What would a series of Made in Chelsea be without a few provocative characters? We’re talking about the cast members who swill their drinks at parties, call people out across the table at group dinners and who pride themselves on telling it like it is. While Lauren Sintes has always been one of these people (earning her plenty of loyal fans in the process), in season 29 she has really come into her own.
Lauren has mastered the art of not being involved in the drama herself – she is currently in her second off-screen relationship since joining the show – but still managing to say her piece. We saw it happen in episode one when she came head-to-head with Chelsea supervillain Sam Prince in the Maldives. We saw it happen in episode three when she told Rebecca Collins (Beks) that her friend matched with Freddie Knatchbull on a dating app the day after they went on a break. And in episode four Lauren stood up for Beks and confronted Freddie head on saying, ‘Do you know how scary it is to be with someone for six months and then they just switch on you like that?’. She has a point...
‘I would say this season, in general, is one where I tell people exactly like it is,’ Lauren tells Grazia. ‘I would say more than ever actually.’ Having joined the show in season 26, she credits her confidence with experience. ‘I’ve been doing the show for two years now, so I’m used to it. I think when you’re used to it you get more comfortable expressing yourself. People are starting to understand my personality. It took about a year and now I think they do and that feels good because I’m not second guessing expressing anything.’ Lauren hastens to add, ‘I always try to come from a good place whether people see that or not, it’s always for the best interest of my friend or what I think is right.’
As well as calling out Freddie’s childish antics, we can expect to see Lauren’s close friendship with Reza Amiri-Garroussi unravel this season now that he is back with his on-off girlfriend, Ruby Adler. Someone who Lauren does not ‘gel with’. The reality star describes her relationship with Ruby as ‘non-existent’ and says they are ‘very different people’, something that has ‘definitely affected my friendship with Rez’.
It’s not all fallouts and showdowns, though, Lauren says we can also expect to see her friendship with Yasmine Zweegers blossom this series. ‘At the moment, I’m close with all the same people as before, minus Rez,’ she explains. ‘I got a lot closer with Yaz. I think she’s had a really nice glow post breakup with Sam [Prince] and she started reaching out to me and making a lot of effort with me. I think she probably wasn’t able to do that before. It’s nice to show our dynamic so you can see more of that this season.’
Lauren’s friendship with Jules ‘Muffin’ Pollard also grows stronger this season, despite coming to blows with her boyfriend Tristan Phipps, who Lauren briefly dated herself, last season. ‘I rightly so had reservations [about them as a couple] because I just go off patterns of behaviour,’ Lauren explains, ‘but what’s important to me is that Jules is happy and she seems to be in something good. I can only see what she says, right? I’m not hanging out with them but if she’s happy then I’m happy because she deserves to be.’ It doesn’t sound like they will be planning double dates any time soon – Lauren and Tristan have had their fair share of fiery arguments – but at least her friendship with Jules is firmly intact.
As Lauren points out herself, most of her confrontations on the show stem from her trying to stand up for her friends. ‘You’ll see as the season goes on but there are things that come up that I don’t agree with on this and that. I’m someone who is very loyal to my friends, and if I think something isn’t right, it doesn’t matter who it is. So definitely expect more of that!’
It helps, then, that Lauren's new relationship exists outside the drama of the show. The same was true of her last relationship, even though we did witness her navigate the aftermath of her breakup last season. ‘I like to keep my love life away from some of these people,’ she jokes. ‘It’s been a complete 180 for me since [my last breakup] in the last season. It was obviously a really shitty time, but looking back at it, I’m actually so grateful that things happen the way they did, because I’m with someone new now and it’s going really well. He’s way better suited for me. He’s way better looking. He’s just better. So I’m happy things played out the way they did, as hard as they were in the moment.’
‘You won’t see it on the show because he’s not on it,’ she explains. ‘We did think about it, but we thought that would be best for our relationship. If you’re strong in your relationship then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about, but at the end of the day we’re making a TV show, so you never know who’s going to jump in. I feel like I’m too old for that. I want some peace in my life.’
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).