Ruth Croft
Last week Made in Chelsea returned to television screens with a five-part summer series set in Mallorca, with the promise to bring even more scandal, gossip, and champagne than ever.
The hit reality TV show was shown every night for the first time ever, meaning that the conversations on social media were more prevalent than usual. This time, viewers saw the socialites take on the beautiful island, spending their days sunbathing at exclusive beach clubs, walking in and out of designer shops, and drinking Whispering Angel rosé in bikinis on a yacht. But, as always with the Chelsea lot, the sunshine didn’t distract from what we really watch the show for.
MAEVA AND JAMES
The first party of the series took place in one of their private villas, with Maeva D’Ascanio and James Taylor announcing that they were engaged to be married. In the previous season that aired in the spring, viewers felt their hearts break for Maeva when she proposed and James said “no,” claiming that he wasn’t ready to settle down with her. It was a moment that was incredibly hard to watch, so to hear the news was something that the rest of the cast, including Maeva’s ex-boyfriend Miles, seemed to celebrate. But that wasn’t the only breaking news the couple had for everyone, as during the next episode, Maeva revealed that she was pregnant.
It’s no secret that Maeva has been wanting to live the perfect life with James by getting married for a very long time. In the last three series that have aired in the past year, she mentioned it in nearly every episode. So, it’s quite touching that she’s finally getting her dream.
RUBY AND REZA
In comparison, Ruby Adler and Reza Amiri-Garroussi began the Mallorca series together, and ended it completely on the rocks. They’ve been together, on and off, for ten years, with one of their break-ups documented on Made in Chelsea. Whilst in Mallorca, Reza made a comment that their relationship was in a ‘make or break’ situation on this holiday; either they would come back together stronger than ever, or it would ruin them for the last time. It seemed a fair enough statement to make given their track record, but Ruby was so upset that she left the series early, catching a flight back to London without him.
LIV AND TRISTAN
Meanwhile, it was revealed that Liv Bentley and Tristan Phipps had been secretly seeing each other over the summer, kissing when no one was looking, and sharing clandestine looks over glasses of wine. Their time as a couple hasn’t been easy over the years, their relationship carved of blood, sweat and tears. They’ve split up and come back together more times than most viewers can count, but their holiday in Mallorca seemed remarkably uncomplicated. They managed to stay out of the drama the entire time, and when they were shown on screen, they seemed perfectly content. Liv met his mum for drinks one night, and at the end of the series, they announced that they were intending to live together, so it seems they’re on the right track.
EMILY AND MILES
The summer of love continued with the potential promise of best friends, Emily Blackwell and Miles Nazaire. There’s been a spark between them for a very long time, which began burning when they lived together years before. Both cast members and viewers recognised that there was a flirtation between them, and it’s clear that they’re incredibly protective of each other. When Emily broke up with her boyfriend of two years, Harvey Armstrong, Miles was there to take her out for drinks and remind her how incredible she is. But in the Mallorca series, Miles revealed that his feelings for Emily had blossomed into something more.
“Over the past couple of days I’ve seen Em in a different light.”
Cast members, Ollie Locke-Locke and Digby Edgley, encouraged the potential romance, sensing that Emily might also feel the same. But when Miles finally found the courage to tell Emily how he was feeling, it didn’t really work out the way everyone wanted it to. Even though Emily agreed that Miles could make her really happy if they were to be in a relationship, she didn’t feel it was right to risk their friendship. She also said that she had felt the same as Miles a few years before, but it was clear to her now that their love for each other wasn’t aligning.
“I feel like it’s never fallen into anything more, because it’s not meant to.”
Miles ended the series by dating newcomer Issy Francis-Baum, and Emily recently announced on Instagram that she has a boyfriend. So, it looks like their perfect forever is on hold for now. We’ll just have to see.
INDIA AND JULIUS
Whilst all this was happening, Julius Cowdrey was trying to spark his own romance with fashion model, Willow Day. It all seemed perfect until the pool party, when newcomer India Hovendon walked down the steps. Even though she’d been a secret to everyone, India told the girls that she started seeing Julius two years before, and they had been romantically involved, on and off for the entire time. It was revealed that India had been the girl Julius had been seeing when he was also dating Tabitha Willett in the previous series. If we look back to all the girls Julius has flirted with, or tried to date over the last two years, there are quite a few. Sophie Hermann, Inga Valentiner, and Verity Bowditch… and that’s just on the show. The entire time he was secretly seeing India and not telling her.
To no one’s shock, India was quite upset with Julius, and even more so when he slept with her, only to tell her the next day that he didn’t want to be in a relationship with her, and that he wanted to date other people. He didn’t stop there, taking Willow out on dates, and kissing her right in front of India. But the part that hurt India the most was that Julius didn’t understand what he’d done wrong. It didn’t seem to hit him until his mum flew to Mallorca to tell him off, having met with a tearful India before, and only then did he really, sincerely apologise.
WHAT’S NEXT?
It was certainly an explosive summer of scandal, unrequited love, and champagne. But for most viewers, it’s only made us even more excited for the next series.
Made in Chelsea will be returning to screens for its twenty-fourth series this autumn.
Featured image courtesy of Henry Be on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
Ruth Croft
Ruth is a twenty-four-year-old Digital PR assistant and the Head of Entertainment for Empoword Journalism. She was a freelance journalist for a few years after graduating from university, writing a lot about pop culture, fashion, and beauty. She can be found drinking coffee, laughing at her own tweets, and watching reality TV.