The men of Southern Charm are kicking off BravoCon 2025 in true Las Vegas fashion.
On Thursday, Nov. 13, PEOPLE spent the evening out on the town with Craig Conover, Shep Rose, Austen Kroll, Rodrigo Reyes and the show’s creator and executive producer, Whitney Sudler-Smith, as they kicked off the weekend with some gambling and drinks at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.
During the hang, which revolved around playing blackjack and ended with a steak dinner, the stars all shared their excitement about the three-day event, teasing what’s to come ahead of the season 11 premiere (airing Nov. 19) and of course, they did not missing the chance to poke fun at one another and their brotherly bond.
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“It’s fun, because look, 250 people, maybe, have ever done what we’ve done. Maybe 50 have done this as long as we’ve done [it]. And so we have this insane bond no matter what,” Conover, 36, tells PEOPLE of his decade-long run on TV as he sips a diet coke with a slice of lemon. “That we’ve shared our lives with America and 125 other countries around the world — it actually really is awesome. I think we’re all really excited for this weekend.”
In fact, he calls the fan convention “one of my favorite things in the world.”
Of course, being back in Las Vegas is something of a mixed bag for Rose, 45, whose last visit for the fan convention was a blacked-out blur. “I treated it like I was at a bachelor party last time I was here,” he tells PEOPLE. “I was on the plane, and then I got here, and I won’t name names, but another Bravo person said, ‘Let’s smoke a blunt.’ And I did. And I was off to the races.”
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“There is something wrong with that because I was a moron for four days straight,” Rose admits.
While he indulged in beers during the night out, he promises to be “a good little boy” this time around.
“Somebody said something, you can go to Vegas to work or to play. You can’t do both,” he laughs. “And as much as this doesn’t feel like work, it is work. And I want to be present and happy and engaging and all those things.”
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Still, Rose can guarantee this won’t be the only time he’s spotted at a blackjack table. Conover says he even has an insider tip on how to win: “Austen knows, because this happened to us last time we were here. Find someone that has never played craps and ask them to roll the dice. That’s it. That’s how you win.”
Kroll adds, “You don’t have to win money in Vegas to have a good time. But it makes it better.”
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The longtime costars are also excited to spend some time with Bravo’s leader this weekend, Andy Cohen.
“I mean, I love seeing Andy,” Rose says. “It’s funny, we’re on a text chain — me and Austin and Craig and Andy — and then we will separately text. I mean, I was in the Hamptons and Andy said, ‘Why don’t you come by?’ I was like, ‘I’m here.’ And I met his son and his daughter and hung out on the beach for a little.”
He continues, “People always ask me what he’s like. He is the most genuine guy. If you ask him any stupid question, which I try to keep to a very bare minimum, he gets right back to you. He’s like the most — I mean, he’s true bloom.”
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It’s a sentiment that Reyes, who joined Southern Charm last season, echoes. “I met Andy [at] my first BravoCon two years ago, and he was absolutely, he was so nice.”
“I was not anticipating how short Andy was going to be, but I was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t give a s—, come over here.’ And he was so nice and so receptive, and I was like — this is what I want. This is what I expect from the king. Humble to his servants.”
Conover, Kroll, Rose and Reyes will be back on Bravo later this month as season 11 of Southern Charm premieres, and Kroll teases that it’s a “pretty relatable” season, and one where he personally was “starting to question” some of the people and relationships in his life.
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“That’s it in a nutshell,” Kroll says. “At what point do you say, ‘All right, maybe we’re just not the same people that we used to be, and maybe we need to let each other grow separately.'”
Conover — who brought his parents along for the night on the town — even confesses he’s nervous for the cast panel, because the conflict is still ongoing.
“I don’t want to do our panel on Sunday at all, because, I mean, what are we supposed [to say]?” he explains. “We can’t talk about things that happened in the season, but all of our drama is based off that, and a lot of it’s unresolved.”
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“I’m really excited for the fans,” he adds before joking: “I might be leaving the country for a little bit, but man, is this season fun and flirty.”
Despite any tensions, there’s real love between the costars. “Honestly, Whitney, as much as he loves to give us crap, we wouldn’t be here without you,” Conover says to Sudler-Smith. “You ever consider that?”
“It’s incredible,” adds Sudler-Smith. “We’ve all become a tight-knit, close community of good friends. We hang out off-camera and we are good friends and I think it’s a testament to the strength and integrity of the show.”
Scroll to see more photos from the evening out in Vegas with the men from Southern Charm.
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Southern Charm season 11 premieres on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo. BravoCon 2025 continues through Sunday, Nov. 16 at Las Vegas’ Caesars Forum.
When Noella Bergener joined the Real Housewives of Orange County, she came in dripping in labels, private jets and big-ticket vacations.
On-screen, she loved a luxe moment, but off-screen, her finances have taken some wild twists since she put down her orange.
Now, new court documents have pulled back the curtain on what life looks like for Noella post-RHOC, including a seriously jaw-dropping monthly spend.
Noella only held her orange for one season, joining RHOC for season 16, which aired from December 2021 to April 2022.
A few months after the reunion wrapped, she confirmed that she would not be returning for season 17.
In a statement shared on Instagram in July 2022, she thanked Bravo and Andy Cohen for the opportunity and said that after a “wild season of ups and downs,” she would not be back, calling that year one of the hardest of her life and hinting at “brighter skies ahead,” per People.
At the same time, her personal life was imploding. She had filed for separation from husband James Bergener in 2021, after his law firm was hit with multi-million-dollar tax liens, and then moved toward divorce and a tense custody battle over their son, James Jr.
On top of that, earlier court filings show she told the court she was unemployed, had earned $46,000 from Bravo during her time on the show, and was claiming she had zero income and assets with monthly expenses of around $4,070, per Reality Blurb.
So by the time she exited RHOC in 2022, the glam housewife lifestyle viewers had seen was already colliding with some very real money stress behind the scenes.
Fast-forward about three years, and Noella’s financial picture has shifted again – and the numbers are a lot bigger.
In new court documents, cited by Us Weekly, Noella states she currently has no earned income and lists her occupation simply as “mother.”
According to those filings, she also hasn’t filed taxes since 2022 because that was the last year she had a paying job, which would line up with her RHOC season.
Despite that, she reports monthly bills totalling over $33,000?!
That is a whopping five-figure amount that most people would associate with a yearly salary, not one month of living expenses.
According to the filing, her expenses break down into the following:
“$16,000 on rent, $1,509 on health care costs, $1,500 on child care, $800 on eating out, $2,000 on utilities, $350 on her cell phone, $800 on laundry, $600 on clothing, $2,000 on education, $5,000 on entertainment and vacations, $500 on auto expenses and $800 on insurance.”
And yes, all of that adds up fast. In total, Noella’s monthly outgoings come to just over $33,000, which means her budget is basically operating at Real Housewife levels… minus the Bravo paycheck.
According to the same documents, she covers almost the entire amount through child support, $25,000 a month from ex-husband James for their son James Jr., plus another $7,400 from her daughter Coco’s father, leaving her with only a tiny margin between income and expenses.