Bravo Craig Conover
The premiere of “Winter House” season 2 dropped on Thursday, October 13, and it was an action-packed return to Stowe, Vermont for this season’s cast.
The first two people in the house this year were Bravo couple Craig Conover and Paige DeSorbo, and their first order of business was making sure they got the primary bedroom. Viewers might recall that the bedrooms caused a big argument on season 1 as Kyle Cooke was unhappy he didn’t get the primary with Amanda Batula. Instead, Paige DeSorbo got the coveted room to share with Ciara Miller.
This year, DeSorbo again laid claim to the room and Conover made sure that it wouldn’t be disputed as he unpacked and spread his clothes all over the room. When Cooke and Luke Gulbranson arrived, Cooke said he would have liked to have it but midway through his response, Conover began pulling $100 bills out of his wallet to pay his co-stars in exchange for him keeping the primary. It seemed as though he gave Cooke and Batula $500 each for the room.
Gulbranson was given $200 by Conover since he gave up his room for Cooke and Batula to have an upstairs room but joked that they’d spend the money on drinks at the bar. Despite that, it soon became clear there were tensions between Conover and the Minnesota native stemming from an incident on the 4th of July.
As they recounted it, Conover and his “Southern Charm” co-star Austen Kroll went to stay at Gulbranson’s property and were in his guest cabin — described by Conover as a shed — when they found a box of fireworks and decided to set them off. Gulbranson said they were being stored there and he didn’t expect his guests to just start setting them off.
Unfortunately, Gulbranson said they didn’t consider his “$165,000 boat without a cover on it sitting right next to them full of gas.” Conover said, “you would have thought we lit his actual boat on fire.” Conover said Gulbranson then dumped out all the fireworks in the water and “basically threatened to kick us out of Minnesota,” Conover concluded.
As the episode was airing, fans took to social media to blast Conover for his “entitled” comments and for the “crass” move of paying off his co-stars for the primary bedroom. Cooke also shared in a confessional interview that the move made Conover seem “super entitled” and called it a “d***-measuring contest.”
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Craig Conover Was Heavily Criticized by Fans for His Behavior in the 1st Episode of ‘Winter House’
There were several Reddit threads discussing the premiere episode and many of them saw Conover get put on blast for both the way he discussed the event at Gulbranson’s house and for pulling out his money for the primary. One person described his behavior as “awful” while another said, “How f****** snobby.”
Someone called the primary payment “So tacky and unnecessary” while another commenter agreed that it was “tacky” and reminiscent of “new money.” The criticisms continued for the “Southern Charm” OG, as one person called the moment in the premiere “So godd*** crass.” Another described it as “definitely cringe.”
The word “entitled” was also used by several people, with someone saying that recently, Conover “sounds like he’s become an entitled monster to me.” Many people expressed disdain at the “Southern Charm” star for acting rudely toward Gulbranson when his story about the 4th of July made it seem as though Conover himself was in the wrong.
Craig Conover Acknowledged That He Came in Hot to the Premiere Episode But Eventually Settled Down
Craig bribing Kyle with $500 for the master bedroom is so incredibly cringe. I have second hand embarrassment #WinterHouse
Conover acknowledged in a Page Six interview that he “came in hot” to “Winter House” off the back of filming an “intense” season of “Southern Charm” and it took him some time to settle down. He admitted that he thought he drank a little too much in trying to manage the stressful situation but that viewers will see the progress in the season.
While he didn’t address pulling out his wallet to pay for the primary rooms, he shared that one of his arguments with a co-star was with Batula. Conover said he wanted to pay for a cleaning crew to handle the mess they were making in the house while Batula argued that the housemates themselves should be cleaning the morning after.
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