ITV's above-and-beyond plans to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of The Real Housewives of Cheshire have been on Closer's radar since Tanya Bardsley first spilled the beans last summer and, frankly, we've been getting our Poirot on ever since to uncover all the secrets show bosses and the cast have in store.
And we've done pretty well, to be honest; we learned that 'old and new faces' would be joining the ladies on screen for series 18, we unearthed that series one legend Leanne Brown would be making a spectacular comeback (before it was officially confirmed 💅) and we discovered that the extra-long series would feature a hen party, dinner parties, a break-up, multiple girls' trips (including one to Thailand), a 50th birthday party for Rachel Lugo and yet another fancy-dress party.
We even stuck our noses in so hard once or twice that we got ourselves in trouble with the ladies themselves...
We genuinely patted ourselves on the back for these discoveries, but as it turns out, we only scratched the surface.
Apparently, while we were chasing red herrings and dud leads, ITV were busy flipping through their little black book of Cheshire Housewives and booking virtually ALL OF THEM in for the ten-year anniversary series.
Once ITV released the first trailer for series 18, we knew they meant serious business as the teaser revealed that Leanne would be joined by returning housewives Deborah Davies and Nermina Pieters-Mekic this series, as well as Tanya, Hanna Kinsella and Ester Dee (who all still pop back from time to time as guests). But they weren't done. In fact, the iconic announcements had only just begun...
Fast forward a few weeks to the here and now and ITV goes and announces that THREE MORE Housewives are making comebacks for the milestone series. And not just any Housewives – we're talking three series one OGs, one of which is arguably one of the most iconic and memorable Housewives of the entire series. The Queen, if you will...
The three returning Housewives are Ampika Pickston (who returns after a brief hiatus), Magali Gorre (as in 'you better not cross me' Magali) and DAWN WARD. THE DAWN WARD. THE DAWN WARD WHO MOVED TO DUBAI AND MADE IT CLEAR THAT HER AND THE SHOW WERE DONE FOR GOOD.
Capitals just seem necessary.
If you've been watching the show since it launched in 2015, you'll realise just how big this is for the show. And clearly show bosses are fully aware of that because they announced Dawn's return with two separate grid posts on Instagram.
The first showed a radiant Dawn filming a confessional with the caption, 'That’s right! When we told you Series 18 was gonna be one for the books we weren’t lying! We can FINALLY reveal that The Real Housewives of Cheshire OG Dawn Ward @dawnward4 is OFFICIALLY returning to the show to celebrate the 10 Year Anniversary! 🥳.'
The other grid caption read, 'Ask and you shall receive 😉 We are so happy to finally reveal that Dawn Ward is returning to The Real Housewives of Cheshire Series 18 to celebrate the ICONIC 10 Year Anniversary! 😱
'We cannot wait for you guys to see EVERYTHING that Dawn got up to with our ladies this time around and it will be nothing short of I-CON-IC!!! 💥.'
Iconic, indeed. We can't help but wonder how the likes of Leanne, Tanya and Magali are going to feel about this infamous (in the best way 😈) return?
Oh what we'd give to go back in time and be a fly on the wall for these conversations between show bosses and Dawn.
Magali's return was also announced via the show's official Instagram over the weekend. In a short video, the Cheshire queen can be seen twirling her hair and grinning in confessionals. The caption stated, 'It’s raining OGs! Just when you thought the good news was over.. we can also officially reveal that legendary OG @magaligorre will ALSO be returning to The Real Housewives of Cheshire in celebration of the show's 10 Year Anniversary! 🔥.'
Let's take a well-deserved minute to absorb all of this... this means every single series one OG is involved in the ten-year anniversary special.
And just like that, we've proved that manifestation really works.