Made in Chelsea

**Made in Chelsea**(abbreviated **MIC**) is a BAFTA award-winning, structured-reality television series broadcast by E4 in the United Kingdom. Made in Chelsea chronicles the lives of affluent young people in the West London areas of Belgravia, Kings Road and Knightsbridge as well as their travels to other locations including Dubai, Finland, Marrakech, Verbier, Saint-Tropez, Venice, New York City, Barbados, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the South of France.

### **Series 1 (2011)**

The first series began airing on May 9, 2011 on E4. The series concluded on June 27, 2011 after 8 episodes. The show was first announced in April 2011 and was described as a "fly-on-the-wall-drama". Filming for the series took place between January and May 2011, with the first full-length trailer airing April 28, 2011. This series includes Spencer and Funda's turbulent relationship come to an end after his childhood sweetheart Caggie comes back into his life, Hugo being torn between two women; Millie and Rosie, and best friends Francis and Fredrik both realising they've fallen for the same girl. It also features the breakdown of Ollie and Gabriella's relationship as he eventually has the courage to come out as bisexual. The DVD for the series was released on September 19, 2011 and features all 8 episodes.

### **Series 2 (2011)**

The second series began airing on September 19, 2011 on E4. The series concluded on November 21, 2011 after 10 episodes, however an end of season party episode aired on November 28, 2011 which was hosted by Rick Edwards and featured the cast members reuniting to discuss everything from the series. Filming for the series began on July 29, 2011. This series featured the arrival of several new cast members including Alice Davidson, Chloe Green, Jamie Laing, Oliver Proudlock and Victoria Baker-Harber as well as the reintroduction of Louise Thompson, the ex-girlfriend of Spencer Matthews who briefly appeared during the first series. On December 22, 2011, the show's first Christmas special aired. The series included a rift forming between Binky and Cheska as they're forced to pick sides with Gabriella and Ollie, Spencer breaking off his brief fling with Louise to chase after Caggie again, and the breakdown of Hugo and Millie's relationship when it's announced that both have cheated on each other, leading up to Millie exposing Hugo's night with Rosie to a room full of guests.

### **Series 3 (2012)**

The third series began airing on April 2, 2012 on E4. The series concluded on June 4, 2012 after 10 episodes, however an end of season party episode aired on June 11, 2012 which was hosted by Rick Edwards and featured the cast members reuniting to discuss everything from the series. The series was confirmed on November 21, 2011 following the second series finale. This was the last series to feature original cast members Amber Atherton, Caggie Dunlop and Hugo Taylor, but also saw the introduction of new cast members Kimberley Garner, Natalie Joel and Richard Dinan. The series included a relationship blossoming between Kimberley and Richard until some interference from Cheska led to the discovery that she was living a double life. It also features a love triangle between Spencer, Jamie and Louise causing a drift between best friends, and Millie and Rosie finally rebuidling their relationship.

### **Series 4 (2012)**

The fourth series began airing on October 15, 2012 on E4. The series concluded on December 17, 2012 after 10 episodes, however a 60-minute Christmas special episode aired immediately after the series on December 24, 2012, which was then followed by an end of season special presented by Rick Edwards on December 31, 2012 featuring a reunion of the cast to discuss events from the series. The series saw the arrival of several new cast members including Andy Jordan, Ashley James, Carly Rothman, Sam Cussins, Sophia Sassoon, Stevie Johnson and Lucy Watson, as well as the departure of original cast members Fredrik Ferrier and Gabriella Ellis. This series also featured the love triangle between Sophia, Francis and Proudlock, the rivalry between Millie and Victoria increasing, the brief reconnection between Gabriella and Ollie, and the rocky relationship between Spencer and Louise until the revelation that he cheated on her.

