After Craig Conover unceremoniously friend-zoned Salley Carson on Southern Charm, he insisted that his reveal was not exactly the blindside that she made it out to be.
On the Southern Charm After Show for Season 11, Episode 7, Craig doubled down on his claims that he never led Salley to believe that they were anything more than close friends, despite their flirtatious interactions and frequent hot tub sessions.
“I don’t like hurting people’s feelings, and I thought I had made it clear,” Craig said, before detailing how he’d turned down Salley’s request to stay at his place after one particular late-night hangout. “I don’t think she wanted to take the hint.”
From Craig’s POV, he always thought that he and Salley had a “sister-brother” relationship, noting that she reminded him of his best girl friends from college. Further explaining that “it wasn’t weird to hang out with the girls you weren’t dating” in Charleston, he added, “Salley just wanted it to be something that it wasn’t.”
RELATED: Watch Salley Confess Her Feelings for Craig Conover — and His Awkward Reaction (VIDEO)
Craig theorized, however, that his “lavish” lifestyle might have given her the wrong impression of his intentions.
“When I hang out with someone, I don’t know how to, like, do it half-ass,” he continued. “Like, I’m gonna take you to my favorite spots and do things that are, like, romantic, because that’s just who I am.”
Craig concluded, “Everyone’s assuming, like, every guy wants to hook up with every girl. It’s weird. Like, I’m very selective with people, and I don’t just hook up with them. I don’t use it as an escape from my reality.”
Salley Carson reacts to being friend-zoned by Craig Conover
Separately on the Southern Charm After Show, Salley pushed back on Craig’s claim that she had simply misread his signals.
“I don’t think I was just, like, pulling it out of my ass,” she vented, before providing some examples. “Like, we’re hanging out all the time, we’re talking all the time, and I’m at his house until 5 a.m. all the time. And then he’s FaceTime-ing me all night. … We had a lot of chemistry.”
RELATED: See Craig Conover and Salley Carson’s Flirty Texts (PHOTO)
Salley also unpacked the reasons why Craig breaking the news that he did not reciprocate her romantic feelings had been so hurtful.
“He’s sitting there, and he’s telling me, like, ‘Look, you’re gonna be a great mother; you’re gonna be a great wife,'” she said. “He’s telling me all the amazing things about me. And then he’s like, ‘But not for me.'”
Inside Salley Carson and Craig’s friend-zone conversation on Southern Charm
Salley confessed her romantic feelings to Craig while he helped her shop for supplies to begin raising chickens in her backyard during Southern Charm‘s Jan. 14 episode.
“I’ve been kinda catching some feelings,” she told him, point-blank. “I’m saying I’m liking you. Like, I can date you.”
Craig’s response? “Yeah, I mean, I just — I don’t see it. We’re just friends,” he said, later adding, “We’re just distractions to each other. But I also have no problem with just being friends with you.”
When Salley questioned why he was spending so much time with her, including in his hot tub until the early morning hours, if he never saw them as more than friends, Craig reasoned, “Because I was like, ‘Oh, cool, maybe we might, like, do something. Maybe this might go somewhere.’ But then, it didn’t.”
In separate confessionals, Craig claimed to a producer that Salley was “reading into our interactions in a fantasy way,” while she declared, “You’ve been hitting on me for three weeks. … I’m not making it up in my head. I’m not f–king delusional.”
Either way, Salley had agreed that she was fine being “just friends” with him. However, when Austen Kroll told Salley during Madison LeCroy’s sleepover later on that Craig had referred to her as a “tornado” who “leaves a path of destruction” wherever she goes, she had some choice words for him.
“I wish he was f–king here right now because I would seriously slap him across the face,” she fumed. “I’ll show him a f–kin’ tornado.”
As the drama plays out on Southern Charm, get the latest update on where Craig and Salley’s friendship stands today.
