of “Southern Charm” as he aspired to become a lawyer. Now, at 36, he is gearing up for the 10th season of the Bravo show. He has transitioned into a successful entrepreneur with a pillow business, a supportive long-term relationship with Paige DeSorbo from “Summer House,” and a keen eye on shaping the next phase of his life. Conover is moving away from the party scene and alcohol consumption, focusing instead on personal growth and development.

Discussing the Season 10 premiere of “Southern Charm” at DECIDER’s studio, Conover expressed gratitude to his girlfriend, Paige DeSorbo, for being a positive force in his life. She has motivated him to unlock his full potential while expanding his business, Sewing Down South, which recently expanded to Nashville. This shift towards a more serious relationship and business perspective required Conover to prioritize personal growth over his past lifestyle choices.

Conover made a significant lifestyle change nearly two years ago by significantly reducing his alcohol consumption. This decision has fueled his ambition, leading to positive transformations in his life. However, this transition has also strained his relationships with friends and fellow cast members Shep Rose and Austen Kroll. Despite the challenges, Conover remains committed to his personal growth journey.

“I think Shep and Austen are having a really tough time mourning the loss of their bar buddy,” Conover said, before adding, “We were very good at the bar together. But I’m 36 years old and I want more for my life. So I’m happy to be going into this next chapter.”

These days, Conover said he finds value in spending “quality time with Paige” as well as his employees and his businesses. “I would love to spend quality time with [Shep and Austen] too. It just – it’s going to look a little different,” he said.

Conover also opened up about his relationship with DeSorbo, the JT Thomas drama on this season of Southern Charm, and which conspiracy theories have sent him down a rabbit hole lately. Check out the full interview below.

DECIDER: As a Southern Charm OG, how does it feel to be going into your 10th season? When you first signed on, did you ever think you’d still be here a decade later?

CRAIG CONOVER: The goal was three years. I think when we started Jersey Shore was in its third year. And I was like, “If we can get to that, it means we at least accomplished something.” That was my benchmark. But I was 24 when I started filming. I’m 36 now, so a third of my life I’ve shared with everyone and it’s been really cool to see the chapters evolve and for everyone to go on this ride with us. I remember our 100th episode, my grandfather was really excited and proud because I guess that is a huge accomplishment for television. And now, you know, we’ve got like 160 episodes or something crazy. So I’m proud of it and it’s become a massive part of my life.

Sewing Down South is thriving! Not only do you have the Charleston location, but you also opened a store in Nashville this year. What’s next for your business?

That’s what we’re trying to figure out now. We’re kind of at this crossroads where we’re five years old and it’s going great, but we’ve got a lot of different prongs to our wheel now. And I think over the holidays, we’re going to do some soul searching and see which path we really want to run in because we do store brand stuff for Kroger now, so we’re in hundreds of their stores with our “What’s Wrong with My Baking” line [that] just launched, which was really fun to do – to design some kitchen stuff. And we’re doing a line with Belk, which is exciting, in the Southeast. And we’ve got a factory that we’re opening in North Carolina where we do sleeping pillows. So, it’s me, Amanda and Jerry – my two partners – but we’ve got, like, 25 employees and [we’re] just figuring our stuff out. So [we’re trying] to be better next week than we are today. But it’s really just one foot in front of the other and staying organized, but staying tight. 

Do you think you’d ever open a New York location? Or do you want to keep it down South?

No, I would love to. I think we’re learning a lot with the Nashville location, and it’s fun. Like my partners were worried how I would take challenges or like the perception of it and I was like, “Guys we’re human. Not every single thing is going to be perfect.” You just hope to have more wins than losses. And the Nashville store is doing fine. But it is different than Charleston. And so I think pop ups would probably be the future for other cities because we’re looking at this town in Hamilton, Missouri that has all of this like quilting tourism. This there’s a lot of, again, different ideas that we have. But I would love to have maybe a holiday pop up in New York next year, like in Manhattan, because our holiday stuff is so fun. If you see it next year, it happened here. This where the idea came from. It spurred right here in the studio. 

At BravoCon last year, you said you’d love for Kathryn Dennis to come back to the show. Are you still in touch with her? And do you think returning to Southern Charm is something she would ever consider?

I could be better with it. Sometimes, just staying in touch with people that you’re not around all the time, yeah, I could be better with that. But I know she is trying her hardest and I hope she’s doing well. And I would love to see the next chapter of her life on this show because I’ve had a roller coaster of a ride also, and I’ve had to work through my own stuff. And I think it’s great to have a platform to share that, like, no matter where your life is here, there’s light at the end of the tunnel … What was the second part of the question? 

Would she ever come back?

I think so. Yeah, I think so, for sure. I think the door’s open there. 

The entire Bravo universe is obsessed with you and Paige. How are you guys doing? And will she be making more appearances on this season of Southern Charm?

In the spring, we live in Charleston, so I hope we see more of her. But, you know, it’s out of my hands. But she’s definitely filmed with us plenty. 

Fingers crossed that there’s more!

Yeah! We like representing long distance relationships on television. So many more people have them now and so many people are in relationships where someone has to leave to work for a while. And so we love splitting our time between [New York City] and Charleston. I’ve been coming, spending more time in New York recently, and I really enjoy it. And I think there’s an energy to it that I guess is obvious to most people but I just didn’t know because I was never a New Yorker. 

