'Southern Charm's 10 Wildest Moments, Ranked

Southern Charm hit the ten-year mark on Bravo in 2024, so there is no better time to look back on what the Charleston crew have been up to over the last decade. The series has always distinguished itself from much of the usual fare on the reality TV network by prominently prioritizing the male point-of-view within this friend-group down South. Just as most of The Real Housewives series tend to center on the friend-group of one particular upper-crust lady in each city, Southern Charm centers on the friendships of series executive producer Whitney Sudler-Smith, son of storied American socialite, Patricia Altschul. Whitney hangs with a younger crowd on the series, and brings an avuncular energy while socializing with bachelors Shep Rose and Craig Conover. Whitney encourages his young co-stars as they Peter-Pan their way through adulthood in Charleston, while mostly remaining outside the mess himself.

Patricia oversees the antics of the younger generation of Charleston's party people, keeping her observant eyes open for tender bits of gossip to be salaciously dropped at the most effective moment. For much of the early seasons, the ladies on the scene either played the role of exasperated older sister, like Cameran Eubanks, or failed romantic interest, like Chelsea Meissner. But once Madison LeCroy stormed her way into the group, the dynamics shifted, and suddenly the narrative wasn't so easily controlled by the boys and Ms. Pat. The heat down south tends to bring out the wild side of even the most demure individuals, so capturing the drama of young adulthood while throwing social media and reality TV fame into the mix has led to some truly wild moments on the series over the years. Here are the top 10 wildest moments of Southern Charm, ranked.

10Landon's Feud With Kathryn

(Seasons 2–4)

Landon Clements joined the Southern Charm cast in Season 2, returning to Charleston from California following her divorce. Shep and Landon met in college, and he joked in his confessionals about having a crush on her in his younger days. Landon's first scene was a car ride with Shep on the way to the second christening for Kathryn Dennis and Thomas Ravenel's newborn daughter, with the pair gossiping about their friends' chaotic relationship. At the end of the season, Thomas threw an election night party for his unsuccessful bid for a seat in the senate, and Landon felt entitled to tell Kathryn that it was "a little bit conceited" for her to make the evening about herself, further stating in a confessional that her adversary had "no class." Kathryn's temper flared, and she told Landon with a few choice words to leave Thomas' party.

The ladies made nice at the Season 2 reunion, but the next season saw them back at odds. Kathryn claimed she heard around town that Landon "propositioned" Thomas when she joined him on a trip to London. Landon asserted the trip had been platonic, but her actions throughout the season seemed to betray an ulterior motive for inserting herself into their relationship. Later in the season, Ms. Patricia slyly suggested that Landon should try to "reform" Thomas, and the young socialite wasn't adverse to the idea except for the fact that marrying Thomas would mean she would have to co-parent with Kathryn.

The barrage of insults Landon leveled at Kathryn continued, as she called her nemesis both crazy and evil, while both attended the Season 3 finale Founder's Ball. The ladies' feud spilled onto the front steps of the event, where they squared off in a memorably chilling exchange of words. Things then went low at the reunion when Landon brought up Kathryn's alleged sobriety issues, and then continued to pursue Thomas romantically amid the ex-couple's contentious custody battle. In Season 4, Landon continued her campaign against Kathryn, mocking her for going to rehab in Malibu and taking Thomas' side in the custody dispute. After having fervently denied a physical connection with Thomas in the Season 3 reunion, it was wild to see Landon turn around and openly pursue him in Season 4, however briefly. Thomas and Kathryn's twisted relationship pulled everyone in the group into its vortex at some point, but the feud between Kathryn and Landon was one of the wildest things to come out of everyone's favorite Bravo show.

9Craig Kicked Leva Out of His Winter Wonderland Party

(Season 8)

One of the wildest moments of Season 8 was Craig losing his cool when he kicked Charleston's favorite maven Leva Bonaparte out of his Sewing Down South Winter Wonderland party. Leva was initially perturbed because Craig had refused to create a seating chart for the event, leaving her and Craig's ex-girlfriend Naomie Olindo without seats at the main table with the rest of the Southern Charm cast. When talk turned to business and Craig gushed about his creativity, Leva was quick to wryly observe, "ideas are the easy part, you know that, right?"

