Welcome to Season 11 of Southern Charm! At the end of last season, Craig gave his side of the breakup with Paige. And after feuding with Austen all year, the two reached a tentative truce when Craig opened up about his addiction issues. However, at the reunion, Austen admitted he was terrified of Craig’s temper. After a disasterous romance with Sienna, Shep hooked up with Molly, who harbored a crush on him over the season. Meanwhile, JT and Venita’s confusing situationship came to a head when she admitted she still wanted to date him. And Madison revealed her pregnancy to the group. So, what’s next for our Charmers?
What happened in Southern Charm Season 11 Episode 1?
In the premiere, the group gathered together for Madison’s baby shower at Miss Patricia’s house. However, there was tension in the air because of Craig’s ongoing feud with Venita. And as Craig got used to single life, Venita’s BFF Salley caught his eye. Here’s everything that went down in the Southern Charm Season 11 premiere, “Single and Ready to Mingle.”
Craig and Austen’s feud isn’t over yet
We start the season with a flashforward to Austen’s birthday, which he celebrates with Craig, Shep, and Whitney. However, when Austen jokes that he’s keeping his friends close and his enemies closer, Craig gets activated. Soon, he and Austen are arguing about who is real and who is fake on camera. Craig also accuses Austen of making his addiction about himself. In case it wasn’t clear from the reunion and the Season 11 trailer, these two still have a lot of animosity. From there, we flashback to two months earlier.
Madison and Craig discuss his new singledom
Ahead of her baby shower, a heavily pregnant Madison stops by to check in on Craig at his house. Madison notices an easel on the back porch … which turns out to be leftover from Paige. Craig is still wounded by their breakup. He accuses Paige of turning him into a villain because she needs one for her narrative. We see multiple clips of her accusing him of lying about buying a ring. Craig also accuses her of betraying him. In his mind, they were on the same page about the future. We see a flashback of him proposing that they get engaged and then married two years later. She agrees. But this clip aside, viewers know they absolutely did not agree about the future!
Craig also talks about his brief romance with Natalie Buffett. He says it made him feel whole again, and after he did, he broke it off because he realized he needed to heal more. He also agrees he moved on too quickly, but claims it was because Paige did so, referencing the headlines about her and Joe D’Amelio.
Madison feels for Craig, and wants him to enjoy singledom and casually dating. She even suggests dating multiple people at the same time. But not calling any of them girlfriends. Craig says he’s heard every person has three great loves. Naomi was his first, Paige was his second, so maybe his third will be his wife.
Austen and Shep shop and gossip
Shep meets Austen to shop for Madison’s baby shower gift. He awkwardly tells the sales associates that Austen is buying a gift for his ex-girlfriend. The editors show great restraint by not cutting in the “Madison!” clip (you know the one). Austen and Madison’s friendship is still going strong, as we see in their conversation on his way there. At the store, he buys a giant teddy bear, since Madison is naming her daughter Teddi. Shep looks for the cheapest option, despite his whole trust fund.
They catch up while shopping. Austen tells him that things are still great with Audrey, though we see in a flashback that she’s over the long drive to Charleston. But Austen still thinks it works and is now in Craig’s position of getting pestered with questions about the long distance relationship. Meanwhile, Shep says his dating life is active, but claims he bumped up his age preferences to 28 post-Sienna.
Meanwhile, Shep also references how Austen and Craig recently looked like they had a lot of fun together in LA. Austen says the trip was good, but comments that he was confused by Craig doing tons of shots at the bar. Craig himself admits that he’s more social again post-Paige, but is worried that he’s going to start drinking and partying too much.
Venita and Salley are BFFs (but will Craig come between them?)
Venita and Salley also shop for the baby shower, and we learn they became best friends over the hiatus. Salley helped Venita heal from her heartbreak with JT. After the reunion, Venita reveals JT came to her hotel room until 5:30 am, giving a knowing glance at the camera. He said he wanted to be with her, but instead, she got blocked.
Meanwhile, Venita is feuding with Craig. It started because she took Paige’s side in the breakup. After all, she was closer to Paige. But Salley sees why Craig was mad. In her eyes, if someone in a friend group introduces a partner, and then they break up, you side with the original friend over the former partner. But Venita angered Craig by accusing him of milking the split. On Watch What Happens Live, he said he won’t associate with her anymore. Like Austen, Venita is also scared of Craig’s temper, listing all the times she’s seen him go off on people.
However, Salley has a thing for the newly single Craig. Would that count as violating girl code?
Molly is as quirky as ever
Rodrigo goes to check on last season’s breakout star Molly, who moved into a new house. She also acquired a snake and a gecko, adding reptiles to her pets along with her three cats and one dog. Rodrigo thinks pets aren’t the only thing she’s hoarding. He’s concerned about the clutter in her house. Especially as she looks through it to try to find her snake!
Going through her stuff, Rodrigo finds her collection of shark teeth. He says she should go into business with Shep, and references their “love explosion” last year. But Molly is over her crush. In a confessional, she says she hasn’t hooked up with anyone since. But her fling with Shep taught her what she doesn’t want. Ouch!
Patricia throws Madison a baby shower
For the premiere’s main event, the group heads to Miss Patricia’s house for Madison’s baby shower. Craig gives Madison a homemade quilt, though Whitney has flashbacks to when his gift literally fell apart at Cameran’s baby shower. Rodrigo made a painting for Madison that makes her cry. She’s a little thrown off by Austen’s giant teddy, though. As for Shep, he got her a book called There Are Worse Moms Than You.
Craig brings his college friend Kory Keefer to the baby shower. Kory flirts up a storm with Molly. She jokes that she’s going to have to talk about why she finds his f-boy energy hot in therapy. But the energy changes once Molly skips her band concert. After she decides to stay, she realizes she’s probably out of the band and starts crying. Kory goes cold as he tells her to “calm down.”
Meanwhile, Madison notices Craig checking out Salley. She says Salley’s not his usual type. But Craig thinks she’s beautiful.
The drama doesn’t stop for Madison’s baby shower. The tension between Venita and Craig is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Venita avoids him when she greets Madison. And Craig refuses to say hi to Venita, telling Rodrigo, “I don’t like her.” Salley tries to get Venita to hash things out with Craig, because she wants to stay for the afterparty at Whitney’s “lair.” Rodrigo also encourages them to talk. Venita refuses, arguing that it would start a fight, and she doesn’t want to detract from Madison’s day. That’s fair. Leva says Venita should invite Craig to her house to talk, but Rodrigo says he’d never agree. Ultimately, Venita leaves instead of joining the afterparty. She’s disappointed in Salley, saying in a confessional that apparently girl code ends when there’s a guy involved. And with that, the episode ends.
Southern Charm airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo. It can be streamed on Peacock.
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