Made In Chelsea series 27 was not short of drama, especially heightened on that trip to Mauritius. Although the hit reality show has been a fixture in our lives for over a decade now, with a 28th series on the way, many viewers still have some burning questions - with a big ones being 'Is Made In Chelsea scripted?' and 'Is Made in Chelsea real?' Whilst this will never be officially confirmed, some ex-cast members have spilled the tea when it comes to just how real the drama is.
Is Made In Chelsea scripted?
To get all the answers, Grazia spoke to ex-cast member Francesca 'Cheska' Hull. Francesca is no longer the Cheska you knew on the first few seasons of Made in Chelsea. The PR party girl has swapped sipping champagne in the bougie watering holes of SW3 to become a wellie-wearing mum in Devon. She's honestly living the life.
If you've ever wondered how a relatively small group of attractive people can have so many over the top relationship dramas in such a small space of time, it's because a large amount has been cleverly planned by the people behind-the-scenes. Not scripted, exactly - but the cast members were apparently all aware of what was expected on camera.
'You knew the conversations you had to have', Cheska revealed. She explained that producers would purposely research and meddle in the cast members' relationships to create what's described as 'constructed reality.'
‘The producers spoke to us on the phone for hours every week. They’d come on nights out with us. They put us in situations that created drama,' Cheska shared.
And the push apparently increased after the show's 2013 BAFTA win. Cheska tells us, 'They had to up their game. If the producers can find a hole in a relationship, they will. If there’s an ex-boyfriend in America, they’ll fly him over. It’s the same with friendships! If there are two best friends and there’s a rumour it’s not going well, they’ll do whatever they can to make it worse.'
Cheska isn't the only Made in Chelsea star to open up and spill some behind-the-scenes secrets. Married At First Sight Australia's Ella-May Ding had only a brief stint on the show, but that didn't stop her from branding the cast 'actors'.
'I will never be going on that show again or a show like that; that sort of constructed reality, not like real reality,' she said on her podcast. 'I won’t do something like that again because it’s really weird.'
She continued, 'They’re partly actors. Because when I was on set and I would see some of them, like even Ollie [Locke], he's been doing it since the very first season, but I feel like he just knows what to do now. He would never fuck up, he never has to repeat lines, they just knew how to do it. Whereas I was like so confused.'
In 2021, Ollie Locke reflected onfinding fame on the show 10 years earlier and delved into his experience of starring on reality TV. 'Richard Dinan, a former cast member, used to say: “If you knew how real it was, you’d like it more.” You just can’t fake this kind of stuff. I suppose we were all hyped-up versions of ourselves at the beginning. My Union Jack car is a good example of that! The “TV me” was like my alter ego. I’d wear hoodies and jeans then go on set wearing ridiculous jumpers and stuff. But that landed me in a bit of trouble. I felt like I’d become a parody of myself, which is why I cut all my hair off in series five.'
So, is Made In Chelsea real?
Despite what Cheska and Ella-May have shared, during an interview with Love Island's Dr Alex George on his Stompcast podcast, OG Chelsea boy Spencer Matthews admitted he saw the show as a business opportunity rather than a reality show.
Explaining how the show slowly began to feel more scripted than real, he revealed, 'It wasn't kind of like "Oh hey, they're just gonna follow us around our day-to-day lives." It was "turn up at 8.30, we're gonna mic you, we're gonna give you a briefing, and then you're gonna say this."'
'It was kind of like it became far less authentic over the years. I loved it initially, and then when things felt very written it was less interesting. Because obviously as much as I would have loved to have been an actor, I wasn't being paid to act.'
In addition, in 2016, Hugo Taylor admitted that the show was 'completely fabricated,' saying 'the guys are completely characterless fops, it’s ridiculous.'
Likewise, DJ Tom Zanetti also came away with a shock surprise. Appearing on the show whilst dating Sophie Hermann, the DJ and producer shared how he didn't realise how set up it could be.
He said, 'I didn't know what to expect. But I kind of thought it would be more like [the cameras] following you around and stuff like that. I didn't realise it would be set up in a way. They'll set up an amazing setting and backdrop, and then you're given a topic to discuss.'
'That doesn't discredit it at all. It was set up, but then you've got to film it so many times from so many different angles.'
Current cast member James Taylor and ex MIC star Sophie Habboo weighed in on the debate in 2019. James claimed, 'Producers make you say things you don't necessarily want to say. There's a definite hierarchy and there's "different rules" for the older cast and the newbies.' Habbs added, 'You forget [the producers] are not your friends and so you tell them your deepest darkest secrets and suddenly everyone knows them.'
Meanwhile, former MIC star Kimberley Garner said that being on the E4 show was 'very tough' and she was 'shocked' when she watched the episodes.
She said, 'They definitely edit a lot – I was shocked when I watched it back. They get you to say certain phrases, and suddenly create scenes that happened completely differently to reality. You’d watch it back thinking, "That didn’t even happen!" and the storyline would be completely different. That was one of the reasons why I left.'
Perhaps the most surprising person to comment on the reality of Made in Chelsea was actress Nicola Coughlan who recently admitted that prior to her shooting to fame in Bridgerton and Derry Girls, she was cast as an extra on MIC.
Appearing on an episode of Rob Beckett's Smart TV, she shared, 'Made In Chelsea is both more real and it’s more fake than I thought. You stand in the back silently like proper extras, you can’t speak, and the relationships are real, but the environment is fake.
'It was Lucy Watson and Binky Felstead having a chat and then Spencer Matthews came in, and Lucy started bawling, crying, and Binky was shouting, "Cut the cameras, she’s not doing this".
'I was like, "This is the best day of my life."'
But let's be honest, none of these revelations come as a surprise to us OG fans. After all, Made In Chelsea markets itself as 'structured reality' - meaning the cast and their conversations are genuine, but the setting or meeting has been arranged by crew.
So that hunch you had about the scale and frequency of fights, feuds and elaborate relationship fallouts could be true. Next time there's drama going down on screen, it might not be quite as it seems.