S10.E5: Beer and Loathing

[ZettaK]

Madison reels from unexpected news; Craig enlists Paige to host a party where Austen is noticeably not invited, leaving Austen to confront the state of their friendship.

First aired on 1/9/2025.

[bosawks]

Craig’s come hither, off the shoulder, wrinkled linen shirt/shorts combo had me giggling all episode.

[SHERMDOG]

I know Craig isnt perfect but I REALLY like him. I CAN'T STAND Austen. Shep either really. Kind of bummed to hear Craig and Paige have split. Maybe this show will gear up and get interesting at some point! Lol

[dancingdreamer]

I like Craig, I find him sexy. Shep isn't  too bad, when he's  away from Austen. 

The way Craig looks at Paige, I was sad to hear they broke up.I love Craig's  backyard, it's a lovely  place to throw  a party. 

I do wonder if Gaston  has a nasty streak, that Taylor is going to find out about.

I don't  care about  the rest, except  Madison and her husband

[snarts]

Much better episode without Whitney & Patricia.

Hard watching Craig/Paige knowing they broke up. I enjoy their dynamic as a couple. 

I think Taylor canceled her party because Gaston refused to attend. Being filmed as someone's boyfriend puts a crimp in his dating game. He's some type of rep, traveling for work and I've no doubt he has a girl in every port. That's why he's so angry that Salley was also talking about him on camera (coincidentally, on the Southern Hospitality episode that immediately followed, they showed Taylor at his place talking to TJ, his roommate. Gaston refused to appear)

Completely over Austen & Shep complaining about Craig. Why can't they just hang out at the bars together?

[aghst]

So they mostly talked about this supposed split which is so obviously fake.  If the producers want to shoot these douche bros going out for beers they’d obviously all show up and pretend to be friendly.

Their “friendship” is driven by the show, just as Craig’s fake relationship with Paige, which is done now since she got what she wanted out of it, which was to appear on this show enough times to further her “brand.”

Craig doesn’t want to do their stupid podcast with Austen any more because he won’t be happy for his new life with Paige, who actually lives in NY while he is still in Charlotte.

When Bravo tells them to jump they do.  So they will have Craig and JT and Taylor and Salley convos, along with Austen and Craig again.

The key thing is they shoot scenes together.  No viewer GAF if they hang out off camera, these are contrived relationships anyways.

Taylor and Salley date or hook up with all the same men.  Somehow, that sounds like the kind of titillating narrative Bravo wants to convey than reality, along with Salley humble bragging that she never wears underwear.

Molly brings a cake which is suppose to be Craig’s dick to a party being hosted by Craig and his supposed fiancée?  Did she order that cake or did some production assistant?

None of these scenes are believable because you’re busy rolling your eyes.

[JenE4]

1 hour ago, snarts said:

Much better episode without Whitney & Patricia.

Hard watching Craig/Paige knowing they broke up. I enjoy their dynamic as a couple. 

I think Taylor canceled her party because Gaston refused to attend. Being filmed as someone's boyfriend puts a crimp in his dating game. He's some type of rep, traveling for work and I've no doubt he has a girl in every port. That's why he's so angry that Salley was also talking about him on camera (coincidentally, on the Southern Hospitality episode that immediately followed, they showed Taylor at his place talking to TJ, his roommate. Gaston refused to appear)

Completely over Austen & Shep complaining about Craig. Why can't they just hang out at the bars together?

Gaston filmed last week (or earlier?) playing pickleball with Taylor. So it doesn’t seem that he’s avoiding the cameras—but maybe avoiding meeting others? I mean, I guess I can understand why he doesn’t want to get caught up in the mess of dealing with both his ex and Taylor’s ex and all of the rest of the drama on camera. I wouldn’t consider that means he’s hiding a secret life, but just like the majority of the population who are NOT trying to become famous influencers and just want to live in obscurity. Maybe he actually loves Taylor and isn’t using her for an opportunity to be on television. But I know nothing about this dude, so maybe he has some top secret plan. But I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt to start with. Right now I only see Salley and Madison trying to make a storyline out of the guy, and I don’t blame him for trying to set some boundaries with them about that.

