If Brutus and Julius Caesar were sat on one side of a venn diagram with the male cast of Made in Chelsea on the other, we’d find ‘the clash of the male ego’ linking them in the centre.
It’s a chapter, historically, we just can’t seem to close. It’s a battle, historically, that no one ever wins. And in the latest volume, also known as episode three of Made in Chelsea: Bali, there are some particularly petty attempts to be crowned biggest loser of them all.
The episode largely focused on new cheating rumours surfacing from Harvey Armstrong and Emily Blackwell’s relationship, which ended earlier this year when he admitted to kissing another girl. What eventually plays out at (exceptions to the rule) Gareth and Ollie Locke’s grand dinner party is a painful and occasionally chilling display of chauvinism and ego.
The two exes, who had only recently decided to become friends, are thrown into the bear pit as the whole group unpacks where the new rumours came from, how many times Harvey may have cheated, and whether Emily even has a right to still be asking. What appears to be common knowledge for most of the cast seems like news to Emily, and she was torn between confronting her ex and holding him accountable or just moving on – particularly now that her new boyfriend Jordan Alexander had flown out to join them in Bali.
Earlier in the episode, Harvey was telling new cast member Charlie Wicks about he and Emily still feel like best friends 'just without the love', as he reminisced about their similar traits and how well they got on. Miles Nazaire, Emily's best-friend-who-is-potentially-in-love-with-her, later told Harvey about the new rumours circulating and suggested that he come clean to Emily. When pushed for a source, Miles told Harvey that Gareth was the fire starter and everything began to kick off.
Deny, deny, deny
Cut to the dinner party, and Harvey went for an interesting line of attack as he pretended not to care about Emily at all, despite essentially admitting to still being in love with her and hoping to get her back in the future, and focused entirely on Gareth’s misplaced loyalty. Although he seemed to be holding back tears at several points, he repeatedly spoke over his ex and raised his voice at her in a way that was uncomfortable to watch, and shouted 'I'll get to your point'. It is in this moment, with tension akin to an HBO drama, that he provides our line of the series: ‘Gareth is the only guy on the table I f**king care about. Further than friendship, it’s business. It’s real.’ Ah-ha, potentially our first sign that Harvey’s priorities are a little off-kilter.
Harvey then proceeded to shout at almost everyone at the table including his ex, who was the real victim of these rumours, in pursuit of his honour being restored. It’s clear to me that he cares more about his redemption arc and being seen as a ‘good guy’, than he does about anyone’s feelings. He also claimed to be most distraught about Gareth’s alleged betrayal, worrying how someone he loves could be responsible for bringing these rumours back to light, without acknowledging the irony that it was his disloyalty towards his girlfriend that got him in this position in the first place.
The battle of the boys
Charlie and Sam Prince then swiftly jumped in to back Harvey and deflect the situation onto Emily, making her seem crazy for even wanting to know the truth now that they'd broken up anyway. So despite Harvey mentioning at least ten times on the show that he regrets the past ten months and thinks about his mistakes on a daily basis, it’s Emily who's weird for responding to rumours that directly affect her – because it's all in the past!
It’s a misogynistic deflection tactic that aims to put the focus on Emily and her new relationship, rather than forcing Harvey to face his unravelling web of lies. The awkward feud ends with little clarity about the rumours themselves beyond the fact that Harvey and the girl did ‘everything but sex’ in a hotel room. He claimed to have saved Emily the ‘granular details’ at the time because she was so upset, and ultimately they're none of her business, of course. Having remained surprisingly calm throughout, Emily then left the table saying she has no interest in being nice to someone who doesn’t respect her and no longer wants to be friends. In textbook fashion, Harvey chose the pithy one liner of: ‘at least we can agree on something then’.
In the preview for the next episode, go figure, we see Emily reading a handwritten letter from her ex, presumably apologising for his hurtful and erratic behaviour at the dinner and asking if they can still be friends. The story writes itself at this point.
The ego shortlist
Elsewhere in the episode, we saw Charlie and Miles go head to head over who said they didn’t want to get with Yasmine Zweegers and then did the most, all while she's sat right in front of them. The pair appeared to be arguing over who flirts with her more, or fancies her least, or wants to be with her the most? We can't tell. But whichever way we look at it, it's still insulting as the argument seems to be more about ego and 'winning' than it does about feelings for Yasmine, or indeed Yasmine’s feelings.
Last but not least, we witnessed a civilised coffee shop show down between Julius Cowdrey, our steed of the series, and Sam as they agreed to put aside their differences and try to be friends again. However, as Julius rightly predicted prior to their conversation, Sam’s trump card is sarcasm (and smirking through his botox). So it remains unclear as to whether their reconciliation was in any way sincere on Sam's part or if its more power play. It's almost as if Julius' attempt to create peace is so reasonable that Sam's instincts must be to go along with it as another joke. It's all an ego contest afterall.
The worst part is, it's Harvey who seems genuinely distressed at several points in the most recent series. Far from a joke, it's clear what an emotional toll the whole experience with Emily has had on him. However, for him to respond to his distress by mocking Emily’s feelings and focusing on his reputation – without even being honest, respectful or taking full accountability – is not going to help him feel better anytime soon. And it won't help him find another Emily either.