Craig's then-girlfriend, Paige DeSorbo, was in her mob wife era in Season 8, and was alert to any of the Southern charmers stirring up unnecessary drama at her man's event. Paige signaled to Craig when she spotted Leva chatting with his business partners, fishing for dirt on how little she suspected Craig was involved in "his" sewing business day to day. Leva helps to run her husband's restaurant empire à la Lisa Vanderpump from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, so it struck a chord with Craig when she claimed she wanted to speak to the people who actually run his pillow business. Craig repeatedly told Leva to "go home" as she confidently strode out of the event, pointing at her heels and saying sarcastically "Do you want me to run?" The iconic finale to the Winter Wonderland party was a wild moment to bring the season to a dramatic close.

8Ashley's Meltdown at Hilton Head

(Season 5)

Kathryn was the definition of "long-suffering" when it came to the women that her ex-partner and co-parent brought into her life. In Season 5, Southern Charm viewers were introduced to Thomas' latest girlfriend/reality TV hopeful, Ashley Jacobs. Kathryn was busy planning her son's birthday party, and Ashley found it intolerable that she might not be considered for the guest list. When the group traveled to Hilton Head for a getaway, Ashley decided to take matters into her own hands and confront Kathryn about not receiving an invitation.

Kathryn was much more even-tempered in this exchange than viewers had reason to expect, given her fiery-tempered flare-ups in past seasons. But Kathryn quietly insisted that she had every right not to invite her ex-boyfriend's girlfriend to her child's event, which somehow wound Ashley up even more. The new-girlfriend took a low blow by insisting that she felt she saw Kathryn's children more than she did. Every woman at the table cringed and immediately chided Ashley for bringing up Kathryn's children in this way, especially considering how painful the custody arrangement that Thomas' lawyers had arranged for him was for the young mother. Everyone at the table turned on Ashley, noting she had gone several steps too far, until she dramatically stormed away from the bonfire, ranting at Thomas in the parking lot while the rest of the cast rallied around Kathryn.

7"Maybe I love you."

(Season 3)

Besides her crazy feud with Kathryn, Landon had some truly wild moments in her time on the series. Living on a boat named "Miss Adventure" after her tumultuous divorce? Wild. Flying to New York to pitch the head of Vox Media on her "arts and travel" website idea without having a mock-up or a coherent elevator pitch prepared? Wild. But Landon's wildest moment on the series came with a sudden emotional confession that caught an old friend totally off-guard.

Shep and Landon presented themselves as each other's "one that got away," but on the series, Landon's romantic attention seemed torn between her so-called best-friend Shep and Kathryn's on-again-off-again baby daddy, Thomas. So, it was wild to see Landon suddenly batting her doe-like eyes and confessing to Shep that she thought she might love him. The confirmed bachelor and party-boy seemed entirely taken aback, and Landon's usually composed friend became oddly flustered in the face of this sudden and unwanted overture. Shep always had an excellent radar for the disingenuous intentions he suspected several ladies of having when it came to his bachelor friends, and in this case, his Peter-Pan syndrome served him well, as he was able to dodge a messy triangle between himself, Thomas, and Landon.

6Craig Tried to Control the Paige Narrative

(Season 10)

Craig and Paige met when he visited the set of Summer House in 2019, and though the pair were each in separate relationships at the time, their friendship continued to form as they filmed the now paused spin-off series, Winter House. Their three-year relationship spanned the course of several seasons of three separate Bravo series, and now that the relationship has come to its inevitable conclusion, fans are eagerly watching the narrative play out in the current seasons of each star's respective reality show. Paige announced on her Giggly Squad podcast that the pair had mutual respect for one another amid the break-up, but when rumors that Paige had already moved on with another man began to overtake the internet, Craig's best-friend and Southern Charm co-star Austen Kroll got messy on Watch What Happens Live by seemingly confirming that he knew Paige had cheated without providing any evidence.

