Does Austen Kroll Regret How He Handled the Chelsea Situation with Shep Rose?

Things seem to be heating up between Austen Kroll and Chelsea Meissner this season of Southern Charm. But could this cool down Austen's friendship with Shep Rose since the Charmer first expressed feelings for Chelsea? 

Shep thought Austen violated bro code by not first talking to him before he got friendly with Chelsea. But Austen said he has no regrets during a recent interview with Decider. "I seriously mulled it over and after having conversations with my roommate, no. I don’t. I think that if the roles were reversed there is no way in hell that Shep would have called me and said, ‘Hey, just so you know.’ Like I said the whole time, I wasn’t doing anything wrong. It’s not like we were sleeping together behind his back. I took her to a polo match and that’s it," Austen explained. "So I don’t, no. I wanted to tell him earlier but I didn’t want to ruin Shep’s birthday. I thought that was a great move on my part. He had a great night that night, I assure you, so I told him at the next available time."

Austen said that he also has a lot of fans on his side. "For the most part, people are like, ‘Oh, my God that’s so great, I’m so happy for you and Chelsea and I can’t wait to see where it goes.’ For the most part, people don’t think that I broke bro code because they’re like, ‘Let’s look at Shep’s track record.’ He’s very open about it, he made out with this girl on the roof when we all went out together, and then on the boat he’s talking about trying to have a threesome. So if people look past that and they’re still like #TeamShep, then they’re just blind," he said. "I’ll be out in public though, this past weekend I went to a wedding in Birmingham, and a friend of mine was there and we were out together, and everyone was like, ‘Where’s Chelsea?’, ‘Where’s Chelsea?', ‘Where’s Chelsea?’" 

The Southern Charm newbie went on to say that he believes Shep was "trying to stir the pot a little bit" when he said earlier this season that Austen seemed to be getting closer to Landon Clements when it seemed as if things weren't working out with Chelsea. But Austen added, "Landon and I are definitely close, so there’s definitely some things to come and I’ll let you be the judge of that, I suppose." 

As for Shep referring to Austen as his "protégé" at the beginning of this season of Southern Charm, the newbie isn't taking any offense — but we'll also see him hold his own when it comes to dealing with the vet. "Yeah, I went to a wedding this past weekend, as I told you, and all my buddies were calling me ‘protégé’ and poking fun at me and I truly don’t think Shep meant it in any derogatory way. It was kind of funny, I mean it made me laugh, and our relationship for the most part, it’s kind of maintained its course. We are still good friends and I see him often," Austen shared. "Every friendship has its ups and downs and in the preview for the whole season you see where I’m kind of giving Shep the biz and he yells at me back. I feel like every friend has that and if you haven’t gotten into a fight with your good friends then you’re not really testing your friendship limits. The best thing about the both of us is that I am so easy to air my grievances, and I’m still horrible at holding grudges. You know, 24 hours later I’m not fuming anymore and we hug and have a beer. He’s kind of the same way, he’s said multiple times he’s horrible at holding grudges. We work like that."

We'll see more of Shep and Austen's friendship at work as this season of Southern Charm continues. Check out what's in store for these gents and the rest of the Charmers, below.

Still to Come This Season on Southern Charm...