### **Series 5 (2013)**

The fifth series began airing on April 8, 2013 on E4. The series concluded on June 17, 2013 after 11 episodes, however an end of season party episode aired on June 24, 2012 which was hosted by Rick Edwards and featured the cast members reuniting to discuss everything from the series. This was the first series to include new cast members Fran and Olivia Newman-Young, Phoebe Lettice-Thompson and Alex Mytton. It was the only series to feature Josh Acoombs and Oscar Ligenza, and the series saw the departures of original cast members Ollie Locke and Millie Mackintosh as well as Richard Dinan and Ashley James. The series included the end of Spencer and Louise's relationship after the revelation that Spencer cheated, then both of their attempts to move on as Louise begins a new romance with Andy, and Spencer tries his luck with Lucy. It also featured Ashley struggling to come to terms with Ollie's sexuality, Jamie realising he has feelings for Phoebe despite being in a relationship with Tara, and Francis and Proudlock once again competing for the same girl.

### **Series 6 (2013)**

The sixth series began airing on October 14, 2013 on E4. The series concluded on December 16, 2013 after 10 episodes, however a Christmas special episode aired immediately after the series on December 23, 2013, which was then followed by an end of season special presented by Rick Edwards on December 30, 2013 featuring a reunion of the cast to discuss events from the series. This was the first series to feature new cast members Sam Thompson, Sophie Hermann and Stephanie Pratt, and was the final series to feature Olivia Newman-Young, Phoebe-Lettice Thompson, and original cast member Francis Boulle. The series featured the love blossoming between Jamie and Lucy despite obstacles in the form of Spencer and Phoebe, the breakdown of Andy and Louise's relationship as many secrets are revealed, the rivalry between friends Fran and Phoebe as Phoebe discovers Fran has made a pass at her ex-boyfriend, and the start of the relationship for Alex and Binky.

### **Series 7 (2014)**

The seventh series began airing on April 7, 2014 on E4. The series concluded on June 16, 2014 after 11 episodes. This is notably the only series since Series 2 where it wasn't followed by an End of Season reunion show. It is the first to feature new cast members Riley Uggla and Georgia "Toff" Toffolo and the only series to include Riley's friend, Aurelie Mason-Perez and Ed "Fordy" Ford. The series included the rocky relationship between Alex and Binky after a number of revelations about Alex come to light, the isolation of Binky in her friendship group as none of them supported her decision to stay with Alex, a love triangle between Jamie, Lucy and Riley before Jamie realises he still has feelings for Lucy from their previous relationship with each other, and the brief romance between Stephanie and Stevie.

### **NYC (2014)**

A spin off seriesentitled "Made in Chelsea: NYC" began airing on August 10, 2014 on E4. The series concluded on September 14, 2014 after 6 episodes. It was announced on March 18, 2014 that the cast of Made in Chelsea would be travelling to New York City to film a special series of the show. Despite the series featuring all of the Chelsea cast, there were notable absences from Andy Jordan, Toff Toffolo and Sophie Hermann. A number of American cast members were introduced during this series including Alik Alfus, Billie Carroll and Jules Hamilton. It also included a brief return of original cast member Gabriella Ellis, who originally featured in the show from Series 1-4. Alik was the only one who remained as a cast member after this series. This series was also the last to feature original cast member Cheska Hull as well as Riley Uggla. The spin-off series included the love blossoming between Alik and Louise, the competition between Spencer and Stevie for Billie before Stevie's ex-girlfriend Stephanie arrives, Alex attempting to make amends with people then leaving with more enemies than friends, and the revelation that Lucy and Proudlock have been hooking up. It was revealed that this would be a stand-alone series which would not be promoted as the eighth series. The eighth series in fact followed in October 2014.

### **Series 8 (2014)**

The eighth series began airing on October 13, 2014 on E4. The series concluded on December 15, 2014 after 10 episodes. A Christmas special episode aired immediately after the series on December 22, 2014, which was then followed by an end of season special presented by Rick Edwards on December 29, 2014. This is the first series to feature new main cast members Josh Shepherd, Lauren Frazer-Hutton, Tiff Watson and Lonan O'Herlihy, and was the only series to include cast members George Amor and Will Colebrook after they did not return for the ninth series. Lauren was introduced as the new girlfriend of already established cast member Spencer Matthews, whilst Tiff is the sister of Lucy Watson. The series focused on Spencer and Laurens relationship, an ongoing argument between Binky and Fran, the romance between Alik and Louise, and Sam attempting to win back Tiff following several cheating allegations.

