Southern Charm’s Austen Kroll Says He Still Has 'Some Bad Blood' With Costar JT Thomas: 'Trying My Hardest' (Exclusive)

• Jarrett “JT” Thomas and Austen Kroll came face to face at the film’s premiere on December 5th Southern charm season 10 after the ex tried to perform a “fucking exorcism” on the founder of Trop Hop Beer during the season 9 reunion
• Kroll tells PEOPLE he expected it to be “horrible, horrible, horrible” when he reunited with Thomas
• In the meantime, Thomas decided to quit his job Southern charm and has not completed his filming duties for season 10

Jarrett “JT” Thomas was tough on Austen Kroll in the Southern charm season 9. The two got into a physical fight in the finale, and then Thomas, 39, tried to perform a “f*cking exorcism” on Kroll, 37, during the reunion.

So when Season 10 started again on Thursday, Dec. 5, Kroll found himself trying to “be the bigger man — literally and metaphorically,” he tells PEOPLE. “If you have to be around him, you’re old enough to know it’s going to be horrible, horrible, horrible. Every time you see him, you just don’t want to punch him in the face. In the beginning, I try my best to fight them [tendencies].”

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When the group reunites at the Carolina Cup horse races in South Carolina in the Season 10 premiere, “I’m trying to figure out on the fly what I’m going to do? How am I going to be around that person?” Kroll, who was in a relationship with Audrey Pratt for 11 months, says of Thomas. So that’s where my head is.”

Thomas, who has since resigned from the show, tried to ease his comeback by handing out canes to his friends at a horse race because he needed one to walk after an ATV accident in Costa Rica.

“After my near-death experience, I thought about you,” Thomas told Kroll at the Dec. 5 premiere. “I think I was a little hard on you during the exorcism. I’m so happy for you that you got a girlfriend. So I have something for you.”

The cast of ‘Southern Charm’ season 10 (clockwise from top left) Ryan Albert, Salley Carson, Madison LeCroy, Rodrigo Reyes, Austen Kroll, Venita Aspen, Molly O’Connell, Leva Bonaparte, Jarret “JT” Thomas, Craig Conover, Shep Rose and Taylor Ann Green.

Michelle Watt/Bravo

As Thomas handed the stick to Kroll, the founder of Trop Hop Beer asked Thomas if he planned to beat him with it.

“I’m not arguing with you,” Thomas said. “This is your staff because you have turned over a new leaf.”

Kroll believes that Thomas was “clearly trying to be something that you’re not.”

Even Patricia Altschul didn’t appreciate the gesture. “I’m honestly offended,” the 83-year-old told the cameras at the Dec. 5 premiere. “What’s next, a wheelchair? I don’t know what the hell he was thinking. It was a bit of a stupid gift in my estimation.”

Kroll admits that “there’s still bad blood on my end” between him and Thomas. “You can’t just slander someone with horrible and horrible things for as long as he did at the reunion and then expect everything to be cool,” he says.

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Since Thomas has decided to retire from the series, he does not plan to reflect on Season 10 at the end-of-season reunion.

“There are three safeties in the Bravo universe: there’s death, there’s taxes, and there’s your freaking reunion,” Kroll says. “You go to your gathering, you face the music; hopefully you can deal with it in a good enough way that you can clean it all up and move on. It’s very obvious to me that he doesn’t want to face the music for all the things that you’re going to see in this upcoming season.”

On the Dec. 5 episode, Kroll also sat down with Craig Conover and Shep Rose after he and Conover, 35, ended their friendship with the reality star over Rose’s binge drinking at BravoCon 2023.

“If anyone can provide help, guidance, support or sharp correction, it’s us, right? And you guys didn’t do any of that,” Rose told Conover and Kroll at the premiere. “And that hurt more than you’ll ever know.”

‘Southern Charm’ stars (from left) Austen Kroll, Craig Conover and Shep Rose.

Alan Smith/Bravo

Although Conover said he didn’t want to be “associated with Shep’s unhealthy behavior,” Kroll didn’t want to set such a hard line.

“I always feel like I’m caught in the middle with those two,” Kroll says. “I’ve always said that Craig is on the far left here and Shep is on the far right — not politically speaking — and I’m somewhere in the middle. It’s easier for Craig to turn people off than it is for me. It’s weighing me down a lot. Right now, Craig is really mad at Shep for being Shep, but we all know who Shep is. We’re like, ‘Hey man, it’s time to enter a new era.'”

Rose attended an Ayahuasca retreat in Costa Rica earlier this year, and on the December 5 episode, Rose told Kroll that he had a vision of Kroll’s late sister while on the trip.

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Today, Kroll describes his friendship with Rose as “great.”

“I’m definitely glad where we ended up and where Shep had the space to have these opening conversations together—conversations that I’ve wanted to have for years, but maybe I’ve been waiting for the right moment to do it,” Kroll says. “What you see is that it’s like a brotherly relationship at the end of the day. My sister pisses me off more than anyone in my life, but I will always love her more than anyone. And that’s how I feel about Craig and Shep. We’re all trying to grow and figure out how we can all continue to fit into the lives of others.”

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Southern charm airs Thursdays at 9pm ET on Bravo.

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Source: HIS Education