Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
We’re just a few episodes deep into this season of Southern Charm on Bravo, but the drama is already starting to sizzle. We jumped on the phone with Mr. Craig Conover himself to find out why he’s declared this the “craziest” season yet, and also to ask what he’s growing in his garden, and the real reason he was taken off the group text. We got some insight into where he stands with Shep, how the whole group feels about Landon, and his next Google search when it comes to his adorable pet Gizmo. Plus, Craig clarifies the latest with the bar exam and when he’ll find out if he passed. Hint: it’s THIS WEEK.
First and foremost, how is Gizmo?
Oh, isn’t he a rock star? He’s doing great. He’s at grandma and grandpa’s right now because Naomie sent me one of what I think is going to be many throughout our lifetime of texts, and was like ‘Hey, don’t be mad’ and I’m like ‘Okay, what’s up?’ I had no idea, I thought she was going to be like, ‘We have to go to dinner tonight’ or something, and she was like ‘There was this cat I found…’ So basically, Naomi rescued another cat, so Gizmo’s got a brother that he doesn’t know about now.
Oh my gosh, when can they meet?
Well, the cat’s name is Z, like the letter Z. It’s really a sweet story, I mean this part isn’t, but he was horribly abused and lived the first two years of his life under the bed. He can’t even really meow because he’s always had to hide and stuff, he’s just getting his vocal cords back. Now he’s beautiful and he’s like an angel and he’s getting brave, running around the house with us. He gets so overwhelmed with love and appreciation that he head butts you. He’s really nice. Naomie rescued Gizmo too and his house was essentially overpopulated with animals; the other animals had a threat for survival and would steal his food and stuff. So I’m just going to have to Google the heck out of how to introduce them. But I think if we do it at our parents’ house he won’t feel as threatened as he does here. I’ve only ever had Golden Retrievers and now I have two cats.
Speaking of Google, how do you come up with your new hobbies, like gardening and carpentry? Does a quick Google search bring you to these new activities?
Well, they enable me and enhance the opportunity to do something I’ve always loved doing. When I was little, for Christmas I would always get connector sets, different woodworking for kids, whether it was building a tree house or a birdhouse, I always loved that stuff. Then the gardening, for some reason I’ve always been fascinated with. Fortunately my parents were real supportive with whatever I’d do. They let me go dig an 8×8 plot in our backyard in our sandy soil in Delaware and tried planting stuff. Now that Naomie and I have our own place, and I’m kind of an adult with my own career and money now, I’m like wait, now I can do this gardening thing right. I kind of went balls to the wall, I built grow shelves in the garage then built raised beds and have an irrigation system so it allows me, instead of having to ask my parents for a whole bunch of money to build some complex gardening setup, now I can just do it. So I did that and now with the woodworking I realized that tools, even though they cost a little bit of money it wasn’t nearly as much as we stupidly would spend out on the town in Charleston. I kind of just started being an adult, if I don’t know how to do something I just Google it. It’s amazing. I don’t know why more people don’t do that, if you have a question just type it into Google.
So what have you been growing in the garden?
Yesterday I just transplanted the tomatoes so I’ve got ten different types of tomatoes, six different types of cucumbers, five different types of melons and then I have okra and cabbages and lettuces, arugula. So I have the salad greens for the first time, then I have root vegetables too, like onions and radishes, and then my favorite part though, other than the tomatoes are the herbs. The herb garden basically skirts the regular garden and for some reason I think I’d have to pick basil as my favorite. Basil and tomatoes are my favorite things to grow. It’s pretty fun. The community stops by on their bikes and it gets a little big so I give a lot away. Dani and Todd come over, they pick stuff for dinner over at their house and Cameron was over here last year, so it’s nice.
We saw it a ton last season and so far this season as well, so I have to ask: why is everybody all up in your business about law school and the bar?
Yeah, I don’t know if my gut [response] would be too appropriate. But my best guess… I don’t know, there’s really no best way to answer that. At first, I think Shep was being really dramatic and what I couldn’t understand was, we were at the batting cages after I had finally finished my requirements for graduating. That was a big deal and that was really nice and it was a happy moment, finally going in this direction of doing the things I said I was going to do instead of just saying them. So I was really blindsided when he came at me because it kind of concerned me about, be wary of those who don’t cheer for your accomplishments or don’t clap for you when you’re doing well. So for the first time it kind of turned from the point where people could be like ‘Oh they’re just concerned for you,’ to, ‘Well, are they trying to keep you battered and down?’ At that point I had finished all my requirements and it drives me a little nuts to the point where I can’t even see it too often. Because it was never a question of whether I wanted to practice law or if I was skilled enough or if I was scared of the bar exam, I literally wasn’t allowed to take it. And so that’s why I think Shep’s dramatics, I don’t know if that’s a word, but he skews it to a point where he’s like ‘Dude, if you don’t want to be a lawyer don’t be one.’ It’s really hard to listen to him say that without screaming because first it got to a point where I was like ‘Dude, I don’t care I’m not here to prove it.’ Fortunately, as soon as I was given the opportunity to take the bar exam, because I received my diploma in October, then I just took it in February. So, I think if I was allowed to take it for a few years and didn’t, then they would have an argument. But I don’t know I’m just as confused as you are.
