Shai Fruchter is just a man trying his best on this season of Next Gen NYC. With his pal, Riley Burruss, away dealing with her own issues, Fruchter has been left to figure out how to navigate the group dynamics by himself. His first mistake? Giving Hudson McLeroy the heads up that new cast member Liam Obergfoll had eyes for his ex-girlfriend, Ariana Biermann. Biermann and her friends were naturally upset that Fruchter was sharing her business with McLeroy. “I was trying to be kind,” explained Fruchter. “I regret upsetting Ariana, but I don’t regret trying to help my friend out.”

Fruchter also found himself on the outs with Brooks Marks. When Fruchter tried to enlist Marks’ help on a photoshoot for his upcycled vintage clothing line, About Time, Marks gave him the runaround until Fruchter finally got him on the phone. “I feel that Brooks and I just speak completely different languages,” said Fruchter. “It was really difficult for him to air out the grievances that he had with me.” Luckily, the two are in a good place now, but Fruchter admits their rift was “frustrating” at the time.

Despite being at odds with the group coming into BravoCon, Fruchter still managed to have a good time in Las Vegas thanks to Ava Dash. After the cast won the Rookie of the Year award at the Bravos, they all went out to celebrate. Once the festivities were over, Fruchter ended up in Dash’s room and then foolishly told his friend Charlie Zakkour about it. Of course, Zakkour immediately shared this information with the group. Fruchter admits that he “should have known better” than to confide in Zakkour. “He is a homie, but that dude can gossip,” said Fruchter simply.

Fruchter stopped by the Decider studio to talk about the season so far, share his confusion over Gia Giudice’s animosity towards him, look back on BravoCon, and more.

DECIDER: Shai, I felt that you were really in over your head with this friend group this season. Do you feel the same? Did Riley’s comment that these people are your “acquaintances,” not your friends, eventually sink in?

SHAI FRUCHTER: Looking back, I’m thankful that Riley gave me a heads up about where I stood with the group. In the moment, I was a little bit confused and a little frustrated with her. Riley can be very blunt—and oftentimes it’s a really good thing—but sometimes it’s a little frustrating. It’s clear to me now that she was just looking out for me.

We haven’t seen much of your friendship with Hudson, but did you two bond over your love of fashion?

We’re at the opposite ends of the fashion spectrum. So, that’s not something we bonded over. We do have a bunch of other stuff in common, like music, which we connected over.

How is your upcycled vintage clothing line, About Time, doing now?

It’s going great, honestly. I’m very thankful for the support that I’ve received from the show. A lot of people have reached out in many different ways. Many have sent me their personal materials and fabrics to use to make clothes specifically for them. One person’s grandmother recently passed, and they had curtains of hers they wanted made into something they could wear. I’m going to start doing custom pieces for people using their own meaningful fabrics, so I’m excited about that.

Have you gotten to dress any of your Next Gen NYC cast members?

Not just yet. Though we do have a little photo shoot at some point in the season that everyone will get to see. I’m excited to hopefully dress more of them in the future.

Good. I’m glad everyone cleared it with their modeling agents.

Oh, 100%. Yeah, I had to pay a lot of agency fees [laughs]. It’s ridiculous.

Looking back, do you regret being so loyal to Hudson?

No, I don’t regret that. I was trying to be kind. I regret upsetting Ariana, but I don’t regret trying to help out my friend.

Who are you closer to these days and why: Hudson or Ariana?

I’m definitely closer to Ariana, but I still keep in contact with Hudson. I think he’s a good guy.

I didn’t expect you and Brooks to have a beef this season!

Neither did I!

How did things spiral so out of control between you two?

No clue. I feel that Brooks and I just speak completely different languages. We both have a really tough time communicating. It was really difficult for him to air out the grievances that he had with me. He let his feelings fester, and his anger towards me came out in really odd ways. That’s not how I typically communicate with people. It was really frustrating. I did reach out to him several times. I was there to listen. I wanted to hear Brooks’ perspective, but it was definitely difficult to understand exactly what was going on there.

At one point, Brooks brought up an off-handed comment you made about Ariana being cute. Did you ever have any romantic thoughts about her?

She’s a really cool girl, but I didn’t have any romantic thoughts about Ariana. It’s a fact that she’s very pretty. But like I said on the show, so is Brooks [laughs]. He’s a pretty man. My comment was more of an observation than a thought I would actually act on.

I’m still a little confused about Gia’s issue with you.

It’s confusing for me too.

Do you have a better understanding of why she was feeling a certain way about you?

It was honestly tough to watch it all back. She called me a “bitch” without ever trying to get to know me. There was no reason to have these hostile conversations about me. I really took the time to try to get to know Gia. I have nothing bad to say about her, so I was shocked she was talking smack about me. She really never gave me a chance, and that’s what frustrates me the most.

How was that flight to BravoCon with her? Did you feel like she initially was hearing you about your Brooks issue?

She sat one row behind me. When I talked to her about Brooks, I was genuinely asking for advice. She took it as me gossiping. That misunderstanding gave me insight into how Gia works. It was hard to watch my good intentions get twisted like that.

That first dinner in Vegas was intense! Did you expect that Georgia McCann and everyone else would air out their beef with Charlie that night?

If you’re sitting down at a dinner with George and Charlie, you should expect there to be the airing out of some sort of beef [laughs]. Once they get going, set a 30-minute timer so you can zone out, and clock back in for dessert. Anytime the whole group sits down for dinner, there’s gonna be some sort of confrontation.

It sounds like you and Ava almost shared a moment in Vegas. What do you remember about the hotel room? Do you remember asking her if you could kiss her?

I’m never gonna live that down. Everyone was making fun of me for asking her if I could kiss her. I was taught that if you’re drunk in a hotel room with a girl, you have to ask her if you can kiss her. And I didn’t kiss her! We did have a fun time that night. We got a lot closer after that Vegas trip, which was cool.

Do you regret telling Charlie about going to Ava’s hotel room?

I should have known better. Charlie is always gonna run his mouth a little bit. He’s a close friend of mine. He is a homie, but that dude can gossip.

He brought up your and Ava’s late night at the dinner after your BravoCon panel. Were you surprised to hear her side of events?

I was super surprised. I completely misread the situation that night. However, you’ll see later on in the season that maybe I didn’t completely misread it. I was just mostly upset with Charlie’s spilling the beans. I felt like there was a dogpile on me afterwards.

Well, it was clear that Brooks listened to your comment about him being the one to learn from Riley because he was very confrontational with you at that dinner following BravoCon! Do you feel like you arrived at any resolution that night?

Absolutely not. We had no resolution on that trip. What gets me is that I gave such a great response on the panel [laughs]. They asked me: “Who on this panel can learn from Riley’s directness?” Brooks has been talking for a while about how he’s not direct enough. So, to me, he was the perfect answer. Of course, he didn’t see it that way, and it all backfired on me so badly. I wasn’t expecting it, but I’m glad he took my advice [laughs].

What can you tease about the rest of the season?

Many issues are resolved, which is nice. I do think that there will be some twists people won’t see coming. I can also say that the conversation about what happened between me and Ava in Vegas isn’t over yet.