Wishful thinking. Southern Charm’s Austen Kroll hoped that Cameran Eubanks would have spoken out about the cheating allegations against her husband, Jason Wimberly, on the show.
“Honestly, I told myself prior to watching the first episode, I was like, ‘I won’t be surprised if Cam is on here somewhere addressing this to somebody,’” Kroll, 33, told Us Weekly exclusively on Wednesday, November 4, while speaking about the new season. “I can speak from experience. Last year, Madison [LeCroy] and I were together and I was like, ‘Look, if we don’t talk about this video [of me allegedly cheating], then no one else will.’ Boy, was I wrong, you know what I mean? Like, everyone’s talking about it. They showed it six times an episode of the first five episodes. I was like, ‘Wow.’”
The Kings Calling Brewing Co. founder continued, “Our very first conversation on camera together should have been about that, faced it head on. Then, it would have kind of died, maybe. We were like, ‘Wait, if we don’t talk about it and maybe it won’t be [a big deal],’ and that’s not the way to go about it.”
Kroll believed that Eubanks would have handled her own cheating scandal differently from how he did onscreen. “I thought that Cam would have wanted to potentially come on and set the record straight, you know?” he explained. “I can’t tell if I’m like, ‘Why didn’t you do that?’ Or, if she’s like, ‘I don’t give a s–t what y’all say about me.’ So, I don’t know if I should, like, applaud her or think that she played it wrong.”
Eubanks had been a series regular on Southern Charm since its 2014 premiere. Earlier this year, rumors surfaced that her husband — to whom she wed in 2014 — had been having an affair for two years. South Carolina-based makeup artist Rebecca Wash was accused of being the alleged mistress, but she ultimately denied the allegations and claimed to have never met the couple.
Shortly before filming in season 7 began, the Real World alum announced that she would leave Southern Charm after six seasons. In an extensive Instagram statement about her exit, she claimed that her decision had nothing to do with the extramarital affair speculation.
“My decision was made and given to Bravo months ago and had absolutely nothing to do with ridiculous and fake rumors about my marriage,” Eubanks wrote in May. “Please disregard any fabricated rumor. It’s a ploy for ratings and that’s it.”
When Season 7 of Southern Charm premiered on October 29, Kathryn Dennis addressed the scandal on-camera with Craig Conover, who suggested that it was all untrue. Dennis, 29, shared a text exchange she had with Eubanks about the alleged affair and said that she didn’t “give a f—k” about what her former costar thought.
Kroll, meanwhile, teased what’s to come throughout the remainder of season 7. “Just recently, [I was] with Craig and Shep [Rose] and we were out doing something and the season was right around the corner,” he recalled to Us. “[It] finally hit us like, ‘So are you nervous at all about anything coming up?’ I was like, ‘I haven’t even thought about it,’ because I try to put it out of my mind because there’s no reason to worry. Like, whatever’s going to happen is gonna happen.”
The businessman added, “They asked me these questions and I was like, ‘Well, there’s definitely a thing or two that y’all are gonna see that I’m definitely embarrassed about. Let’s see how it plays out.’”
Southern Charm airs on Bravo Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
