Austen Kroll said he still "walks" on eggshells" in his friendship with Craig Conover on the Southern Charm After Show.
Austen Kroll is opening up about his relationship with Craig Conover like never before.
The longtime pals and Southern Charm-ers hit the brakes on their friendship on Season 10, but after an emotional beachside conversation in the Bahamas, the two are trying to get back on track.
On the Southern Charm After Show, Austen revealed where he currently stands with Craig.
"Still walk on eggshells a bit with Craig," he admitted. "Actually, a lot a bit."
He went on to applaud Craig for being so candid about his struggles with addiction, but said he wished the Sewing Down South founder had taken more responsibility for the other issues in their relationship.
"I think that Craig's admission to me was brave and I was appreciative of it, but I'm like, 'What about all the other things?' Like what about your rage problem? What about that?" Austen said, pointing at Craig getting upset at the prospect of having to share a room on the Bahamas trip.
He added, "Craig loves to be like, 'You're just unhappy and that's why you say these things. And I'm like, 'OK, so then what you're trying to say is that you're extremely happy, so you don't act the way that I do, right?' But I'm like, if you're extremely happy and you're not drinking, then why do we all walk on eggshells whenever we're around you?"
Shep Rose, who sat alongside Austen on the Southern Charm After Show, agreed with him. "You know, I've never been scared of Craig like I was this season," Shep said. "I am dead serious. I was like, 'Uh-oh, uh-oh, eggshells, eggshells.'"
Austen said that he spoke to ex-girlfriend Madison LeCroy about it too.
"Madison and I talked too, and Madison was like, 'Don't tell him,'" Austen recounted. "And I was like, 'What?' And she was like, 'I'm afraid of Craig.' I was like, 'You know, we all are, because no one knows when he's going to blow his lid.'"
Craig Conover weighs in on his rollercoaster friendship with Austen Kroll
On a prior episode of the Southern Charm After Show, Craig said that his friendship with Austen has improved in recent months.
"We're definitely on the up and up instead of the down," Craig shared. "Like, we try to text, call — he texted me after the Paige [DeSorbo] thing."
The "Paige thing" is Craig's breakup from the Summer House-mate, which happened at the end of 2024.
"The issue was I couldn't tell him about the Paige thing, which he was one of the only people I wanted to call, but I just don't trust him yet enough to do that," Craig said about the period of time before she confirmed the breakup. "But, I hope to one day build that trust back... I was like, 'Austen, I want to work on being best friends again and getting to that trust level...'"
Craig said that the two are working on [their] new normal."
"I think we're in a much better place, but it's different," he concluded. "We did used to have a relationship around partying, and now we're building [something else]."
Find out more about Craig and Austen's emotional conversation in the Bahamas.
