He called Cameran Eubank’s departure ahead of Season 7 “a heartbreak.”
Craig Conover opened up about Southern Charm in a new interview, making some rather refreshing remarks about the series’ drastic cast changes for Season 7.
The Charleston, South Carolina-based series returned to Bravo just a few weeks ago but without many of the show’s familiar faces including Cameran Eubanks, Chelsea Meissner, and Naomie Olindo and in a recent chat with Hollywood Life, Craig revealed that he wasn’t all that surprised to see them exit.
“I mean, Naomie and Chelsea were never coming back. Their life in reality TV ended last year,” he said. “That’s just because of the transparency that they were comfortable with. Chelsea wasn’t comfortable with opening up her life to the audience, so there’s nothing that you could bring to the show. Naomie’s got a lot on [her] plate, and she just went in another direction.”
According to Craig, the show was in desperate need of some authenticity following the Thomas Ravenel and Ashley Jacobs era of seasons past and the addition of two new cast members gave the Bravo hit the shake up it needed.
“That’s why Leva [Bonaparte] is so great this year and some of the new girls because they’re fully transparent,” he explained. “They behave the exact same way on camera and say what they would say if the cameras weren’t there. I think that’s something we really needed with the show.”
As previously reported, Cameran Eubanks shocked Southern Charm fans when she revealed she would not be returning ahead of Season 7, and Craig revealed that her decision to exit the series was upsetting.
“Cameran was a heartbreak. I was blindsided by that. Every year she was kind of hesitant about doing it again, but she loves doing it and always does it,” he said. “That time that we get to spend together… it’s really special. It’s just different this year. It was kind of time to refresh things.”
Southern Charm stars Craig Conover, Shep Rose, Leva Bonaparte, Kathryn Dennis, Austen Kroll, John Pringle, and Madison LeCroy, and airs Thursdays on Bravo.
