Craig Conover offered more context to a Southern Charm moment where he appeared to be drinking behind the wheel.
The reality star, 34, uploaded a scene via Instagram on Friday, December 22, which showed him and girlfriend Paige DeSorbo driving to Madison LeCroy and husband Brett Randle‘s house. After Craig got out of the car, he grabbed an open can and drank the unknown beverage.
“You don’t need to bring your own drink in,” Paige, 31, told Craig, who asked in response, “Is that weird?”
A Bravo viewer questioned the contents of the can, writing in the comments section, “They lost me at drinking and driving.” Craig, however, was quick to clarify that he didn’t have a container of alcohol open on the drive to Madison’s home.
“It’s Budweiser Zero. I always have a cooler packed with some in my car. Not sure why they cut that detail 🙂,” Craig replied about him drinking the nonalcoholic beverage on screen.
The offscreen clarification comes after Craig previously raised eyebrows for his comments during the episode about his future with Paige. While talking to Paige about how he didn’t mind them taking their time before moving in together or getting engaged, Craig admitted he wouldn’t “freak out” if they broke up.
“It’s not the end of the world if we don’t end up together,” Craig said, adding he knows she’s “not ready” to live in Charleston full time. “Now, I believe that I’ve become a stable person with or without you. I know that you got me there, but I really feel stable in myself to the point where, like, I could let you go. I would be really sad, but I wouldn’t freak out, if that makes sense.”
Later in the episode, Craig admitted to the cameras that he sometimes wished he and Paige were “on the same timeline” when it came to their future.
“I’m so appreciative that I have someone that I get along with and that I love,” he shared in a confessional. “All that matters is that I’m happy and she’s supportive of me. Technically, until we have children, it doesn’t matter where we live.”
Craig and Paige’s dynamic has played out on screen since they filmed season 1 of Winter House in 2021. The pair casually dated, which viewers saw on season 6 of Summer House, before making their relationship Instagram official later that year.
Paige DeSorbo and Craig Conover Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Throughout their high-profile romance, Craig and Paige have often defended not being in a rush with milestone moments. “We actually love long-distance,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2021. “I feel like we’re more present with each other when we are together.”
Craig, meanwhile, pointed to other Bravo couples as a reason why he doesn’t mind taking things slow.
“Honestly, there’s a lot of couples on Bravo and I’m not trying to throw shade. But there’s a lot of couples on Bravo that we are not trying to end up like,” he said during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in September. “We want it to work. Like, sustainable growth. Two years is still not that long. But we are in a really good place.”
Earlier this month, Paige surprised fans when she revealed that she and Craig considered getting married during BravoCon weekend. “I said, ‘Let’s go do it in a chapel,’” she recalled to Elite Daily about the November event, which took place in Las Vegas. “Craig chickened out, though.”
Craig added: “I’m not going to get married in Vegas. I want something more real than that.”