It is now obvious that by the summer of 2024, the cracks in Paige and Craig's long-distance relationship had grown too broad to repair. In the scene in Season 10 when Craig took Paige to a farm for an afternoon date, she seemed unprepared for him to bring up the status of their relationship on camera yet again. Paige stood firm that she wanted the same opportunity that Craig had at her age, to capitalize on the platform of reality TV and use the momentum to build an independent business. Paige told Craig once again that she didn't appreciate the continued pressure to get married and have children before she was ready.

Breaking down, Paige confessed that if the way she expressed love wasn't enough for Craig, that was his problem. Paige had obviously grown tired of Craig's constant need for her to proclaim on camera that she wanted these life milestones in the near future, when she was busy building her own Giggly empire and thought she had made herself sufficiently clear on multiple occasions in the past that her timeline was her own. This attempt by Craig to orchestrate a conversation where he once again pressured Paige to commit to him on camera seemed like an obvious pre-cursor to the break-up that followed later that year.

5Austen "Cheated" and a Star Was Born

(Season 6)

Madison was among the Southern Charm crew before she was ever in front of the camera, as she had several friends in the cast, and one patroness who knew a star when she saw one. Ms. Patricia had plenty of time to get to know Madison as her hairstylist, and she invited her around for filmed events, which enabled her to be tested on camera with the rest of the cast. Madison then stormed onto Southern Charm Season 6, clapping her hands and shouting at Austen in hidden-camera footage that showed her catching him "cheating" on her with two other women. Austen has claimed that the boundaries in their relationship had not been defined yet, but this altercation set the tone for their relationship moving forward, where he could never do anything right, as Madison continued to demand that he should treat her as she was worth. Madison's no-nonsense attitude and firecracker personality lit up the screen, and viewers immediately fell in love with the wild and wonderful southern single-mom.

Now in her Martha Stewart era, Madison's attentions have turned to her home life with new husband, California firefighter Brett Randle. The couple have been parenting Madison's son from a previous relationship since they married in 2022, and now the family is expanding as the beautiful pair are expecting their first child together as well. Brett also appeared on Season 10 of Southern Charm, stunningly sharing his health journey as he underwent treatment for thyroid cancer. Madison is known for her strength and independence, but her allowing herself to share her more vulnerable side in her relationship with Brett has solidified her status as reality royalty, as these authentic moments with her family show yet another facet to her already sparkling personality.

4"What's Wrong With My Sewing?"

(Season 5)

The fight that spawned a pillow empire, this iconic moment in Southern Charm history, was truly wild when it first aired in 2018. It was clear that after Craig lost his focus on law school after joining the series, Naomie became concerned about their future as a couple. Naomie's drive was always a conflict in her relationship with Craig, who was always in pursuit of several creative outlets at once, but lacked focus in any one clear direction. When Naomie began to mock her boyfriend's recent interest in sewing, it was the last straw for Craig, who ended the relationship.

When the two exes saw one another at Patricia's baby shower for Cameran, they attempted to have an honest conversation about their past. The chat quickly turned to bickering about Craig's lack of follow-through, which caused Naomie to usher in the devastating observation: "You sit home, and you sew, and you pretend to do things." Rather than getting heated at the accusation that he was pretending to achieve things, Craig blithely responded, "What's wrong with my sewing?" The scene launched an iconic career, as Craig's pillow and home goods business Sewing Down South has gone on to be a wild success with the help of loyal Bravo fans, enough for Craig to start thinking of himself as the number one guy on the network.

3Shep's Good-Guy Mask Slipped

(Season 8)

Shep has always skated by on his height and his charisma, but there have been several instances on Southern Charm where Shep losing his temper exposed a darker side to his personality. One time Shep's good-guy mask slipped was during a cast trip, when the friends got together to play a friendly round of egg toss, which turned unexpectedly ugly. When Shep's girlfriend, Taylor Ann Green, saw that her man's egg had fallen on the ground after a failed catch, she playfully stomped on the egg to assure he was disqualified. Rather than take the loss of the egg in stride, Shep immediately began to berate Taylor loudly in front of the group, calling her a "f***ing idiot" and throwing an egg aggressively at Taylor's friend Olivia Flowers for defending her.