But we’re doing great. And again, we’ve been together for three years and we’ve had to figure out a lot of stuff. I think, in TV, people have short memories, so they’re like, “They’re just happy now. It must be easy.” It’s like, “Well, no, we’re just like any other couple out there.” And I think that’s why sometimes fans and viewers are a little disappointed that they don’t get that next chapter right away. But it’s because we’re trying to make it, you know, last and work.

I think it’s admirable that you guys don’t succumb to the pressure. You do your own thing and you’re happy with it and that’s all that matters.

There’s a lot of noise and I understand it. But that’s the thing. When we started dating, it wasn’t because of TV. We fell in love filming a show, which was really cool. 

It’s a modern day love story!

Yeah, exactly!

In the trailer, Paige mentions that Shep and Austen think you’ve changed since you started dating her, but when we talked to Austen, he said she was “dead wrong” about that. What’s your take on the situation? 

Well, Paige has been an incredible influence in my life. And she inspired me to tap into this potential that I had always dreamt of becoming. About almost two years ago now, I pretty much stopped drinking. I mean, I’m not sober, but I just really don’t drink that much anymore. And it changed my life. It’s not rocket science. Everything started to get better and my businesses started to do better. I mean, that’s why I opened the Nashville store because I finally had the time and my drive increased.

I think Shep and Austen are having a really tough time mourning the loss of their bar buddy. I have other friends in my life that are very happy for me and it doesn’t affect them one bit that I don’t go to the bars every night, but that’s because they have their own lives that they’re living. And I think Shep and Austen are still trying to figure out their place in the world. I mean, especially Austen. We were very good at the bar together. But I’m 36 years old and I want more for my life. So I’m happy to be going into this next chapter. It’ll be fun to take the viewers with me. But I think Austin still has a tough time with it, which it’s a personal problem for him. Like, I’m giving away one thing for the rest of my life. I’m sorry that he is having trouble with it. 

It seems like you’re doing great and leaving that stuff behind is all part of growing up. They’ll meet you there someday.

Thank you. And you find value in other stuff. I find value in quality time with Paige now and my employees and the businesses. And I would love to spend quality time with them too. It just – it’s going to look a little different. 

When we talked to Leva, she said that Shep has really grown up this year. Do you agree with that assessment? 

I mean, Shep’s exactly who Shep’s always been. I would love to know … yeah, I’ll have to … I don’t even know how she got there. That’s nice. I know he’s trying and I know he wants to be better. I think he discovers that he was happiest in a relationship. I don’t know if it was necessarily with Taylor, but that was his last relationship. And he sees Austen in a relationship now and me, and I think he wants that calmness and that structure. And so he does put his heart out there this year and it will be a wild ride for everyone involved. I give him kudos and a very early one of the VIPs because he’s so transparent and shares it all with everyone. And he’s good Shep right now. Good Shep is awesome. Bad Shep is terrible. And hopefully good Shep sticks around. 

It seems like you were the one to confront JT about what he allegedly said about Patricia Altschul. If it was said on-camera, why do you think he was trying so hard to deny it?

Look, the JT thing was interesting. Charleston’s a small world, and we all have such histories with each other, but there’s ebbs and flows in the friendships. We’ll get to see this year – I try to help him a lot. I’m one of the few cast members that will agree to film with him and I do it quite often and me and Shep do. And something just wasn’t clicking. But when I was filming with him, it seemed like – I mean, you’ll get to see it. Now, the teaser has a culmination of four months of stuff that comes out and actually what you see in the teaser is based off a scene that you haven’t seen yet. 

It’s just funny because I’ve been through a lot of stuff. I used to be like Shep, where I thought if I could convince everyone I was doing okay that that meant I was doing okay. JT gets himself into some trouble this year. But it’s his second season and that’s just what happens. Like, your second season is tough. It’s tough for everyone across the board. So we’ll see what happens. If I was a gambling man, I would say – I mean, I do like to gamble, so I am a gambling man and I would put my chips on that we’ll see him eventually. You always got to tell your side of the story. And it’s hard to not do that. 

But the beginning of the season with the end of the season teaser is a little disconnected, so we have a fun ride to go on until then.

Before we go, what is the latest conspiracy theory that has sent you down a rabbit hole?

It’s not that juicy, but I think that we didn’t build the pyramids. I think we found them. I just don’t think we have the technology. I mean, we don’t have the technology today to even replicate the precision of them. And there’s pyramids all over the world that share commonalities. And there was no way to communicate to each other in ancient civilizations. So I just personally believe that we are a lot further advanced technologically than we’re aware of today at some point in history. But that’s a fun one just to learn about.

There’s a really crazy case of a guy that spotted a giant in the Appalachian Mountains – he’s not alive anymore – on Tik-tok. So that’s a crazy rabbit hole to go down to. 

I mean, they kind of stole my conspiracy theories, though. Congress admitted like two weeks ago that the aliens have bases under the ocean. So, like, I’m kind of the calm sounding one now. So yeah, I mean that that just happened in Congress. So I’ll stick with the pyramids. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Southern Charm airs on Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.