Austen Kroll detailed the moments leading up to Craig Conover and Paige DeSorbo‘s split during a podcast appearance last week.
As the 37-year-old Southern Charm cast member also spoke of the challenges he and Craig, 35, have faced in their friendship, Austen admitted to suspecting the end of Craig’s relationship with the 32-year-old Summer House star and revealed what he texted him after the news was confirmed.
“The writing was on the wall for me, and I was just like, you know, we opened our bar and she didn’t come down for the opening and I know that she’s busy. I’m not saying that she’s not. We all know that she’s busy. But, like, you really do make time for the people that you care about and so it was just like a couple things,” Austen explained on the Chicks in the Office podcast, via Bravo Bri on Instagram. “She hadn’t been in Charleston in ages.”
Although Craig informed him that he and Paige had made plans for the holidays, including visits to Delaware and Albany, New York, followed by a visit to London, Austen noticed that they were each posting from home when Christmas arrived.
“Even prior to that … and I’m trying to delicately do this so I don’t, like, betray things he said to me but I just had noticed — and Craig doesn’t typically open up about him and Paige. I find out what you guys find out, like on the show. He tends to be more honest on the show — in certain capacities — than he does to me, but he had said something to me along the lines of, ‘We just had a talk on the phone for 30 minutes, and she thinks I’m mad at her because she’s super busy and blah blah blah,’” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Okay, that is like a normal thing, Craig, and thank you for coming to me to say something cuz you rarely do.’”
A short while later, when it came time for Craig and Paige to travel to London, Austen texted Craig and learned that they were no longer planning to travel together. Then, days after that, Paige confirmed their breakup.
“I saw the [news] and I texted him and was like, ‘Alright, man, I’m here for you,’” Austen revealed.
During another moment of the podcast, also via Bravo Bri on Instagram, Austen admitted to feeling that Craig didn’t have as much respect for him as he should.
“I think that at the root of it, Craig has always viewed me as Mr. Season Four. And so I don’t think that he’s ever quite given me the respect level. He’s always like, if we’re on season 30, he’s like, ‘But I’ve done it for four seasons longer than you,'” he shared. “It’s always been that way a little bit. And he got picked on by [Shep Rose] and [Whitney Sudler-Smith] to the ends of the earth and then I came around and Craig’s like, ‘Oh, I can kind of pick on Austen.’”
Austen went on to say that Craig had some “great friend moments on the show,” including the moment in which he defended him against Jarrett “JT” Thomas.
“I’m not saying that he’s a sh*tty friend. I’m just saying that he needs to realize growth and that like, the same playing field and all this stuff,” he noted.
Southern Charm season 10 airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