### **Series 9 (2015)**

The ninth series began airing on April 13, 2015 on E4. This series also featured the show's 100th episode; broadcast on June 15, 2015. This series was the first series to include new cast members Emily Weller, Jess Woodley, Millie Wilkinson, Fleur Irving, Josh "JP" Patterson, Nicola Hughes, James Dunmore and Elliot Cross, and the last to include long running cast members Andy Jordan and Stevie Johnson, as well as Sophie Hermann, Fran Newman-Young and Lauren Frazer-Hutton. The series focused on blossoming relationships between James and Lucy, and Jamie and Jess, a rift forming between Lucy and Stephanie, and Spencer's romance with Lauren hitting the rocks when he turns back to his old ways.

### **LA (2015)**

A spin-off series entitled "Made in Chelsea: LA" was confirmed on May 14, 2015. It was announced that the cast of Made in Chelsea would be travelling to Los Angeles to film a special series of the show. It was revealed that this would be a stan-alone series which would not be promoted as the tenth series. The tenth series followed in October 2015. Filming for the spin-off began in late May 2015 and concluded in late July. This is the second spin-off show filmed in America following the NYC special the previous year. The third episode of this series was filmed in Las Vegas. The six-episode series began on August 10, 2015 on E4. It also featured the brief return of former cast member Gabriella Ellis, as well as the permanent return of Ollie Locke. It was the only series to include American cast members Olivia Fox and Naz Gharai, and the last to include Josh Shepherd. Whilst most of the Chelsea cast featured in this spin-off, there was notable absences from Elliot Cross, Oliver Proudlock, Millie Wilkinson, Nicola Hughes, Rosie Fortescue, Sam Thompson, Spencer Matthews, Tiff Watson and Victoria Baker-Harber. The series included the end of the relationship between Josh and Stephanie, Jamie starting a holiday romance with Naz before eventually realising he actually has feelings for Jess, and Binky opening up to JP about her growing love for him only for him to break things off completely.

### **Series 10 (2015)**

The tenth series began airing on October 19, 2015 on E4. The official trailer for the new series was released on September 29, 2015 confirming the start date. It concluded on January 4, 2016 following nine regular episodes, a Christmas special, a New Year special, and an End of Season party hosted by Rick Edwards. This series was the first to include new cast members Emma Walsh, Sam Harney, Tallulah Rufus Isaacs. Richard Dinan also returned to the series having last appeared during the fifth series, and Francis Boulle made a one-off return during the Christmas special. This was also the final series to include original cast member Spencer Matthews, long-running cast member Oliver Proudlock, as well as Millie Wilkinson and Emily Weller, who both made their debuts during the ninth series. The series focused heavily on Sam and Tiff's rocky relationship coming to an end when Tiff admits to cheating on him during the summer and rumours of Sam cheating surface, until the pair eventually reunite. It also includes Louise and Alik attempting to make their long distance relationship work with obstacles in their way, Binky and JP finally making their relationship official despite commitment issues from his part, and Spencer causing further trouble by hooking up with Ollie's latest love interest Emma.

### **Series 11 (2016)**

The eleventh series was confirmed on March 1, 2016 to begin on April 11, 2016 on E4 and concluded on June 27, 2016 following eleven regular episodes and a "The Aftermath" special hosted by Rick Edwards. This is the first series not to feature original cast member Spencer Matthews following his departure during the previous series, as well as long running cast member Oliver Proudlock. Ahead of the series, it was confirmed that Jessica Dixon and Olivia Bentley had joined the series as new cast members, however Jessica only appeared in four episodes. They were joined by Frankie Gaff and Matt Draper mid-way through the series. This is the final series to feature long-serving cast member Lucy Watson, James Dunmore, Nicola Hughes, Millie Wilkinson and Tallulah Rufus-Isaacs. The series focused heavily on the fallout between Lucy and Stephanie and the consequences it had for the remaining cast, as well blossoming romance between Jamie and Frankie despite cheating allegations. It also featured Sam and Tiff's turbulent relationship hit a number of obstacles, and the breakdown of Binky and JP's relationship.

