We all know Spencer Matthews as the controversial lothario of the Made in Chelsea cast. But it seems he may be out to set the record straight about his antics, both on screen and off with the release of his new autobiography Confessions of a Chelsea Boy. LSi caught up with him at his Leeds book signing to find out more.
So Spencer, it must be exciting to have written an autobiography at your age?
Very exciting. I would never have been arrogant enough to presume anyone would want to read a 25 year old’s autobiography but the deal was quite difficult to ignore. It was fun; it was a nice past time. I had a bit of spare time between the series and, given that I’ve never kept a diary, I thought it would be a nice thing to do.
Obviously Made in Chelsea is very revealing, what more are you wanting
to tell through the book?
The book is hardly about Made in Chelsea. There are a few pages on it towards the very end. The whole point of the book is life outside of Made in Chelsea. I think the show is condensed into problems within relationships and friendships and it can get a bit ‘samey’. There’s more to life than champagne, polo and scones. Obviously we have to make interesting television and that focuses around certain
aspects of life and there’s a lot more to life than what you see on the show. People that say “why have you written a book, there’s nothing I don’t know about you”. There’s nothing you know about me at all. So this is just a far wider view of myself.
There’s a lot of interest in your love life, will we get more of an insight into it through the book?
Yeah, you’ll understand why certain things have happened if you read the book. You’ll also learn that I never really mean to hurt
anyone or anything. It’s for the show, obviously it has to be dramatic. If two people just broke up on mutual terms in a bedroom, gave each other a kiss on the cheek and walked out it wouldn’t be a very interesting scene, would it? So the fact of the matter is, the scenes are real but they’re enhanced. Obviously we have to make it more savage than it really is. The book is an insight into how my life actually is. People assume they know us from watching the show and I beg to differ. The book is a way of knowing us better.
Do you think there’ll be any feathers ruffled?
Yeah, there’s some pretty risqué stuff in there. I’ve been very honest with quite a lot of things. I haven’t really held back. It’s pretty revealing – I’d go so far to say that you’ll know me quite well once you’ve read the book. But yeah I think feathers will be ruffled. It’s supposed to be funny yet shocking.
Have you always wanted to write a book?
Not at all. I was a shocking pupil at school and barely wrote an essay, so to suddenly write eight dissertations in one go was a bit of a challenge, a pretty long process. It was actually a lot of fun. But I never saw myself writing a book at this age. Quite a lot of stuff has happened in my life so far, and it was a fun way of reminiscing because you forget certain things, don’t you?
If the book were to be made into a film, who would you want to play you?
Colin Farrell. I love him. Harry Styles (laughs). No, I do like Colin.
Did you find anything challenging to write about?
Yeah it was quite challenging to write about the death of my brother, that was fairly full on because we go into quite a lot of detail about it. He was climbing Mount Everest and was lost on the way down. There’s a whole chapter on it. That was quite difficult. We were
described as twins separated by time, so naturally losing someone close to you is always going to be quite difficult to go into
detail on. But that’s my favourite chapter. I think it does him justice.
Finally, are you excited for the new series of Made in Chelsea?
It’s going to be epic. It actually is. I never used to say it because I’ve always been really honest in interviews. Once we were done with series one if I was asked about series two I was like “yeah it’s okay, not the type of thing I’d watch.” But I’d watch this series even if my mates weren’t in it. It’s pretty full on; I think the gloves have just come off. Everyone officially hates each other, it’s proper war. Obviously there are good friendships, relationships and new people, but it’s full on this series. We’ve really gone to town. You’ll see there’s a scene in the first episode where I’m trying to better myself, I’ll leave it at that. I think it will probably be quite funny.
Confessions of a Chelsea Boy by Spencer Matthews is out now in hardback. Published by Sidgwick & Jackson, RRP £16.99
Laura Chisholm