Speaking of setting boundaries… Okay, I get why real-life Craig has outgrown his friendships with Austen and Shep. However, this is the worst thing he can do for Bravolebrity Craig. Has he learned nothing from the downfall of Vanderpump Rules?!? The friendship between the guys is the show!  No one is tuning in for the dating misadventures of “the new class.” Craig, you got 9 months a year to sit in your yard and tend to your garden. These 3 months of filming, you gotta suck it up with your “buddies” or the show will be canceled like when the relationships of the VDPR cast all fell apart.

13 minutes ago, aghst said:

So they mostly talked about this supposed split which is so obviously fake.  If the producers want to shoot these douche bros going out for beers they’d obviously all show up and pretend to be friendly.

Their “friendship” is driven by the show, just as Craig’s fake relationship with Paige, which is done now since she got what she wanted out of it, which was to appear on this show enough times to further her “brand.”

Craig doesn’t want to do their stupid podcast with Austen any more because he won’t be happy for his new life with Paige, who actually lives in NY while he is still in Charlotte.

When Bravo tells them to jump they do.  So they will have Craig and JT and Taylor and Salley convos, along with Austen and Craig again.

The key thing is they shoot scenes together.  No viewer GAF if they hang out off camera, these are contrived relationships anyways.

Taylor and Salley date or hook up with all the same men.  Somehow, that sounds like the kind of titillating narrative Bravo wants to convey than reality, along with Salley humble bragging that she never wears underwear.

Molly brings a cake which is suppose to be Craig’s dick to a party being hosted by Craig and his supposed fiancée?  Did she order that cake or did some production assistant?

None of these scenes are believable because you’re busy rolling your eyes.

Oh, dear! That cake wasn’t “supposed to be Craig’s dick.” Molly got the dick cake for Taylor’s 30th birthday. When her party was canceled last minute, she brought the cake to this party since she already had it. Then she commented that it was kind of awkward since she had previously been sexting Craig.

[albarino]

What an unpleasant episode.  We have Madison talking with her mom about her dad passing away, Taylor talking with her mom about her brother passing away.  

The new chick saying Gaston called her asking her not to speak about him so she respects his boundaries by speaking about him on camera to Madison who then runs to tell others.  Okay.

Paige then feels she earned a gold star because she was a good hostess at Craig's party by actually ordering the food and talking with the guests.  I've never been a huge Paige fan and this episode did not change my mind.

Craig should have invited Austin to his party--this show isn't all that deep.

[aghst]

Before next season airs, they will have all kinds of press about how the bros quashed their beef, how Shep and Austen was there for Craig after his "painful" breakup with Paige, etc.

Bravo knows how to shovel.

[Back Atcha]

17 minutes ago, aghst said:

Before next season airs, they will have all kinds of press about how the bros quashed their beef, how Shep and Austen was there for Craig after his "painful" breakup with Paige, etc.

If Bravo is "forced" to take sides in the Craig vs. Paige separation, I need to let them know, "The LESS of Craig the better," and that's not anything new.

[Crazydoxielady]

The di*k  cake was wrong. It wasn’t bought for that party and should not have been brought at all. Paige was annoyed and I would be too. Particularly knowing Molly sexted Craig. Not a good look Molly, grow up. 

[sugarbaker design]

Is Rodrigo's sole function to talk about people behind their back?

[aghst]

3 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Is Rodrigo's sole function to talk about people behind their back?

That's pretty much what some of this show's cast members have always been, just take part in a convo where they talk about others.

Dani did that with Kathryn for whole seasons because some of the cast didn't want to film with her.

Producers seem uninterested in the stories around some of these characters, they're only there to film scenes with others and talk about some other cast members, whatever the storylines of that particular season happen to be.

[JenE4]

10 minutes ago, aghst said:

That's pretty much what some of this show's cast members have always been, just take part in a convo where they talk about others.

