A flawless screen filter, excruciatingly awkward silences and excessive use of the term ‘pardy’ can only mean one thing; Made In Chelsea is back. This series follows the posse to Los Angeles for their annual summer break, giving them a break from what one would assume to be a very tiring daily routine of bitching and sitting in various bars around SW3.

The first episode of every series (and would you believe we’re now into the eleventh instalment of the reality show) begins the same. Heavily staged, and reminding us of all the friendships, relationships, catfights and dramas that previously enthralled us in the last series. In the past it’s been a pillow fight party, not forced for the camera whatsoever, and for the LA edition it featured the fabulous as ever girls emerging from a private jet and straight into a limo thoughtfully arranged by LA native Stephanie.

Simultaneously, Jamie and JP are ‘hiking’ in the Hollywood Hills when they stumble across new cast members Naz and Tara. How convincing; it seems that the more new faces they bring in, the less they attempt to make the integration appear real. It’s established that everyone is conveniently single and now going to Naz’s friends pool party later that day; things are heating up.

The episode was then devoted to the pool party, where Jess and Jamie had a row, the American girls and the Chelsea girls pretended to like each other and I was disappointed to see Spencer missing from the crowd, and even more disappointed to see that the dullest cast member ever Josh had somehow convinced the producers to let him stay for another series.

Despite a plethora of cringe inducing staged moments from start to finish, I know that I won’t miss an episode, and chances are the rest of the country won’t either. It’s the guilty pleasure that keeps us tuning into E4 every Monday and giving us that small taste of the lavish and luxurious lifestyle, even if it is ever so slightly fabricated.

 

Emma Bowden 

 

Features image from Channel 4.