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Craig Conover revealed why he hid his breakup from Paige DeSorbo, and he also claimed they had a “great sex life,” and she asked him to “buy her a ring.” Meanwhile, Shep Rose shared his belief that Craig wasn’t “driving this bus,” and Austen Kroll hinted at “cracks” in their relationship.

Around Thanksgiving of last year, Paige broke up with the Southern Charm star. When she publicly announced it in late December, she seemed to suggest that it just happened, though she later revealed the true timeline, hinting that he hadn’t wanted to go public.

In the recent season finale, cameras picked back up after the split, and Craig recalled the breakup in a scene with Shep and Austen.

“Paige and I had a great Thanksgiving together,” he said, via Bravo TV. “Everything was normal at her parents’, like our chemistry and everything. Then, a couple of weeks later she called me and was like, ‘We gotta talk.’”

Craig then “knew” that Paige was going to break up with him, though he couldn’t really believe it.

“It was really calm,” he said. “She’s like, ‘I need to like find myself’ and she’s like, ‘I have to take control of my life again, and we need to break up.’”

Afterward, according to Craig, Shep and “specifically” Austen were the “only people [he] wanted to tell.”

“The truth is, I couldn’t let it get out yet, and …  it was a bummer because I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can tell Austen and him not say something,’” Craig claimed. “I wasn’t gonna f–king say anything ’cause I didn’t want it to be real.”

He also indicated that he was waiting for Paige to be the one who shared it publicly. But Craig alleged that he flew to NYC before last summer to design a ring because she asked him to “buy her a ring.”

“Then she was like, ‘Actually, hold off,’” said Craig. “Looking back, maybe that was her starting to panic or freak out.”

Craig claimed that he offered to relocate to NYC “like she asked me,” and he consented to raising their future children in Manhattan. “And she’s like, ‘You will resent me forever if you have to live this life in New York.’”

He said their love is “so rare,” so he struggles to make sense of their split and the idea of finding love again.

“We were best friends, we loved each other, we had a great sex life, we just checked so many boxes that you’re like … ‘How are we giving this up?’” he stated. “It’s weird to, like, mourn someone that’s still alive.”

Before Craig arrived in the scene, Shep explained that Rodrigo Reyes messaged him with news of the breakup after seeing it online.

“I just feel bad for the guy,” said Shep to Austen. “It doesn’t sound like he was driving this bus.”

Austen replied, “I think that there were cracks, but I think that Craig was like, not enough to terminate [the] relationship.”