Dani did that with Kathryn for whole seasons because some of the cast didn't want to film with her.

Producers seem uninterested in the stories around some of these characters, they're only there to film scenes with others and talk about some other cast members, whatever the storylines of that particular season happen to be.

That’s pretty much what Cameron was, too. She managed to keep her personal life, then husband, off the show. Once she became a mother and the show seemingly wanted to feature that aspect of her life, she quit.

[heatherchandler]

On 1/11/2025 at 7:41 PM, aghst said:

Before next season airs, they will have all kinds of press about how the bros quashed their beef, how Shep and Austen was there for Craig after his "painful" breakup with Paige, etc.

Bravo knows how to shovel.

They certainly know how to shovel $hit but I don’t think they do it well.  It’s just so boring, there is nothing actually happening.  

[ninjago]

Shep is what differentiates this show from any other show about young-ish singles being messy because Shep has roots in the weird Charleston/Old South culture that none of these other people have.  The rest of the cast is meaningless, with the exception of Craig, who makes for a good outsider pointing out the emperor has no clothes, and Patricia/Whitney, who have all the money but none of the connections.

Get focused back on the truly bizarre hierarchy that exists in Charleston by casting some other black sheep of legacy families.  The show now has no hook.

[ZettaK]

Taylor, the supposedly nice, Christian girl calls other women whores, but she hooked up with every available male in Charleston (and probably beyond because of social media, and DMs).

It seems the producers encouraged Craig to talk to JT (according to previews for the next episode) who was iced by everybody. It will be an opportunity for a possible argument.

Edited Wednesday at 09:22 PM by ZettaK

[aghst]

Every time cast members sit down to talk up some supposed disagreement, it's all contrived.

You have cameras set up there, blocking on both of them because they want to film fireworks.

With these sit-downs, they can do multiple takes, say lines that are confrontational and do it however many times for maximum effect.

I think it was Laguna Beach which was one of the first reality shows where the cast would have these staged convos.  Not only did they do hair and makeup, they were doing multiple takes, again to try to poke at each other the right way.

It wasn't some handheld cam following people around like in the early seasons of The Real World, where conversations and actions would happen somewhat organically -- it's still an artificial environment with the cameras, lights and crews all around the cast but at least they weren't being prompted to say certain things or doing multiple takes to satisfy the directors and producers.

In the real world, people don't always sit down and hash out disagreements.  They just avoid or let a lot of these resentments fester.  But on shows like Southern Charm, they will constantly talk about them, not just the principals but these supporting characters, because who doesn't like juicy trash talk behind people's backs?

So the goal isn't to "clear the air" and de-escalate.  It's just the opposite, try to catch an explosion on camera.

[ZettaK]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

Every time cast members sit down to talk up some supposed disagreement, it's all contrived.

You have cameras set up there, blocking on both of them because they want to film fireworks.

With these sit-downs, they can do multiple takes, say lines that are confrontational and do it however many times for maximum effect.

I think it was Laguna Beach which was one of the first reality shows where the cast would have these staged convos.  Not only did they do hair and makeup, they were doing multiple takes, again to try to poke at each other the right way.

It wasn't some handheld cam following people around like in the early seasons of The Real World, where conversations and actions would happen somewhat organically -- it's still an artificial environment with the cameras, lights and crews all around the cast but at least they weren't being prompted to say certain things or doing multiple takes to satisfy the directors and producers.

In the real world, people don't always sit down and hash out disagreements.  They just avoid or let a lot of these resentments fester.  But on shows like Southern Charm, they will constantly talk about them, not just the principals but these supporting characters, because who doesn't like juicy trash talk behind people's backs?

So the goal isn't to "clear the air" and de-escalate.  It's just the opposite, try to catch an explosion on camera.

You are right. It was probably Laguna Beach which started the trend. Re-filming scenes, the girls in perfect makeup and hair. Kristin Cavallari even said that the producers/show made it appear that Stephen was with both her, and Lauren, but that was not true.