Made in Chelsea newcomer Tom Zanetti has admitted he was surprised by how “set up” the show is after joining the cast alongside his girlfriend Sophie Hermann.
Tom and Sophie met while taking part in the latest series of Celebs Go Dating and have continued their relationship outside of the mansion, with the DJ turning up in the latest episode of the E4 show to surprise Sophie for her birthday.
Now that he’s a fully-fledged reality star, Tom has been lifting the lid on some behind the scenes MIC secrets and it seems that filming isn’t quite what he expected.
“I didn’t know what to expect. But I kind of thought it would be more like [the cameras] following you around and stuff like that. I didn’t realise it would be, you know, like settings, like set up in a way,” he said on FUBAR Radio’s Access All Areas show.
Tom continued, “In a way, yes, it is set up. They’ll set up an amazing setting and a backdrop and then you’re given a topic to discuss.
“That doesn’t discredit it at all. It was set up but, then you’ve got to film it so many times from so many different angles. And then, you get the wides, and then you get the pretties and then you get this and that.”
CHECK OUT Made in Chelsea's most dramatic splits
Made in Chelsea most dramatic splits - slider
Spencer Matthews and Caggie Dunlop
The OG tragic split, even featuring an IRL (well, scripted reality) leaving at the airport scene. Spencer and Caggie weren't officially a couple, with Spencer dating model Funda Önal, but the chemistry between them was undeniable and for a long time Spenny thought of her as the love of his life. Eventually, feeling played by Spencer stringing her along while refusing to dump Funda (we don't blame her, tbh) Caggie left to pursue a "music career" in New York, and Spencer, realising the error of his ways, rushed to catch her at the airport to win her back. He missed her. Talk about dramatic.
Ollie Lock and Gabriella Ellis
Cast your minds back to the first series and you will remember that a long-locked Ollie Lock was in fact dating a woman - aspiring pop star Garbriella Ellis, no less. But the couple split because Ollie was confused about his sexuality, and he quickly went on his "first ever" date with a man, leaving Gabriella heartbroken. So heartbroken, in fact, that she wrote her next pop song, Fight, about him, and there were some bizarre scenes in series two when she cast an Ollie lookalike to play the role of the leading man (subtle, hun).
Hugo Taylor and Millie Mackintosh
We all know how this turned out IN THE END, but cast your minds back to series one and you'll remember the OG Chelsea power couple met a very messy end when Millie found out that Hugo (best mate of slimy Spencer Matthews) had cheated on her with HER best friend, the unassuming Rosie Fortescue. Cue a VERY dramatic speech at a party where Millie outed their betrayal in front of all their friends, making for possibly one of the best MiC scenes to this day.
Spencer Matthews and Louise Thompson
After Caggie, Spencer's next conquest (in fact there might have been a few in between, to be fair), was weepy Louise Thompson, who was regularly reduced to tears by his womanizing ways. For some reason she stayed with him through multiple infidelities (seriously, we don't get it?) but things eventually came to a head when Spence met Louise at a bridge by the Thames (a classic) and told her he couldn't respect her when she "allowed" him to cheat on her.
Binky Felstead and Alex Mytton
We were all rooting for Binky and new boy Alex Mytton when he showed up in series five, but it quickly became apparent he was one of the 'bois' by how well he got along with resident villains Spencer and Jamie Laing. They were a cute couple for a while, but Binky eventually split with Alex after learning he'd cheated on her on a night out with Spencer. She later found out the night in question had actually been an ORGY, which made things ten times worse. Poor Binks.
Sam Thompson and Tiffany Watson
Ah, young love's dream. Except, not really, because a freshly de-cherried (presumably) Sam Thompson simply could not keep it in his pants during his two year relationship with Tiffany Watson. The couple eventually split during tearful scenes in Croatia, with Tiffany quitting the show shortly after. However, after Sam returned in 2019 with his Love Island girlfriend Zara McDermott in tow there were some seriously tense scenes where Sam very much gave the impression he wasn't over his first love.
Louise Thompson and Alik Alfus
This one ruined us. Sure, New Yorker Alik was a bit of a bumbling idiot, and moving to the UK and asking Louise to marry him was A TAD overkill, but the scenes where Louise decided she couldn't go through with it and gave the ring back were peak heartbreak. There was later talk that their split had something to do with fellow American cast member Stephanie Pratt, but she hit back with a tweet saying, "Uhhh no she was shagging her trainer since March." She's now engaged (or is she?) to said trainer, Ryan Libbey.
Jamie Laing and Frankie Gaff
We hate to say it, but Chelsea OG Jamie Laing just doesn't seem like he deserves a girlfriend. Not that Frankie Gaff was our fave, but is there a single partner Jamie hasn't done the dirty on? His relationship with Frankie was particularly eye-roll, but Frankie gave as good as she got when she went after Jamie's boi Alex Mytton and allegedly hooked up with TOWIE's Dan Edgar. They eventually split after one too many tearful confrontations at the dinner table with friends, and Frankie quit shortly afterward.
Liv Bentley and Digby Edgley
After meeting on the set of one of 'photographer' Liv's nude shoots, it was love at first sight for these two and they managed a pretty normal relationship for a good few series. But things started getting rocky in series 18 with Digby increasingly frustrated by Liv's social life and Liv feeling stifled. At the end of the series after some major on-ing and an off-ing, Digby left for South Africa for work for three months, but then Liv went on Celebs Go Dating and the former couple shared some cut throat digs on Insta.
Maeva D'Ascanio and Miles Nazaire
Let's face it - the golden era of MiC ended when the last remaining connections to the OG cast faded from the show (excluding Jamie Laing, obv), and we've been less invested in their relationships since then. But a special mention goes to Maeva D'Ascanio and Miles Nazaire. As each others' first loves in their native France, Maeva followed Miles to London where she joined the MiC cast and after a full series of heartbreak, the couple agreed to move on. We're sure Miles didn't have his best mate James Taylor in mind for Maeva's next squeeze, though. Awks.
Sam Thompson and Zara McDermott
After meeting on the celeb circuit, Sam brought Love Islander Zara onto MiC with him (despite her being very much not from Chelsea) in 2019 as he returned from a break from filming. Cue VERY awkward exchanges with his ex, Tiffany, who also picked that series to return. In September 2020 allegations of Zara cheating on Sam during her stint on The X Factor came to light (oh how the tables have turned, hey Sam?) and their dramz split is set to play out on the upcoming series.
And despite the usually picturesque settings, Tom added that life on the show is “not easy at all”.
He said, “These people who are on it, they’re on it for weeks on end and it’s very long days.
“It’s made to look very easy because it looks so beautiful on the screen, but it’s actually like so draining and so tiring. So yeah, it’s not easy at all.”
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Despite Tom’s claims that Made in Chelsea is “set up”, his girlfriend Sophie has revealed her reaction to his arrival was completely genuine – as she had no idea he was coming.
“He actually surprised me a day earlier. So literally the reaction that you see was my reaction,” she told Grazia.
Tom turned up at the rather awkward moment Sophie was being serenaded by Julius Cowdrey and she added, “To be honest, I really regret reacting like that for my for my birthday song. But I was so distracted by Tom and the white teeth of the Colgate Casanova coming in! I completely forgot about the song - but it has been actually been an earworm in my brain since then.”