What does a Southern Charm man love more than an ambiguous employment record and a bad start-up idea? A love triangle. And now, thanks to Bravo's Cinematic Universe, it's leaking into and diluting our Summer House cast. First it was Austen/Ciara/Lindsay in Winter House, and now it's Craig/Paige/Andrea in Summer House Season 6. But what's this... an additional side to the love triangle? A love square? A relationship between... Craig and Kristin Cavallari? This is one geometry class I was not prepared for.
Yep, you read those two names right. In the first look for Summer House Episode 3, we have Paige asking Craig (her current boyfriend), "are you still f****ing her?" and then a cut to a news headline, "Kristin Cavallari Addresses Love Triangle Rumors With Craig Conover and Austen Kroll, Plus Will She Do Southern Charm?"
Adding more fuel to the fire, in a preview clip of tonight's episode, Paige hears that Craig was maybe hooking up with Kristin. Messy, messy, boys — a nice al dente Italian pasta sounds pretty good right about now, doesn't it Paige?
Anyway, you're not wrong to ask how Craig even knows the former Laguna Beach and The Hills star, Kristin. And in case you weren't glued to Craig and Austen's Instagrams during the early pandemic days, you may have missed it entirely. But here's how it all went down...
November 2020: Craig and Austen meet Kristin Cavallari
Austen explained to US Weekly that Kristin and her best friend, Justin, came to Charleston and him and Craig got dinner with them and have been in a "group chat" ever since. He added that "I'm gonna take a trip to see them in Nashville sometime soon." Craig was still dating Natalie at this point in time, so we can assume nothing happened here.
December 2020: Nashville hang
Could this be the Nashville trip referenced above? Rumors first started circulating about Austen and Kristin after she was seen dancing on his shoulders after a night out in Nashville. Craig was also notably there... and still dating Natalie.
Feb 2021: Kristin Cavallari slid into Craig's DMs?
Kristin was a guest on the third episode of Austen and Craig's podcast, Pillows and Beer, and cleared the air about the DM rumors. She explains that, "I DM'd you... and said thank you for the masks, we're coming to Charleston in a month or whatever it was. I was like, I think we're all going to hang out because you guys already had this connection with Justin. It wasn't romantic, it wasn't flirty..."
Early June 2021: Kristin goes to Charleston
Kristin is seen back down in Charleston hanging out again with both Austen and Craig again. This is after Winter House filmed, and around the time both Paige and Craig were reportedly hooking up (but not dating).
Late June 2021: Kristin is scouting locations
Kristin and her BFF Justin are back in Charleston (again) scouting store locations for her brand, Uncommon Jane. They are also seen at Craig's store, Sewing Down South. This is the same weekend that the story broke about the Austen, Craig, and Kristin love triangle. Kristin cleared the air on her Instagram Live saying that they are all just friends.
After June 2021, there was not much to find. Could it be because things were heating up with Paige? Even though Kristin said they're "just friends," the pair still could have hooked up. Even though Paige has been pretty clear that her and Craig were not exclusive at this point, to find out he's potentially also hooking up with Kristin Cavallari, your childhood role model, would definitely be a punch to the gut.
Images: Instagram, @justinanderson