### **South of France (2016)**

A spin-off series entitled "Made in Chelsea: South of France" was confirmed on June 8, 2016, and began airing on August 1, 2016 and concluded after six episodes on September 5, 2016. It was announced that the cast of Made in Chelsea would be travelling to Cannes to film a special series of the show. It was revealed that this would be a stand-alone series which would not be promoted as the twelfth seires. The twelfth series followed in October 2016. This is the third spin-off show filmed away from Chelsea following NYC in 2014 and LA in 2015. The series featured the return of former cast member Francis Boulle. Whilst most of the Chelsea cast featured in this spin-off, there was notable absences from JP Patterson, Richard Dinan and Rosie Fortescue. It is the only series to include French cast member Lukas Avalon, the last to include Louise's ex-boyfriend Alik Alfus, and first to include her new boyfriend Ryan Libbey. The series focused heavily on the love triangle between Francis, Olivia and Toff before he finally chooses to be with Olivia causing bitterness for Toff, as well as both Jess and Ollie finding holiday romances. It also included the demise of Alex and Jamie's long-term friendship as Jamie chose to believe Frankie over Alex following multiple revelations.

### **Series 12 (2016)**

The twelfth series began airing on October 10, 2016 on E4, and concluded on December 26, 2016 following eleven episodes and a "Christmas Party" special episode hosted by Rick Edwards. This series also featured the return of former cast members Fred Ferrier and Oliver Proudlock having last appeared in the fourth and tenth series respectively. New cast members for this series include Emily Blackwell, Julius Cowdrey and Nick Summerfield, as well as Akin Solanke-Caulker, who is the first black cast member to feature in the show. This is the final series to include Jess Woodley, after announcing her departure in February 2017. This series focused heavily on the divide between the girls as Tiff and Toff's ongoing feud continued, until they eventually made up much to the distress of Toff's best friend Jess. It also included Binky testing the boundaries with her relationship with JP causing a confrontation between her friends as they offer her some tough love. As well as this, the start of Olivia and Fred's new romance is included in this series, the new rivalry between Sam and Julius, and the strain on Louise and Ryan's relationship taking toll.

### **Series 13 (2017)**

The thirteenth series began on March 20, 2017 on E4. Ahead of the series, cast members Binky Felstead and Josh "JP" Patterson announced they were expecting a child. On February 14, 2017 it was announced that Jess Woodley had quit the show having appeared since the ninth series. This will be the first series to include new cast members Daisy Robins, Ella Willis, James Sandford, Mimi Bouchard and Sam Prince.

### **Other Appearances**

Celebrity Big Brother

* Ollie Locke - Series 13 (2014) - 3rd
* Stephanie Pratt - Series 14 (2014) - 10th

I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

* Hugo Taylor - Series 12 (2012) - 5th
* Spencer Matthews - Series 15 (2015) - 13th (Withdrew)

The Jump

* Louise Thompson - Series 2 (2015) - 4th
* Mark Francis Vandelli - Series 3 (2016) - 8th (Withdrew)
* Spencer Matthews - Series 4 (2017) - Winner

### **Royal Links**

Hugo Taylor has been credited as one of the creators of the show, having originally created a pilot with an almost identical concept for MTV in 2008 before thr programme was sold to E4 and Monkey Productions. Hugo had signed up many genuine socialites and high-society members who then dropped out when they realised being on the programme could affect their social standing. Princess Eugenie was being mooted to make a cameo but like many others she pulled out too. In 2008 Hugo was rumoured to be dating Princess Eugenie. He is also known to be friends with Chelsy Davy, the ex-girlfriend of Prince Harry.

