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Craig Conover opened up about his future plans with Paige DeSorbo and teased the upcoming ninth season of Southern Charm during a podcast appearance on Wednesday.
Nearly two years after the two of them made their relationship official, Craig, 34, teased his impending engagement to Paige, 30, while also admitting he’d likely never marry a non-reality star and revealing fans will see a different side of Shep Rose, 43, on the new episodes.
“You’ll see him be in a position that he hasn’t been in before,” Craig said of Shep on the August 16 episode of It’s Complicated on Bleav. “You can see the struggle with opening up. You’ll watch someone have to face something that they’re not used to. It’s funny to see some people were taught to be shut off and to never be vulnerable.”
As Southern Charm fans may have seen, Shep revisits his relationship with Taylor Ann Green, 28, which came to an end after two years last summer, on the new season, and is also faced with reports of a hookup between Taylor and Austen Kroll, 36.
Speaking of his own relationship, Craig said he “absolutely [loves] dating someone in the same business.”
“I truly don’t see how it would work outside of this,” he explained. “I can’t speak for everyone, but there is just no way to understand the ins and outs of our daily lives, the pros and cons. It’s a very unhealthy business to be in, especially mentally, and you have to be aware of that. But if you’re dating someone that doesn’t have those same issues, they’d be like, ‘Cry me a river. I had to go to work from 9 to 5.'”
“I don’t think I would ever make it to marriage with someone that wasn’t in the business,” he continued. “Because yes, it’s a reality TV show, but… contextual things are different, and I have to be okay with Paige going away on the weekend and like, doing her job. And I understand what that job is and I just think if I didn’t have the history in the business that I did, I would be like, ‘Well why do you have to drink and play these games?'”
According to Craig, he’s not worried about what Paige is doing, but how she’s portrayed.
“You have to understand that she can do everything perfectly, and she’s a great girlfriend and a very honest girlfriend. That does not mean that what you see on TV is going to look that way and you have to understand that,” he stated.
As for what will change once they’re engaged, Craig said he looks forward to the milestone removing any insecurities he’s feeling.
“For me, it would just be, if I wasn’t able to kind of combat those insecurities of being like, ‘Maybe this doesn’t happen.’ But that’s on me. That’s not on me to put on to my partner,” he noted.
Craig went on to say that he’s grown a lot over the past year.
“A year ago if I was talking to myself, I would’ve thought I was ready and I could easily go to Paige’s parents and be like, ‘Obviously, you’re gonna say yes.’ But then to be a year from there, I honestly feel like I’m a very different person than I was last year,” he revealed. “A lot really does happen in a year.”
While Craig and Paige aren’t engaged yet, Craig said she’s assured him that she’s committed to their future.
“It’s funny to have the convo, too, and you’re like, ‘Don’t you want this too?’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah, I do Craig. Like, I want to have a family with you.’ I just think that girls a lot of times are a little more realistic and more mature than I would’ve ever agreed with,” he explained.
Southern Charm season nine premieres on Thursday, September 14, at 9/8c on Bravo.