“I Thought We Were Brothers” — Craig Conover Tried to Pay Austen Kroll $30K to End Podcast as Southern Charm Friendship Crumbles on Air

Craig Conover wanted to put Pillows and Beer to bed.

In the Jan. 30 episode of Southern Charm, Craig, 35, said he planned to meet up with Austen Kroll to “tie up all the loose ends with the podcast,” Pillows and Beer.

Craig enlisted Shep Rose to act as a mediator.

“I haven’t seen them show up together anywhere in three years,” Austen, 37, told the cameras when Craig and Shep, 45, arrived side by side at Holy City Brewing in Charleston, S.C.

During the car ride over, Craig spoke with his business partner Jerry, who suggested offering Austen between $35,000 and $50,000 to buy him out of the podcast. Craig decided he’d start with $30,000.

“I feel like I have a proposal with the podcast that should be pretty f---ing great,” Craig said to Austen at the brewery. “Maybe we gave you like 30 grand, but I keep ownership of it.”

That offer did not interest Austen. “I wasn't, you know, thinking about the podcast,” Austen replied.

“So, what do you want from me?” Craig wondered.

Austen said he simply wanted to restore his friendship with Craig.

“I thought we were fine,” Craig said to Austen. “You did this. You came to my house and started this.”

Austen then insisted he only wanted to help Craig find “balance” between his work and personal lives when he came to his house to discuss the schism in their friendship earlier in the season. “That’s all that I wanted you to do,” the Trop Hop beer founder said.

Craig said he felt “betrayed” by Austen and that they do “so much together.” He then asked Austen, “I’m just like, what more do you want from me?”

This led Craig to enlist Shep’s help to clear things up between him and Austen.

“There’s a part of Austen and I that thought it was all a PR thing,” Shep said to Craig. “Like, 'I’ve got to ... if I want my business to flourish, I have to be squeaky clean.'”

Shep also called Craig’s actions “plastic” and “performative.”

“You can either accept the life that I live now or not,” Craig said to his friends. “So you’re either going to be supportive or you’re going to f---ing f--- off.”

Despite the feud, Craig and Austen continue to put out their podcast, and Austen promises viewers will see “an arc” play out between him and Craig throughout the rest of the season.

“It's a good one,” Austen tells PEOPLE. “There were tears involved, hugs, I love yous, I hate yous. Our show thrives on real and true friendships and things are changing between our dynamic.”

Craig tells PEOPLE that the confusion around his shifting priorities comes “if someone is not ready to evolve a little bit.”

“They don't understand giving up that one thing for everything else,” he says. “They're like, ‘How could you possibly give up all of our good times?’ And you're like, ‘There's a lot else out there.’”

Still, Craig assures he and his castmates “had a lot of fun times” this season.

“There's people trying to get to new chapters, and then there's people who are confused as why they're still in the same chapter that they've always been. And I think it's going to be fun to watch us in this stage of life,” the Sewing Down South founder says. “The second half of the season is going to probably be my favorite couple of episodes of Southern Charm history.”