Heavy/NBCUniversal Southern Charm season 9 cast.
Craig Conover revealed that a storyline on the upcoming 9th season of “Southern Charm” will be reminiscent of the “Scandoval” cheating scandal that played out on the most recent season of “Vanderpump Rules.”
While speaking on the “It’s Complicated” podcast in August 2023, Conover said a Bravo producer was with him in his kitchen when the Scandoval news broke in March 2023, and he hinted that a similar storyline was already taking place on “Southern Charm” at the same time.
“We share some producers [with ‘Vanderpump Rules’],” Conover explained. “We have a pretty crazy season on ‘Southern Charm.’ I was like, everyone is going to think we copied ‘Vanderpump,’ but we didn’t. This is already happening!”
Craig Conover Said the Cast Will Navigate ‘Really Weird Water’ This Season on ‘Southern Charm’
In the interview, Conover hinted that the storyline on the South Carolina-based reality show may remind viewers of Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ betrayal of Ariana Madix last season on “Vanderpump Rules,” but he reiterated that the drama on his show was already taking place before news of Scandoval broke.
“This year, you have that to look forward to with ‘Southern Charm,’ we navigate some really weird water,” he said. “Shep, you’ll see him be in a position he hasn’t been in before,” Conover added of his longtime friend Shep Rose.
Conover did not share further details on the mystery storyline, but the trailer for “Southern Charm” teases a hookup between Rose’s ex, Taylor Ann Green, and his best friend Austen Kroll. Green, who dated Rose for two years, is also close friends with Kroll’s ex-girlfriend, Olivia Flowers.
“Something happened with me and Taylor,” Kroll is seen telling his mom in the very beginning of the trailer. “Did you f*** Taylor or not?” Kroll’s ex, Madison LeCroy, later says. And Flowers later asks Green, “Did y’all ever hook up or anything?”, to which she replies “Never, swear on my life.”
But Flowers is later seen confronting Green and Kroll with, ‘Between the two of y’all the lies it’s unf****** real.”
The ‘Southern Charm’ Love Triangle Has Been Getting Buzz Since 2022
BravoSouthern Charm cast at the season 8 reunion
Rumors about Kroll and Green have been swirling since his split with Flowers last fall. Kroll previously told Us Weekly that while he formed a close friendship with Green, he would never hook up with her due to her history with Rose. “I mean — bro code,” he said in 2022. “I just think that that would be crossing a whole bunch of lines. …and a bunch of friendships would really be affected by that.”
But in March 2023, a production source told People that Kroll did hook up with Green. “They didn’t have sex, just made out,” the insider said.
“They thought about dating and took time to think about [it] for a quick sec, talked to their family about it, but at the end of the day, Taylor said it wasn’t worth losing Olivia’s friendship if her and Austen didn’t work,” the source added.
Other insiders told Page Six that Kroll and Green hooked up early on while filming season 9, and that while they will “try to say they only made out… it gets revealed to be more than that.”
That teaser sounds eerily similar to Leviss’ last-minute confession on the “Vanderpump Rules” reunion during which she finally came clean about the timeline of her affair with Sandoval.
In an Instagram in June 2023, “Southern Charm” star Patricia Altschul teased that there will be major drama during the new season of the show.
“I am leaving the country when Southern charm comes on in the fall,” Altschul teased, adding the hashtags, “#thedevilmademedoit #allhellbreaksloose #looselipssinkships @bravo #southerncharm.”
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Craig Conover Teases Scandoval-Like Storyline for ‘Southern Charm’ Season 9