Shep & Austen Talk Being ‘Anxious’ at Southern Charm Reunion

Credit: Clifton Prescod/Bravo

Taylor Ann Green was feeling confident and ready to clear the air going into filming on the Southern Charm season nine reunion following her controversial kiss with Austen Kroll.

Although Taylor, 28, has faced tons of heat for her encounter with Austen, 36, the ex-boyfriend of her former best friend, Olivia Flowers, 31, she didn’t express much fear as she prepared to come face-to-face with her castmates. Instead, it was her former boyfriend, Shep Rose, 43, who admitted to being “anxiety-ridden” ahead of the taping.

“I’m feeling confident, honestly — weirdly enough, feeling good and confident,” Taylor revealed to BravoTV.com. “[I’m] ready to clear the air.”

“We’re gonna be touching on everything, and I look forward to clearing up everything,” she continued, adding that she texted series friend Rodrigo Reyes before filming because “he was wondering if he should shave his mustache or not.”

As for Shep, he was texting Taylor before the taping.

“I want to make sure Taylor’s okay,” he explained. “That’s all I care about, is Taylor.”

According to Shep, he was flooded with anxiety leading up to the multi-hour taping not due to his own season nine story, but due to the drama faced by his castmates.

“I was strangely very anxiety-ridden considering my season wasn’t so bad,” he shared. “I feel anxiety for others that I care about, and anxiety over how and what I’m gonna say and what I need to say or want to say, because in the past things got lost, messages got lost with the wrong deliverance of said messages. And so I literally lay awake at night thinking about this day.”

“I want everyone to walk away and say, ‘Okay, that was fair,’ and ‘That was a lot of things that needed to be said,’” he added. “But I don’t know. This season, man.”

As she prepared for the taping, Olivia was texting with Madison LeCroy, 33, and “feeling good,” although she did have “the usual jitters.”

“I’m looking forward to getting this on with,” she noted.

Meanwhile, Austen was also anxious, but he was equally excited to move forward from the scandal of season nine.

“I’m feeling anxious — anxious in a good way,” he clarified. “I just honestly want to hash out and flesh out the things that need hashed out, and move the f*ck on … I think that there [are] a few obvious people that I’m not the best with, but there are some real friendships here and things need to be talked about … We’ll see.”

Speaking of his pre-filming chat with Austen, Craig Conover, 34, said he warned his friend of what was to come.

“I was at me and [Paige DeSorbo]’s apartment and I spoke to Austen, ’cause I was like, ‘Hey, whatever happens today, don’t take it too personally. Your life’s not ending, but there’s some stuff that you have to answer to,’” he revealed. “What’s really gonna happen is people are gonna say dumb sh*t, and I’m gonna correct them. I don’t have any agendas or motives or things to correct, but as they need correcting, I will do so.”

Leva Bonaparte, 44, and Venita Aspen, 30, who joined the show during its seventh and eighth seasons, respectively, were also feeling positive.

“I feel like I don’t have 17 targets on my back,” Leva noted.

“I’m feeling 100 times better than I was last year. I’m happy to not be in the thick of it,” Venita added.

Madison also spoke out, saying that she was “ready” and didn’t think “anybody [was] gonna cross [her] if they have a brain.”

As for the show friends, Rod Razavi said he felt “pretty good” going into filming, noting that he didn’t “have a lot to defend,” as Jarrett “JT” Thomas felt “a mix of nerves and excitement.”

Southern Charm season nine airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.