Southern Charm‘s Charley Manley may have accepted a date invitation from Craig Conover without telling Salley Carson, but the Season 11 newbie still does not believe she broke girl code. In fact, Charley firmly defended her decision on the Southern Charm After Show for Episode 7.
“I don’t feel like I was overstepping,” she declared, adding, “I don’t feel like I did anything wrong.”
After all, according to Charley, she didn’t initially loop Salley in on her date plans, in an attempt to “avoid” a potential “disagreement with a friend.” But deep down, she said she had every reason to believe that Salley would be fine with her accompanying Craig to his friend’s oyster farm anyway.
RELATED: Rodrigo Reyes Drops a Bombshell About Craig Conover and Charley Manley: “What the F—k?”
“Knowing my friendship with Salley, if I thought that she would seriously have a problem with me hanging out with Craig one-on-one and going on this oyster date, I would have said no,” Charley added. “She had explicitly told me that she did not like him like that and that she had crushes on Austen [Kroll] and a couple other people.”
Plus, Charley pointed out that Salley actually encouraged her to go on a date with Craig, making her one-time bestie’s reaction all the more confusing.
“I have the mindset that we have the friendship to where if she really did not want me to go or if she really liked this guy, that she would tell me,” Charley concluded, noting Salley’s inconsistent statements on whether or not she was truly interested in pursuing a relationship with Craig. “It’s whiplash; it really is.”
Salley Carson responded to Charley Manley’s justification for dating Craig
Salley, for her part, admitted separately on the Southern Charm After Show that she did, indeed, tell Charley to “go for Craig” — even if it “hurt [her] feelings” — but clarified that their friendship issues ran much deeper than the date itself.
“I never want to stop someone from their own happiness, but her not telling me was crazy,” Salley explained. “It was never about me and Craig. It was always about me and Charley’s friendship and me feeling like she was hiding things and being shady.”
As for Charley’s justification that Salley was actually “into Austen the whole time,” the surgical robot operator pushed back that their castmate “wasn’t even an option” for her, given that he and Audrey Pratt were still together at that point.
Furthermore, Salley didn’t buy Charley’s claim that she was unaware of her romantic feelings for Craig.
“I would text her all the time and be like, ‘I’m feeling this way about Craig. Like, I don’t really know what’s going on, but there’s definitely flirtatious things going on between us. There’s chemistry in his hot tub.'” Salley recalled. “She knew exactly what she was doing.”
Inside Charley Manley and Craig Conover’s date reveal on Southern Charm
During Southern Charm‘s Jan. 14 episode, Rodrigo Reyes inadvertently dropped the bombshell about Charley and Craig’s upcoming date at Madison LeCroy’s pajama party at her new home. Needless to say, Salley (and the rest of their castmates) appeared stunned by the reveal, especially on the heels of Craig friend-zoning her.
After Charley told her that she hadn’t said anything yet because she was waiting until they had some alone time, Salley replied, “This is news to me, because you told me, like, a couple weeks ago, ‘I would say no to a date with Craig, if he asked me.’ So, it’s just, like, confusing, and I just want honesty from you.”
RELATED: Watch Salley Confess Her Feelings for Craig Conover — and His Awkward Reaction (VIDEO)
Charley, meanwhile, chimed in, “If I’m being completely honest, I’m not over here, like justifying anyone’s behavior, but, like, I do enjoy spending time with him, whatever. So, whenever he asked me to do this Lowcountry Oyster thing, I said yes, because, like, I genuinely want to go and I’m, like, excited to.”
Salley’s response? “Have fun on your date,” she said. “If he’s gonna write me off like that, like f–k him. Craig is manipulating the both of us. He has been for f–king all summer, and I am finally realizing it. And it will take her longer time to realize it, but you will realize it. And I wish he was f–king here right now because I would seriously slap him across the face.”
In the meantime, don’t miss what Charley and Salley said really happened in Craig’s hot tub.
