When Binky Felstead, Rosie Fortescue and Lucy Watson returned to our television screens last year, fans revelled in the reunion of the original queens of Made In Chelsea.
Channel 4’s glossy hit reality show had been given a two-part spin off, Beyond Chelsea, in which the trio invited the cameras back into their lives.
And such was the appetite for these three that another series was immediately commissioned.
Indeed, I looked on as Channel 4 content chief Ian Katz delightedly confirmed its return this October during the broadcaster’s glitzy Edinburgh Television Festival dinner last week.
In the opening episode in January of Beyond Chelsea, Binky, 35, told viewers that the show was all about ‘three friends making it in the world’. So it might come as a surprise to those who attended the swanky bash held at Edinburgh’s Hoxton hotel that behind the scenes of Beyond Chelsea the claws were out.
The Daily Mail can reveal that two of its stars, Rosie and Lucy, ‘hate each other’s guts’. And that, inevitably, this has raised eyebrows among production staff – when two thirds of the ‘talent’ despise each other, filming them as apparent friends presents something of a headache.
‘This new incarnation of Chelsea was all about how these three women have all grown up,’ a source close to the show told me. ‘It was meant to show that they had moved away from the squabbling and petty cat fights of their youth.
‘But Rosie and Lucy can barely stand to be in the same room as one another, which made shooting the show a bit of a nightmare.
‘The tension between the pair is so obvious. This is supposed to be a series about three friends yet it is anything but,’ the source added. ‘I think it is fair to say there is no love lost between Rosie and Lucy.’
Channel 4’s Beyond Chelsea follows the lives of (left to right) Binky Felstead, Lucy Watson and Rosie Fortescue – more than a decade on from the original series
Binky, 35, delights in telling viewers that the show is all about ‘Three friends making it in the world’. But the Daily Mail can reveal that the other two stars ‘hate each other’s guts’
The fly-on-the wall sequel watches the three TV personalities as they continue to balance motherhood, family life and relationships, all while running successful businesses and navigating life in the public eye.
Familiar faces from Made In Chelsea’s heyday have been roped in to help bulk out the new series, with a few surprise appearances from the likes of original MIC cast member Ollie Locke and Lucy’s sister Tiff Watson. But the plan to incorporate past stars didn’t prove as fruitful as producers had hoped for.
‘So many of the former Made In Chelsea cast members felt they have outgrown the series, and don’t want to do anything related to it,’ my insider said. ‘And the biggest names that first found fame on the show now have spin-offs and documentaries of their own already.’
It means viewers of Beyond Chelsea are unlikely to see MIC favorites such as Spencer Matthews or Jamie Laing, who recently signed up for his own big-money series for Disney+ called Raising Chelsea alongside his wife Sophie Habboo.
It also might help to explain Lucy’s presence in the show for, originally, she was never intended as a participant.
Beyond Chelsea was the brainchild of original member Binky Felstead who initially revealed the line-up as herself, Louise Thompson and Rosie Fortescue.
‘Me, Louise and Rosie are still super close,’ she said while the show was still in the early stages. ‘We always make time for each other, for our girly lunches and dinners. We’re like family.
‘We have filmed the ups and downs of our lives together for the past decade and when we get together… if the walls could talk.’
Rosie and Lucy had a memorably tempestuous relationship on Made in Chelsea – and Rosie was never far from an argument, whether it involved her or not
Originally, Louise Thompson was slated to appear – but the series was later commisioned with Lucy in her place
‘Lucy and Rosie can barely stand to be in the same room as one another, which made shooting the show a bit of a nightmare,’ a source told the Daily Mail
But the project was later commissioned with Lucy in Louise’s place. A friend explained that Louise, who is now a fitness influencer and whose memoir Lucky was published in April, was too busy with other projects to commit to the show.
And the problem with this 11th hour substitution was that Lucy and Rosie had a tempestuous relationship on the original show. ‘It was always going to be a risk,’ my insider told me. ‘But it has really set the cat among the pigeons’.
