‘Southern Charm’ Season 5 Reunion: Why Is Thomas Ravenel Not Attending?

Courtesy of Bravo

The ‘Southern Charm’ season 5 reunion show will be going down without one of its main cast members. Why is Thomas Ravenel not going to be present during the special? Here’s what you need to know.

Part one of the Southern Charm season 5 reunion airs July 19 at 8 p.m. on Bravo. Cast members Kathryn Dennis, 25, Craig Conover, 29, Shep Rose, 37, Cameran Eubanks, 34, Chelsea Meissner, 33, Austen Kroll, 31, and Naomie Olindo, 25, will be sitting down with Andy Cohen to talk about the past season and the drama that unfolded. However, Thomas Ravenel, 55, another main cast member who had a prominent role on the show this past season, will not be present.

Back in June 2018, a rep revealed to Bravo that Thomas would not be attending the season 5 reunion. The reunion was filmed in June. His absence comes amid shocking sexual assault allegations against him. A month before the reunion was filmed, Thomas was accused of allegedly sexually assaulting his nanny while his young daughter, Kensington, now 4, slept nearby. Another woman, Debbie Hollaway Perkins, also came forward and accused of Thomas of sexually assaulting her after they met on Tinder in 2015. Police are currently investigating the allegations.

Thomas may not be attending the reunion, but his current girlfriend, Ashley Jacobs, will be showing up. Ashley has been at the center of most of the drama throughout season 5. In the season 5 finale, Ashley and Kathryn got into a nasty fight at Patricia Altschul’s winter ball, with Ashley calling Kathryn merely Thomas’s “egg donor.” Kathryn is the mother of Thomas’s two children: Kensington and Saint, 2. While Southern Charm hasn’t been officially renewed for season 6, it’s almost a sure thing. Would Thomas still be a cast member in a potential season 6? In June 2018, a source revealed to PEOPLE that “no decision” had been made regarding Thomas’s future as a cast member after rumors swirled that he had been fired after the shocking allegations.