Out of the entire Made in Chelsea cast, Oliver Proudlock could be the most well connected among royal circles. As a schoolboy he attended Eton with younger cast members Spencer and Stevie; however he graduated from the famous boarding school in the same year as Prince Harry. Proudlock shares many close friends with the Prince, including Viscount Erleigh (also known as Julian Rufus Isaacs), Arthur Landon and Tom Inskip.

James Matthews, whose family own luxury resort Eden Rock, St Barths, is the brother of former cast member Spencer. James, a former banker and an Old Etonian, dated Pippa Middleton in 2012 and announcedhis engagement to her in 2016 with a wedding set to take place in 2017. This relationship was discussed in a conversation between Jamie and Spencer during an episode of Series 5. Spencer has been quoted in interviews as saying he knows "most of the Royals". He is close friends with Dave Clark, the current boyfriend of Princess Beatrice. Cast member Richard Dinan is not only friends with Prince Harry but his cousi Cressida Bonas is an ex-girlfriend of the Prince.

Former cast member Amber Atherton left the show in the third season in order to concentrate on her jewellery business. She has personally sold items to the Duchess of Cambridge.

## Reception

The series has received mixed reviews from criticsand has been heavily compared to The Only Way Is Essex, "The participants are slimmer, sleeker, moneyed and honey-coloured than their Essex counterparts, but some things remain the same". Keith Watson of Metro said, "What is it these fake reality soaps that provesso gruesomely addictive?", and "So there you go, just what you need in your life: pointless people." Whilst Digital Spy said "It's all incredibly silly, but we're already falling in love with it a little bit and it will fill a lovely TOWIE-shaped hole for the Summer".

The first series of the show was positive with viewers. The show drew 583,000 viewers with its first episode and this figure rose to 624,000 for the second episode with another 117,800 viewers watching the repeat an hour later. It also became the most tweeted show on Channel 4 for 2011.

The first series finale managed to drew in 718,000 viewers on its first showing and was the highest rated show on E4 for the entire day. The series managed a high of 791,000 viewers for its sixth episode.

The show was renewed for a second series before the end of the first. E4's commissioning editor, David Williams, explained that "the staggering amount of audience engagement has proven it to be a perfect fit for E4's young audience".

The show managed to trend worldwide on Twitter during the first episode of the second series and carried on trending in the UK for twelve hours after the episode had ended.

The third series broke records for the show when it premiered with over 900,000 viewers and reached over a million viewers for the ninth episode, achieving a series peak.

The fifth series premiered with 956,000 viewers on April 8, 2013. The series did not fall under 800,000 viewers each week, making it the most-viewed series since the show began. The sixth series showed viewing figures continue to grow with over 1.1 million viewers tuning in for the premiere of the seventh series in April 2014.

The show won its first BAFTAon May 12, 2013 at the 2013 BAFTAs in the Reality and Structured Factual Category.

Series 7 became the first series of Made in Chelsea to average over 1 million viewers for each episode whereas spin-off series NYC had a series average of over 1 million viewers. Series 8 continued to attract large audiences for E4, whilst 2015's ninth series also proved successful. 2015 spin-off series "LA" also averaged at 874,000 viewers per episode and the tenth series had a series average of 841,000. The first series broadcast in 2016, series eleven, had a series average of 891,000. This was the highest series average since Series 8 in 2014.

## The Game

An official app created by Channel 4 was made available to download in the fourth quarter of 2013. A second version was made available to download for Android and iOS phones on April 3, 2014. The synopsis of the game reads "The Chelsea gang are back in town with a bang, for yet exciting adventures! Enjoy a host of brand new storylines, as you once again play to become the ultimate socialite in the world of BAFTA-winning TV show Made in Chelsea. Party with even of the cast as you rise up the social ladder, with Stevie (you new flatmate), Alex and Fran joining the ranks alongside the likes of Spencer, Proudlock and Binky". You get to choose what you want to wear with the help of Mark Francis and Victoria and you are able to wear the clothes that other members of the cast wear.