Austen Kroll would rather be called a drunk than a cheapskate.

“This is something I definitely tried to clear up with [ex-girlfriend] Chelsea [Meissner], and I was like, please, tell me, I wish you would have said that I had like a drinking problem rather than I’m cheap,” the “Southern Charm” star told Page Six on Wednesday.

Addressing the ill-fated romance, Kroll, 32, said he was taken aback by his co-star’s remarks, as Meissner had picked up the tab during their time together.

“We go out casually, the check comes and she snatches it, and it’s like a $45 check, then please, by all means. When that $400 check comes I will gladly take it,” Kroll said. “At that point in my life, I didn’t have a job, and I thought she was being a cool girlfriend, and then I find out that she has all of these problems with it. I just wish she would have said something to me.”

Though Kroll is tangled between Meissner and gal pal Victoria on the show’s current season, he doubts former lady loves would call him frugal.

“I don’t think that any of my girlfriends that I’ve ever had would ever call me cheap,” he said.

“Southern Charm” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo.