It's been a hot minute since we checked in on any of our Real Housewives of Cheshire queens. But to be fair, they're all on a filming break right now and the majority of them spend most of that downtime holibobbing it up somewhere lush and lavish. So Cheshire.
But, thanks to some inside gossip from cast members Tanya Bardsley and Lauren Simon, we know for a fact that the ladies are returning to filming – for the hotly anticipated ten-year anniversary special, we might add – in January 2025, and now we're almost done with October, we've decided as a team that it's time to get publicly excited about this.
Without a shadow of a doubt, we just know series 18 of The Real Housewives of Cheshire is going to be huge, not just because it's a milestone series for the ladies and the fans, but because we are certain it is going to be pick up from the aftermath of one of the biggest cast divides in the show's history = drama. That and Tanya and Lauren have teased new and old faces...
The last time we caught up with the ladies a cast divide like no other was rattling the show to its core; in fact, it had downright severed the cast right down the middle come the series 17 reunion.
The divide is between Rachel Lugo, Nicole Sealey, Lauren, Seema Malhotra, and newer (ish) cast members, Lystra Adams, Sheena Lynch, Paige Chohan and newest Housewife Eleanor Egar on the other. And once filming had wrapped, the ladies made no secret about who they chose to hang out with away from the cameras and showcasing that to their followers. See, ITV, this is why we need weekly RHOCheshire... or a noughties-esque 24-hours-a-day Big Brother version...
For a while it was looking like that divide storyline was going to continue on into the new series, but then... ooo, then... a snap of the ladies together (mixed up in their rival groups) at Eleanor's recent engagement party this weekend hit social media – and it's left us questioning everything.
The snap shows Paige, Lystra, Lauren, Eleanor, Seema, Sheena and Nicole all posing for a photo TOGETHER at Eleanor's big bash, and we swear some of these ladies couldn't be in the same room together just a few weeks ago?
While the snap suggests that the cast feud might have somewhat dissipated, it's impossible to ignore the fact that one key queen is missing from the photo – Rachel Lugo. So what's the tea here?
Did Eleanor invite all the girls bar Rachel to her engagement party? We don't know for sure, but given she invited Nicole (who she arguably butted heads with way more last season), we're thinking it's unlikely Eleanor would've singled out Rachel.
Also we know for a fact, that Rachel spent the last few days with former cast member Dawn Ward as she recovers from surgery, so if you ask us, Eleanor being the kind queen she is, decided to invite all of her cast mates to her celebratory bash (regardless of any show drama), and Rachel was the only one who couldn't make it.
It's giving healing.
It's giving healing, but we're betting a fair few of those wounds from last season are still stinging – and will still be stinging come January.
WATCH: It looks like we can expect some new cast members on the Real Housewives of Cheshire just in time for the 10th anniversary
Ben Pulsford is a digital writer for Bauer Media, writing for both Closer online and heatworld. When he's not getting paid to gossip about Big Brother, Love Island and The Real Housewives of Cheshire, he's storming the London LGBTQ+ scene as drag queen, Beary Poppins. Both Ben and Beary are awaiting an invite to join The Real Housewives of Cheshire for series 18. The budget's not there, but the drama is.