Craig Conover ‘made me uncomfortable’ with a spritz

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by Caroline Blair

Kyle Cook is upset about Craig Conover’s investment in Spritz Society, a rival to his canned cocktail company, Loverboy.

The “Summer House” star made the admission on Thursday’s “Watch What Happens Live” after host Andy Cohen asked if there had been a “feud” between him and the “Southern Charm” star over their rival business ventures.

“I don’t really hold any grudges because I think this has been exaggerated. I don’t think there was any investment and it seems like all the press is talking about me,” he began.

But Cook, 41, argued that Loverboy sells “five times” more product than Spritz, despite focusing primarily on carbonated hard teas.

“We’re not even a Spritz company. It’s more of a supplemental product. I wish him the best, but the way he handled it…it’s really unpleasant and I’m just trying to take the honorable path,” he added.

Cohen said Cook “was actually[ed] “He has a reputation for being a liar and he lied to me,” the reality TV star responded.

Cook continued to discuss the investment on the “WWHL” aftershow, alleging that Spritz Society founder Ben Soffer invited him to dinner just days before Conover, 36, announced the partnership but “didn’t mention” the deal and “milked” the information out of him.

“It was really shady management,” Cook continued. “Then Craig confronted me, I think he’d already signed the contract, and he claimed he didn’t know I did spritz. He thought I only did sparkling hard tea, and I was like, ‘Hey, we launched a spritz line a year and a half before this company did.'”

Cook went on to call the Spritz Society “copycats” and ended his speech by calling Conover’s behaviour “a bit odd”.

The next day, Soffer’s wife, Claudia Oshry, responded to Cook’s claims on her podcast, “The Toast,” slamming the Bravolebrity as a “loser” who “lied” on TV.

The influencer began by explaining that Conover approached her and Soffer about investing in Spritz Society after trying their drinks for the first time and “loved it” last summer.

“Nobody was thinking about Kyle. Nobody was thinking about Kyle and Loverboy. There are two things and they can both be successful and there are a million other canned cocktail companies besides us and they’re all bigger than us so it’s not a big deal. That never happened, but I think Craig wanted to get that across to Kyle in his own way,” she said.

Oshry recalls that Conover took Cook out to dinner to tell him about the investment “a week before” it was made public, but he also claims that Conover offered to invest in Loverboy if Cook would let him.

“He was really smart and wanted to invest in a ready-to-drink cocktail, and he said, ‘Look, I love the spritz, but if you don’t want me to make a spritz, then of course I’ll invest in you’… and [Cooke] “I said no,” she insisted.

“So Kyle knew she had first veto and I think that’s what a good, honest person would do. So to be called a liar on the show and then not include that very important conversation at all was disingenuous, Kyle, and I don’t like that,” the “Girl With No Job” author added.

Oshry also slammed Cook for claiming that Soffer had “milked” information from him during the dinner, saying “that’s far from the truth.”

“Ben didn’t try to milk me for information. They were very mature people. When he came back from dinner he said, ‘It was good to talk to someone who was doing the same thing,'” she recalled.

The content creator acknowledged that her husband did not tell Cook about Conover’s future role at the company, but added that she “was not aware that Ben owed Kyle Cook anything.”

“We’re not a big deal but we’re trying our best and we’ve had a lot of fun and exciting things and accomplished a lot of things that we’re really proud of and we’re going to keep going and we love it and it’s going really well so eat your ass off,” she raved.

In another episode of the podcast, Oshry criticized Cook for “not being able to really define what kind of company Loverboy is” and went so far as to claim that “they would sell their own urine in cans if they could.” She eventually admitted that her comments were “mean” and retracted them.

Oshry also claimed Cook had purchased products from Spritz Society in the past and had “receipts” to prove it, but said she had never tried Loverboy products.

“At the end of the day, there’s a place for us all. There’s no need to badmouth each other. Kyle and Craig are low-key and we’re not that close, but that’s not the point. But I didn’t like that,” she concluded.

For more reality TV updates, head to Page Six…

Earlier this month, Conover told Page Six in an exclusive interview that he’d “always” wanted to include an alcoholic beverage brand in his investment portfolio.

“[Spritz Society] “It’s wine-based, it’s really tasty and it’s really fun right now. It’s a fun summer drink,” he said.

The Sewing Down South owner said at the time that he’d “always respected Kyle’s work ethic” and that he now understands “why he had to work so hard.”

Conover also said he “had discussions with Kyle” prior to the announcement, saying, “We wanted to invest in Loverboy, but that wasn’t an option.”

“I have a lot of respect for them and I’ll always be a Loverboy fan,” he said, “but you know what? I’m in Charleston all the time and I’m doing another show and Spritz is going to be there.”