Did you get your results back and is that something we see on the show?
I won’t find out until, they give us a roundabout date, so they said around April 22nd. So I’m excited. If I didn’t pass then you take it again in July. Naomie was asking me if I felt any pressure and I really don’t. I know Shep and Cameran have their own opinions, but for me for two years I tried to figure out how to finish this last requirement. Weird circumstances took place and finally when I did I was just so relieved that if I had to take it again I’m fine with doing that too. I’m just happy to be able to take it.
It seemed to be a source of drama with your friends and with Naomie; did you feel like once you took it, they eased up?
Yeah, but it sucks because I’m not someone that does things for other people and that’s what I felt like it turned into. I was still able to enjoy it myself and with Naomie, and when you have to go an hour and a half away to Columbia to take it and it’s overnight and stuff, that was nice. Actually, I found out later on that Naomie had posted it on social media and I wasn’t going to really post anything because it wasn’t for anyone else. I didn’t want Shep or anyone else to think I was doing it for them. I was doing it for myself. I think it got turned into this, if they have that to talk about they don’t really have to reflect what’s going on in their life.
When you do get the results will you post about it?
I don’t know, it’s tough to say. No, if it was up to me, no I wouldn’t because I’m not doing it for everybody else. However, at this point maybe for my career, for everything else, maybe I might need to let everybody else know that I have actually become an attorney. So I think obviously it will get announced. They also post it on their webpage so you find out like making the baseball team, everybody can log on that day and see who passed. It’s a happy thing and I want everybody to know but just for the right reasons. I think there will be people on the internet who find out even before I do.
You touched on this a little bit but sometimes with Shep it’s hard to tell if he’s being helpful and encouraging, or if he’s being more of a hater. How do you classify your relationship both when you are filming and when you’re not?
I attribute a lot to the date auction in the second season with Kelsea Ballerini, who actually ended up taking off and doing great. At the end of the second season, we’re in Yorktown and there’s a date auction. I had nothing to do with it but Kelsea ended up bidding on me and spending $5,000 for a date and then with Shep, Cameran ended up donating a thousand dollars so he wasn’t left up there alone. I would have preferred that [Kelsea] picked him because I knew he kind of needed that, and ever since then when we’re filming, I feel like he has something to prove or I don’t know, I think there’s some insecurity there. When we’re off camera and also when we’re on, but a lot of it is boring so you don’t get to see it, but we’re very close. We’re going through this experience together, like if you were on a sports team or in a sorority or whatever. Even if you don’t like each other, you’re still like family, so when we’re not filming I think Shep and I get along a lot better because he can relax a little bit and I get to see him about once a week and you’ll see that he made a big change in his life this year. You get to see a lot of growth out of him, a lot’s evolved. He’s close to Naomi and I, he pops up in our house every once in awhile when he just wants to feel a family environment. It’s really hard to explain though, Naomie and my brother, my best friends from college, my family, every week there’s a swing, like they all hate him or they don’t hate him so much. My parents will come to town, we’ll go to dinner and they like him again but then they’ll see next week’s episode and hate him. I try to remind everyone to take him with a grain of salt but when people care about you, they don’t like hearing one of your so-called friends talk about you like Shep does on TV.
How does the group feel about Landon this season?
That’s a great question. Last year it was like scorched earth and everybody was hoping everybody was cool this year. We were hoping that everyone would let bygones be bygones and just relax. But our show does a really cool job with taking styles from scripted television with that opening they did, similar to the opening last year. I had no idea that happened and I thought that was kind of a head nod to Kathryn, to vindicate her for being so honest this year, that they started out with Thomas and Landon on the park bench. Then she doesn’t have to wait all season to be like, ‘See guys, I told you I’m not crazy.’ Clearly they had something. I think the only thing that would be a group opinion about Landon is I think she needs to be a little more self-aware with stuff. I mess with Shep, I’ll admit that I mess with Shep, but some of the things she was doing were very antagonistic but she wanted to play a saint. It’s hard sometimes doing this [interview] because it’s funny. Every time I’m just laughing, because you don’t want to be mean, but the questions are good. Because it’s early! It’s early on (laughs). It’s truthful, but some of our friends and cast members crazy. If you burn them this early on, who knows what will happen, but it heats up.