This outburst led to Austen stating in a confessional interview that he was sad to admit that he had seen this type of behavior from Shep in the past, and that Taylor shouldn't put up with it. Shep began ranting about the "wussification of America," while the rest of the cast admitted in confessionals that they had seen Shep lose his temper like this before. The amount of convincing it took to get Shep to approach Taylor with an apology spoke to the difficulty he had swallowing his pride and accepting he was in the wrong. Shep even admitted to his mother in a scene in Season 5 that he was working on his anger issues, which Taylor brought up at the Season 8 reunion after the couple's break-up. Shep seemed deeply hurt that Taylor would bring up the way he treats his parents to prove a point about their break-up, while Taylor was left having finally said her truth about the relationship, that she and everyone in Shep's life deserved better from him.

2Taylor Ann Betrayed Olivia

(Season 9)

One of the wildest things to happen in the history of Southern Charm was Taylor's betrayal of Olivia's friendship in Season 9. In the wake of her break-up with Shep, Taylor seemingly spiraled, and made the mistake of hooking up with Austen, despite knowing how much her friend Olivia was still infatuated with him. Then, to make matters worse, Taylor lied about it to Olivia repeatedly, only to have Austen later confirm their hook-up with the group. Olivia's raw and authentic hurt was made worse by the devastating family situation that came up for her during filming that season.

Olivia lost her brother to addiction while filming Season 9, and instead of being able to rally around her friend, Taylor was causing additional pain with her half-apologies throughout the season. It appeared like Taylor failed to see how betrayed Olivia felt by her lies, and kept insisting that she hadn't done anything wrong with Austen, technically, since they were both single. The absolute wildest thing about the whole situation was when Taylor attempted to force Olivia to accept her apology in front of the group in Jamaica, insisting that Olivia should "take it or leave it." Trying to make a point about how close she felt to Austen, Taylor deliberately brought up the death of Olivia's brother in a self-serving way, which was the breaking point for Olivia.

Olivia resolved to maintain distance in the friendship after this shocking scene, which was clearly still the case at the Season 9 reunion. This was clearly the correct decision for her, considering Taylor betrayed Olivia a final time at the reunion by confirming the rumor Madison had brought up at the Season 8 reunion about Olivia having hooked-up with Thomas in the past. Olivia finally admitted she had lied about the moment because she had regretted it had ever happened, noting it was something she had intended to take to her grave and thanking her one-time friend for bringing up the embarrassing secret. No wonder Olivia chose not to return to the series after Season 9.

1Thomas Ravenel

(Seasons 1–5)

There truly wasn't anything that happened in Southern Charm that is more wild than the fact that Thomas was ever cast in the first place. The one-time state treasurer who had been convicted on drug charges during his time in office was unrepentant about his past behavior, while wildly maintaining an ambition to return to his life in politics. The way Thomas was enabled by the entire cast, who were significantly younger than him, and by Charleston society at large, was a wild experience for Bravo viewers when they first got a glimpse of the way things work for old-money families down south.

While he is representative of the wealthy old-guard of elite families in Charleston, his complete lack of self-control when intoxicated was similar to the glimpse that viewers saw when Shep allowed his good-guy mask to fall. Thomas' relationship with twenty-one-year-old Kathryn was remarkably inappropriate in the first place. The way Thomas' continued to flaunt his bad behavior on the series while having his lawyers punish Kathryn for every indiscretion the young mother made was truly wild. It seems that Thomas is still up to his same old tricks down in Charleston, having recently announced yet another political run, this time for the position of Governor of South Carolina, before swiftly retracting the idea the following day, citing the needs of his family. Of all the wild times shared in Southern Charm, the mere fact that Thomas was cast in the first place will forever remain the wildest of them all.