The Bravo-lebrities open up to ET about reliving breakups on TV and what’s still to come on season five of ‘Southern Charm.’
Craig Conover isn’t quite ready to rewatch his breakup with Naomie Olindo play out on TV.
“I would probably be hospitalized if I forced myself to watch it,” the Southern Charm star confesses to ET, adding that he’s maybe seen “two minutes” of season five, which airs its sixth episode Thursday night.
“It’s not the easiest thing watching you and your ex break up, and everyone talk about it,” he says. “It’s kind of uncomfortable.”
“I mean, it's strange for me to watch, like, two of my friends go through that,” co-star Austen Kroll stresses, too.
ET caught up with Craig and Austen over some beers to get the scoop on the new season of their hit show, which is very much focused on the guys’ complicated love lives. On last week’s episode, Southern Charm newbie Peyton Pritchard felt the full wrath of Naomie, when Craig's ex unleashed on Peyton at a Halloween party, questioning her motives for moving to Charleston, South Carolina. Peyton relocated from Los Angeles only after breaking things off with Southern Charm's Shep Rose on his dating spinoff, RelationShep. The confrontation is now known as the moment “Hurricane Naomie” was unleashed.
“You went after Shep, it didn’t work,” Naomie told Peyton. “Then you tried Austen, maybe Craig, just shooting darts to see what stuck … I’m very protective of my friends and I know when girls that are, like, thirsty girls come around.”
“You’re a f**king thirsty b***h,” she tacked on. “I see straight through you, Peyton.”
“It was completely unnecessary for her to just destroy Peyton the way that she did,” Austen tells ET. “She hadn't done anything to anyone. She was a ‘threat’ to Naomie at that point in time. The fact that, you know, [Craig] may or may not have had a thing for Peyton … I mean, that clearly was the trigger.”
“It was pure jealousy,” he adds.
Both guys say they never questioned Peyton’s reasons for moving to Charleston and tease there will be some “redemption” for Naomie in the wake of the so-called “hurricane.”
“It's really tough to see [Naomie] say stuff, like, see that she's doing jealous tendencies,” Craig shares, “or that she still cares about me, or she has a hope of getting back together, because at that time, it was never communicated to me. It's a really weird situation to be in. I don't know.”
Craig admits he fully thought he and Naomie would get back together, but now realizes the door is closed on a romantic relationship -- at least for the near future.
“I’m not saying it would never happen, but yeah, if it did, it would be in 10 years,” Craig says. “Not right now.”
“If I say stuff about Naomie acting like there was a chance, then whoever the new girl might be that I end up with will be like, ‘Well, you’re still with your ex!’” he notes. “Then I was like, ‘If I don’t, if we ever did...,’ then it’s like, ‘Oh, apparently you didn’t care.’ I’m kind of in a lose-lose here.”
From the looks of Naomie’s social media, though, she has moved on. The 25-year-old has started sharing romantic pictures with a new guy on Instagram, one captioned “Pray for him” with a heart emoji.
"I don't really know what's going on, but I like that dude," Craig shares. "I mean, Charleston's not big. He's a cool guy. I selfishly want her to have someone in her life so she stays out of my life, so then I can do whatever I want.”
“It would be cool to see her move on,” he continues. “But it’s very weird.”
As for Craig, he’s currently single and “having fun.” Austen’s relationship status, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. Judging by his social media, he’s pretty serious with reported girlfriend Madison LeCroy, but Austen wouldn't confirm the romance to ET -- and says you won’t see Madison on season five of Southern Charm. Instead, you’ll watch how his romantic entanglement with now full-time co-star Chelsea Meissner gets even more, well, tangled.
“That whole part of our lives when he starts dating Chelsea’s friend has not even happened yet [on the show],” Craig teases. “I don’t know how things continue to build. I’m like, what else in our lives could happen? And it just continues to evolve, like, it’s wild.”
Southern Charm airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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