I have no doubt about that. We also learned in last week’s episode that you were taken off the group text with Cameran, Whitney, and Shep because they were talking about your Instagram?
They say it’s because I do sponsored posts and stuff and well, I’m sorry. Look, I like money just as much as everyone else, so if someone’s going to pay me to post a picture well, then I would do it. Why wouldn’t I? I was only 26 or 25 at the time that it started and so they claim that’s what they would make fun of. But what I really think it was is after last season, when I was given the opportunity to finish law school, my priorities reorganized themselves and rearranged themselves into back what they were before the show and that’s what I focused on. My thesis took me about 8 months to write. That was my life. Naomie and I were traveling and we were working on our house. I pulled away from them, that’s how I remember it happening. Sometimes when more serious things happen in life, you start to see the silliness and shallowness of other things. I remember that they would get real worked up about the show or something else going on and when you’re focusing on something that’s important to you, you don’t really care anymore. I definitely pulled away from them and was kind of an introvert last year, so maybe that’s why. And also, now that we’re talking about it, I remember when it happened. It happened when I sided with Kathryn over Whitney, and when that aired and then at the reunion or whatever, when I refused to take it back because I was like, ‘Look I believe what I believe,’ that’s when they took me out of it too. They used it a lot to talk about what was going on and Cameran and Whitney didn’t think they could trust me anymore with talking about Kathryn or whatever, so they took me out of it. I thought that was kind of a low blow for Shep to say and it was so random for him to scream that and it had nothing to do with how close we all were, there were just other things going on.
It looks like were going to be seeing even more of Naomie this season. Were there challenges in having cameras around for a lot of the ups and downs of your relationship?
Yeah, I can tell you that’s been the hardest part. When I started this, I never dreamt of bringing anyone into it. Last year Naomie was nice enough, I didn’t ask her or make her, but she was like, ‘I want people to see the real you’ and so she decided to do it. This year, Naomie is such an honest person, she’s 100% transparent that in our every day lives it’s such a nice trait to have and a good thing. But when it comes to the show, it’s kind of a showmaker’s dream because she doesn’t hold back. So for the partner it might be kind of a nightmare because there’s no ‘Hey let’s talk about this in maybe an hour when the whole world’s not gonna see it.’ But she’s a superstar for you guys this year because whatever was happening that day, the cameras didn’t affect her, which is I guess all you can ask for. But you can see it weighs a lot on me because, Naomie and I both believe that were gonna get married and be together forever, so it gets real touchy when you have some real passionate arguments that are being filmed. It’s definitely tough, and I can tell you that we get to the definitely lowest part of our relationship this season, and it is a really dark world that you put yourself into (laughs). But that’s why I think this season has so much. There’s so much new to it that I think as a viewer, everyone’s going to be very intrigued.
You tweeted that it’s the craziest season ever: why?
For 3 years, and it’s no one’s fault that not much changed, but none of us were really doing anything that different. Like Jersey Shore, I liked watching what Pauly D was doing, even though they were doing the same thing every day. When it comes to this season, it’s just all new. You have Kathryn going to rehab and losing the kids, and Thomas becoming a dad. Thomas had never been a dad on the show before. You only ever saw the kids with Kathryn and now you see Thomas with the kids. Then you see Thomas and Landon pursuing, or at least talking about whatever happens, that you guys will see this season with their relationship. And then you have Naomie and I going from our honeymoon period last year to getting to the point where were wondering if we have to talk to someone or get help because were arguing so much. And then Shep, you get to see him go through a lot of challenges that you’ve never seen. I don’t know how shocking the last one was, but I think as we move forward it will be a little more shocking, and I think it’s pretty crazy.
You took to Twitter to clear up things from batting cages to allergies after last week’s episode. Do you feel like you will you need to clarify more things as the season goes on?
I hope not and I usually don’t care that much. The baseball thing was a little silly. Sometimes I think they push it a little far. It wasn’t necessary to try and make me look like a liar that I had grown up playing baseball. I hope not, and it hasn’t been like that and I don’t think it will be moving forward. I think I just, I suck up a lot sometimes and that one kind of pissed me off, but we’ll see. But it hasn’t always been like that so hopefully it’s not moving forward.
Southern Charm airs tonight at 9pm on Bravo.
