She hung up her Belgravia bootstraps almost three years ago – swapping her role on Made In Chelsea for a slightly-less-dramatic life off-camera. But last week, Binky Felstead revealed she’d be returning to SW3 later this month – and has already begun filming, telling fans, “It feels like I’ve come home,” and that she was excited to be “navigating the next stage [of her life]” on the 19th series of the E4 show.
A lot has changed for Binky – she’s now mum to two-year-old India, and in a stable relationship with businessman Max Darnton, which is far less drama-filled than your average MIC episode.
And now the star’s worried that her happy love life might pay the price.
“Binky was both excited and nervous about returning to the show,” says an insider close to the 29 year old, who began dating Max in 2019, and last year spoke about their plans to move in together.
“She really missed all the drama of her old life – but she’s most worried that it could cause friction between her and Max. It doesn’t help that, so far, he hasn’t been too keen about appearing on the show with her, and he really hates the idea of Binky discussing anything personal about them. Binky knows that producers want that kind of stuff, so she feels really torn.”
CHECK OUT Made in Chelsea's most iconic moments
Most Iconic Made In Chelsea Moments - slider
1 of 10Millie Mackintosh slapping a cheating Spencer Matthews
Millie's fiery personality came up with the goods in series four. After discovering slimy Spencer was cheating on current girlfriend, Louise Thompson, Millie and Rosie (pre-'friendship' speech, obvs) confronted Spence and gave him a big old slap. Followed by a dramatic storm off, this has got to be one of the most memorable moments in the show's history.
2 of 10Lucy Watson's 'grill'
How can we forget out favourite sassy SW3 resident Lucy Watson? Her entrance in series four was not a quiet one. What better way to bond than over a Champagne-filled dinner party? Maybe not. After attracting negative attention from the other Made in Chelsea ladies for going on simultaneous dates with Jamie Laing and Andy Jordan, the infamous dinner party culminated in Lucy asking why everyone was 'getting up in her grill'.
3 of 10Francis Boulle's 'knob' mask
Rosie isn't one to shy away from the action, but her in-the-moment insults could use some work. After a heated discussion at a masquerade ball in series one, Rosie's memorable comeback for Francis's comments was: "Francis, your mask looks like you've got a knob on your face." Although it's not the wittiest insult she could've thought up, she's not wrong.
4 of 10JP's 'fcking good guy' speech
Made in Chelsea viewers were quite concerned about Josh Patterson's forehead veins after his memorable argument with Ollie Locke in series 12. In an angry outburst at Ollie's concern for Binky, JP erupts with his famous line: "I'm a fcking good guy. My parents raised me well. I'm a gentleman." A gentlemen who's very concerned about his girlfriend feeding other men marshmallows, apparently.
5 of 10Mark Francis not knowing what Nando's is
Bless him. After hearing that Nando's is not, in fact, a wine bar, but a chain restaurant that sells chicken, Mark gives us his best disappointed-cum-regal look. After hearing that Nando's can actually be a date venue (the horror) he said: "He took her for chicken? What a lovely first date."
6 of 10Victoria Baker-Harber calls Cheska Hull a 'fat fcking turkey'
You can't blame her for not sticking with the festive theme. Would it really be a Made in Chelsea Christmas without a massive Champagne-fuelled argument over the dinner table? Series six was particularly spectacular, with arguments between Victoria, Cheska Hull and Lucy Watson culminating in Victoria calling Cheska a 'fat fcking turkey'. Not cool.
7 of 10Gabriella Ellis's weird Ollie Locke lookalike video
You've just broken up with your boyfriend and you're heartbroken, what's the first thing you do? Make a music video and hire six actors who look extremely like your ex. No? Well, that's exactly what Gabriella Ellis did after her emotional breakup with Ollie Locke and the results were pretty weird.
8 of 10Millie Mackintosh's 'friendship' speech
Millie has had plenty of fiery encounters on the show, one of our favourites is her infamous speech in the finale of the second series. At the uber-glam twenties themed party, Millie said: "to my best friend, Rosie Fortesque, for hooking up with Hugo Taylor while we were still together, and lying about it. Here's to friendship."Then, storming past her former-friend Rosie, Millie says: "You're disgusting". Ouch.
9 of 10Alex Mytton's 'orgy'
Ah, the classic breakup reason - cheating on your girlfriend by having an orgy. In the previous episode, Binky asked Alex to promise he had 'only cheated on [her] four times', and to her dismay, she finds out this time he not only cheated on her again, but this time in an orgy. What followed was an extremely hard slap and many tears. Poor Binks.
10 of 10James Taylor taking Eliza Batten to Paris
These Made in Chelsea boys never learn, do they? In classic Chelsea style, James Taylor decided to take Eliza Batten to Paris on a date on a Monday (casual), while also dating Kings College London student, Verity Bowditch. The pair confronted him at a party, where it also transpired that he had tried to woo them both by inviting them to see his plane. Bit awkward.
As one of MIC’s original cast-members, Binky knows all too well how hard it can be to maintain a happy romance on-screen – and how viewers love a bit of camera-caught turmoil. During her seven years on the show, she was in two fiery relationships: first, with Alex Mytton, and then with baby-daddy Josh “JP” Patterson.
Since then, she’s spoken about how refreshing it is to be dating someone who isn’t in the public eye, revealing last year that Max is “very different. He has a different thing to what I have going on, which is nice.”
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But with her big return promising to rock the mean streets of south-west London, it seems inevitable that her relationship will face more scrutiny than ever. The big question is, can Max handle the spotlight?
“What’s scary for Max is the unknown,” we’re told. “He’s never known what it’s like when Binky is in full reality TV star mode. As always, Binky is spinning too many plates again. And, as much as she likes to pretend she can do it all, something inevitably falls by the wayside. Those close to her are hoping that it’s not her relationship with Max, because they feel he’s a really good influence.”
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