For the last few months, Sam Thompson – of Made In Chelsea and Celebs Go Dating fame – has been strangely absent from our TV screens.
Much to the disappointment of fans, last March, Sam said that his split from co-star Sophie Habboo (aka Habbs) was one of the reasons he was leaving MIC. In happier news, Sam went official with 2018 Love Island contestant Zara McDermott in June - which meant he didn't need to return for the current series of Celebs Go Dating, as he'd already found love without the help of agents Anna and Paul.
But now, with a new girlfriend by his side, Sam is ready to go back to E4 on Made In Chelsea - though his comeback is going to be far from smooth, because there’s a slight problem: his ‘brother’/’best friend’Jamie Laing is now dating his ex, Habbs.
‘It’s been pretty full-on,’ Sam tells Grazia. ‘I think that they’re going to make each other happy for a while.'
After Jamie's split from Heloise Agostinelli in April, it was reported the following month that Jamie and Habbs had started to get close - and that understandably Sam wasn't delighted about it.
'Maybe I take things too far emotionally, maybe I am wrong to be so hurt, but I’m still hurt for sure,' he said. 'I don’t think you should really do that to another friend.’
Unfortunately, any hopes of a friendship reconciliation between Jamie and Sam might be far in the future – as Sam says he’s still not talking to Jamie (who has just signed up to Strictly Come Dancing).
‘I screamed and shouted at him to be honest,’ he says. ‘Called him every name under the sun. And yeah, here we are now - still not talking.’
However, he doesn’t hold the same grudge towards Sophie, whom he assures us he has ‘nothing against’.
‘She doesn’t owe me anything,’ he said. ‘I’ve only really known her a year and a bit. I would have liked her to pick someone else - not my best mate - but hey, what can you do?’
Thankfully, one thing that did distract Sam from Habbs and Jamie was his own relationship with Zara.
‘She’s only added to my life and made me a better person,’ he says. ‘She is a 10/10 and that is hard to find.
‘I always said you never to go out with a 10/10, as you’re always sweating, you always have people sliding into their DMs and I don’t want to be sweating on a Monday or a Tuesday - she is a full blown 10/10 and I’m so lucky to be with her.’
With the pair both making their careers from popular reality shows, it's hardly surprising that they tuned into this year's Love Island, following Zara's appearance last year.
‘She forced me to watch the show,’ Sam admitted. 'I’m usually quite busy, and I only have time in the evening, and that is usually dedicated to Netflix. But she was like “You’re watching it” and I got really into it, for sure.’
Love Island aside, what did Sam's time on Celebs Go Dating teach him?
‘The agency are so good at what they do and I have learnt a lot through my relationship with Zara too,’ he said. ‘How to treat a lady, how to read signs if you’re doing something wrong and how to be a better person in general. On Celebs Go Dating it’s not just about dating, it’s about you as a human.'
Though we’ve missed Sam making us laugh on Celebs Go Dating, he’ll back on the King’s Road - with appearances from Zara - as soon as the season starts on Monday.
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