Southern Charm’s Craig Conover denies drinking while driving on screen

Craig Conover offered more context to a Southern charm moment when he appeared to be drinking behind the wheel.

The reality star, 34, uploaded a scene via Instagram on Friday, December 22, which featured him and his girlfriend Paige DeSorbo drive there Madison LeCroy and husband Brett Randle‘s house. After Craig got out of the car, he grabbed an open can and drank the unknown drink.

“You don’t have to bring your own drink,” Paige, 31, told Craig, who replied, “Is that weird?”

One Bravo viewer questioned the contents of the can, writing in the comments section, “They lost me to drunk driving.” However, Craig quickly clarified that he did not have an open container of alcohol on the way to Madison’s house.

“It’s Budweiser Zero. I always have a cooler full of some in my car. Not sure why they removed that detail 🙂,” Craig replied drinking the non-alcoholic drink on screen.

The off-screen 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 that he knows she’s “not ready” to live in Charleston full-time. “Now I believe I have become a stable person, with or without you. I know you got me there, but I feel really stable within myself to the point where I could let you go. I would be very sad, but I wouldn’t panic, 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 grateful that I have someone I get along with and love,” he said in a confessional. “All that matters is that I am happy and that she supports me. Technically, until we have kids, it doesn’t matter where we live.”

Craig and Paige’s dynamic has been on display since they filmed season 1 of it Winter house in 2021. The couple dated casually, which viewers saw in season 6 of Summer housebefore making their relationship Instagram official later that year.

Throughout their high-profile romance, Craig and Paige have often defended not being in a rush for milestone moments. “We actually like long distance,” she shared exclusively We weekly in October 2021. “I feel like we are more present to each other when we are together.”

Craig, meanwhile, pointed to other Bravo couples as a reason why he doesn’t mind taking it slow.

“Honestly, there are a lot of couples on Bravo and I’m not trying to throw shade. But there are a lot of couples on Bravo that we don’t want to look like,” he said during an appearance on Watch what happens live with Andy Cohen in September. “We want it to work. Such as sustainable growth. Two years is still not that long. But we are really in a good place.”

Earlier this month, Paige surprised fans when she revealed that she and Craig were considering getting married over BravoCon weekend. “I said, ‘Let’s do it in a chapel,’” she recalled Elite daily about the November event, which took place in Las Vegas. “Craig was shocked though.”

Craig added: “I’m not getting married in Vegas. I want something more real than that.”