Last night, I finished the latest episode of Made in Chelsea decidedly uncomfortable. Within two episodes of newcomer Inga Valentiner being introduced to the show as the beautiful, carefree artist everyone’s attracted to, she has already been used as a trophy between two warring friends, slut-shamed and told, by the resident ‘gentleman’ Julies Cowdrey, that she’s actually not the ’10 out of 10’ he thought she was.
It was a whirlwind introduction to the scripted reality show that left me wondering whether Inga regretted joining the show. She’s previously told Grazia that filming ‘was definitely an emotional roller coaster’ – but luckily for Inga, viewers seem to be very much on her side.
We say luckily because it could’ve gone either way. Immediately upon joining the show, it was revealed she has ‘history’ with both Julius and Miles Nazaire – who have become fast friends on the show. Inga had met Julius in Bali two years prior and they’d shared a kiss on the beach. Julius couldn’t stop going on about their connection, how romantic it was and how the make-out session lasted ‘for three hours’. They hadn’t spoken since though.
Miles, however, had met Inga online – also two years ago – and the pair had been messaging before she arrived. They had an immediate flirtation and after the first raucous night in the stately home they’re all bubbling in, they slept together. Cue dramatics.
Julius was disappointed but revealed to the rest of the cast Inga had told him the next morning that she was still ‘keeping her options open’. So, he should be happy, right? Wrong – according to Julius, Miles and Inga spending one night together meant his friend now had an immediate claim on her.
Inga, despite being single, was chastised by Julius in front of everyone – with Miles jumping in to accuse her of ‘not being honest’, conveniently forgetting that she had told him literally moments earlier that she didn’t want things to get ‘too intense’ between them too quickly, just because they’d slept together.
Any woman watching could see what was going on, could practically hear the thoughts swirling in Inga’s head. While he didn’t outright say it, the subtle undertone of Julius’ annoyance with Inga was not just that she was clearly more attracted to his friend, but that she should be ashamed for entertaining more than one man at a time.
Clearly, it was all about the sex, he simply couldn’t fathom that a woman can have sex with a man without being so emotionally involved she must avoid all other men at all costs. Inga was no longer the sweet and carefree Bali-cool girl he’d met two years ago, her sexual agency cost her that reputation in his mind. The image he had created for her was gone, and she apparently no longer deserved the respect he so graciously treated her with when he felt they had ‘a connection’.
The most ironic thing about all of this is that in that very same conversation, Julius was dubbed ‘admirable’, ‘honourable’ and a ‘gentleman’ for telling Miles Inga was also open to get to know him. Despite the fact he was embarrassing her in front of a room full of relative strangers, despite the fact he later went on to tell her, to her face, that he didn’t think she was as attractive as he had previously said.
That was the scene that pushed viewers over the edge. Inga told cast mates she couldn’t understand why Julius had reacted with such venom to her keeping her options open, when the very same day he had told her 'I really want a girl that looks like you, you're hot, you're a 10'. When confronting him, Julius denied ever saying it, claiming he couldn't have said it because he actually doesn't think Inga is 'a 10' at all. Inga is, in fact, a 10 (as we all are, tbh).
His entire reaction could’ve been written for a scene from Promising Young Woman. Here comes the ‘nice guy’, the ‘gentleman’, who as soon as he’s rejected turns on the woman he spent days openly lusting for. Attacking her looks, implying she’s conceited, nice guys aren’t so nice when a woman is unapologetically confident and free in her sexual choices.
The sad part is Inga has been labelled – by some of the cast – as some kind of gameplayer with all of these so-called ‘red flags’. In actual fact, the biggest red flag of all should be Julius’s reaction to what is fast becoming a series high for most rejections in a row.
Thankfully, as we said, the fans can see right through it – as evidenced by the sheer number of tweets calling out Julius and his ‘small d*ck energy’. But this isn’t about attacking Julius, it’s about validating Inga. As a newcomer not just to the show but reality TV fame, she shouldn’t be made to feel embarrassed or less beautiful because of the actions of a few series regulars that are easily threatened by women.
Keep doing you Inga, we’re one degrading remark away from buying your entire art collection just to piss off the patriarchy.
Read More:
Made In Chelsea's Miles Nazaire: 'It's Sometimes Very Hard To Focus On The Person You're With'
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