Heavy/Getty Paige DeSorbo.
Paige DeSorbo revealed Craig Conover gave her an unexpected, and rather bizarre, Christmas gift – but he claims she hinted around for it.
On a January 2024 episode of the “Pillows and Beer” podcast, the “Summer House” star shared that Conover surprised her by planning a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio, so they could go to the zoo. “He goes, ‘We are going to Cincinnati, Ohio — and my face is going ‘what the [expletive] is in Cincinnati?’– and we’re going to the zoo,'” DeSorbo recalled. “‘And, yup, you guessed it: We’re brushing a hippopotamus’ teeth.’”
“I thought he was having a stroke,” she said. “I go, ‘What are you saying to me?’ What are you talking about?’”
Conover explained that DeSorbo previously told him she wanted to once in her life brush a hippo’s teeth. But she did not remember the conversation at all.
“Were we watching National Geographic? Had I just recently taken an edible? What was the context that I said this?’” DeSorbo asked.
Craig Conover Was Bummed Paige Didn’t Remember Their Conversation About Hippos
On his podcast, Conover explained to co-host Austen Kroll how he surprised DeSorbo with the gift. “So I held up a [photo of a] hippo with his teeth out on my phone and asked, ‘Does this mean anything to you?’” he told Kroll. “And she’s like, ‘What is that? Is that a hippo?’”
Conover said he wrote down DeSorbo’s request after she mentioned she wanted to someday brush a hippo’s teeth. At the time, he told himself, “I’m gonna make that happen for her.”
The Sewing Down South owner even called the Cincinnati Zoo to ask if they could make the request happen. The zoo offers behind-the-scenes experiences including “Hangin’ with The Hippos,” where visitors can visit with hippo residents Fiona, Fritz, Bibi, and Tucker, per the zoo’s website.
“And then when I tell her, she said she never said that,” Conover said of DeSorbo on the podcast. He reiterated that he didn’t just make the story up.
“I just say things,” DeSorbo explained in her defense.
This isn’t Conover’s first bomb of a gift. For Christmas 2022, the “Southern Charm” star got DeSorbo a signed photo of Johnny Cash, they revealed on the podcast. One year later, the photo remains wrapped in cellophane and not hung up.
“Here’s what I’ve learned with Craig: He wants to get me stuff and I love that quality in him,” DeSorbo said on the podcast. “I appreciate that he wants to be so thoughtful and he wants to give me such a good Christmas.”
Paige DeSorbo Said Craig Conover Keeps a Running List of Gift ideas
DeSorbo previously boasted that her boyfriend would buy her anything she asked for, hence the confusing hippo gift he thought she wanted. During a November 2023 Q&A with fans on Amazon Live, she said, “Craig sometimes will make me do things that I don’t want to do. And so in the midst of doing those things … I’m a child, and he will reward me. And basically, I blackmail him into buying me things.”
She told People magazine he does pay attention to things she expresses an interest in and keeps a running log of items she wants, “All year long, if I say I like anything, he writes it down in a Notes app, and then I pretty much get all of those things for Christmas,” DeSorbo explained to the outlet. “Last year, I didn’t realize that I said I wanted a waffle maker, so I got as one of my presents as a waffle maker. Craig is actually very thoughtful when it comes to gifts.”
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