The pair had a memorable blow-up in a 2016 episode in which Rosie gave Lucy a tongue-lashing after her sister was found to be cheating with co-star Sam Thompson (the 2023 winner of I’m A Celebrity and brother to Louise).
Lucy blamed Sam rather than her sister for the affair, which infuriated Rosie who snapped: ‘Lucy, you knew she f***** someone else, but you still treated him [Sam] badly and tried to pin things on him.’
Whether it involved her or not, Rosie was never far from an argument – much to the producers’ delight – and some fans have suggested she felt threatened by Lucy who came on to Made in Chelsea as the new villain on the block.
The eagle-eyed may even have spotted that Rosie gave clues to her true feelings towards Lucy when she announced her return to television in Beyond Chelsea.
‘I never thought I’d be back on camera, but I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to film with my best friend,’ Rosie said – referring only to Binky and failing to mention Lucy.
My source told me that Lucy ‘received the message loud and clear’.
While cat fights and cheating cads are in Made In Chelsea’s DNA, Beyond Chelsea styles itself as something more grown-up, depicting its stars in middle-aged stability.
Binky, her daughter India, husband Max Darnton and their two boys Wilder and Wolfie
Lucy left the show in 2016 so she could enjoy her relationship with James Dunmore away from the cameras. The couple married in September 2021 and welcomed their son Willoughby in March 2024
Rosie, who was the first of the trio to quit Made In Chelsea in 2014, has chosen to prioritise her multi-million pound jewellery business over her romantic relationships
As Binky admits, she ‘can’t relate’ to the young cast of MIC anymore, adding that ‘the viewers who grew up with us will be the ones who can relate to us more now’.
Her six years on the original from 2011 was marked by multiple break-ups and broken hearts, which won fun-loving Binky a legion of fans. And we now find her settled down and in love.
In 2017, she gave birth to her daughter India, eight, with former co-star and ex-boyfriend Josh ‘JP’ Patterson.
They separated 18 months later, and she went on to marry businessman Max Darnton in 2022. They have two sons Wolfie, four, and Wilder, two.
In the first series of Beyond Chelsea she talks about her three children, her work as a fashion ambassador and in one touching scene breaks down discussing her mother’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis.
Lucy left the original show in 2016 in a fit of pique at producers for depicting her unfairly following a row with cast member Steph Pratt. Speaking on Jamie Laing’s podcast two years ago, she revealed: ‘The real reason was, you know, that argument with Steph. It wasn’t portrayed, in my opinion, the way that it actually went down.’
After the show, she married co-star and model James Dunmore in 2021 and gave birth to their son Willoughby last year. On Beyond Chelsea’s first outing, she spoke of her fertility struggles, life as a new parent and setting up an underwear business.
Meanwhile, Rosie, who was the first of the trio to quit Made In Chelsea in 2014, said that she had chosen to prioritise her jewellery business over romance and a family life.
Revealing that she had frozen her eggs, she told viewers: ‘There is a pressure to be married and have kids at 30… I never wanted to get married young but I do feel very maternal now.
‘But I’m glad I haven’t settled. I am grateful that I could afford to do the egg freezing. You never know what the future may bring. I am just waiting for the right person and I would love to be a mother one day.’
In the opening series, she also talked about how she wanted to look good for herself and not society. In one memorable scene, her Botox doctor assured her that she is on ‘the upper end of looking perfect’ but then asked if she wanted extra help anyway.
In the forthcoming series viewers will reconnect with the trio to discover whether Rosie has found romance, they will accompany Lucy as she settles into her new property during construction and witness Binky embarking on another entrepreneurial endeavour.
But while the show has been recommissioned, its first series was not universally praised with one newspaper writing that it was a ‘bland attempt to make reality TV grow up’ and that it ‘needed some backstabbing’.
With tension brewing between its stars, critics may finally get the fireworks they have been craving for.
