Breaking Down the Spritz Feud Between Kyle Cooke and Craig Conover
Summer House is gearing up to film season 9 and they're kicking things off with a fresh feud. Not to mention tons of tension between Lindsay Hubbard and Carl Radke, but that's a story for another time (read: I'll be discussing their breakup with my therapist later this week.)
For now, we are here to discuss the drama between Kyle Cooke and Craig Conover, the latter of whom is technically a Southern Charm star but shows up on Summer House frequently due to his relationship with Paige DeSorbo.
You've probably noticed that Kyle and Craig are locked in some simmering tension, but if you remain vaguely confused about what's actually ~going on~, we've gathered all the information you could possibly need. Basically, it's a spritz-off.
Craig Invested in a Rival Spritz Company
'Kay, so as anyone with even a passing interest in Summer House is well aware, Kyle has a beverage brand called Loverboy that's consumed in almost every single episode. And he's known for working with his friends and costars! Example: this season there was an entire plot surrounding whether or not Carl would come on board to help launch Loverboy's non-alcoholic bev.
Meanwhile, Craig recently decided to invest in Ben Soffer (aka Boy With No Job), Claudia Oshry (aka Girl With No Job), and Jackie Oshry's brand, Spritz Society. This raised brows among fans since Loverboy and Spritz Society are technically rivals, but Craig told Page Six back in early May that he'd “have loved to invest” in Loverboy, it just “wasn’t an option.”
Then Kyle Called Craig Out on Watch What Happens Live
And he straight-up accused Craig of lying, saying, "He has a reputation of lying, and he lied to me."
Kyle Cooke says Craig Conover rubbed him the wrong way! #WWHL pic.twitter.com/nh9lQwLJzB
— Watch What Happens Live! (@BravoWWHL) May 24, 2024
"I think Craig had already signed the deal when he confronted me, and then he claimed that he didn’t know I have a spritz," Kylie added. "He thought I just have sparkling hard teas. And I’m like, 'Bro, we launched our spritz line a year and a half before this company.'"
Kyle also noted that "whenever someone says, 'Kyle, it’s just business,' that’s to basically justify something they did that was kind of wack."
Claudia Oshry Denied Kyle's Claim...and Dropped a New Bombshell
According to Claudia (who co-founded Spritz Society), Kyle is the one who lied. "I have all the facts. I have all the dates. I have all the timestamps. And I have the receipts," she said, going on to add, "I think that a really huge piece of the context that a lot of people might not have about Loverboy and the show—and they’ve said this on the show but you might not have put it together—is that Loverboy is Kyle’s company and he doesn’t take on investors."
More significantly, Claudia claimed that Craig told Kyle about his Spritz Society investment in advance: "Craig took Kyle out to dinner before the announcement—not the day before, like a week before it was going to be announced, maybe actually more than a week—and he said, 'I wanna let you know I’m doing this partnership with Ben and The Toast girls, but if you will let me invest in Loverboy, I won’t do it.'"
"Kyle knew he had first right of refusal and I feel like Craig, really, that’s what a good honest person does," she added. "So to be called a liar on the show and then completely not include that very vital conversation was dishonest. I don’t like you calling my friend a liar."
Kyle Then Denied ^^^ All of This
In a true battle of the podcasts, Kyle went on Trading Secrets and denied that Craig asked to invest in Loverboy first, saying, "Craig never expressed interest. He never once asked to invest in Loverboy." Instead, Kyle claimed Craig "sprung" the idea of his investment in Spritz Society.
"The next day, I texted him like, 'Hey man, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what you said about this opportunity you have and please hold off from signing anything. I’d love to put an offer on the table to kinda counter it,'" Kyle claimed, adding that "Craig essentially said it was too late and that was that."
Kyle also alleged that "Someone said Craig gave me the offer to reconsider, because I had not given him an opportunity to invest in Loverboy, which is not true. He just never asked. I would have loved for him to do exactly that."
Craig's Rep Issued a Comment About...How He Won't Comment
After all this, Craig's rep gave a statement to Page Six musing, "Craig is deeply disappointed and saddened by Kyle’s abrupt accusations. The truth only hurts one person in this instance, and it’s not Craig. Therefore, he will not comment further on this matter nor be drawn into an unprofessional arena."
The rep added that Craig is “focused on opening his new retail store in Nashville next week and growing his companies and team bigger and better" and said "Craig has learned to blame himself and not others for everything that happens in his life, including the success of his products and companies. He looks forward to continuing to share his life with everyone and thanks all his friends and supporters, whom he views as family.”
So 😬 What Happens This Summer?
Kyle told Jason Tartick of Trading Secrets, "I’m not gonna let this hopefully interfere with our friendship. I just wish the friendship was taken into a little more consideration, or maybe I have a different interpretation of our friendship."
Soooooo guess we'll see what happens? This has been SPRITZ GATE.
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