We get to know our fair share of fabulous reality telly queens writing for Closer, but we have to say, one queen we have simply adored following on our screens and socials over the last year is new Real Housewives of Cheshire star, Ell Egar (it is Ell, not Ellen, btw 👀) who, honestly, had us from the moment she uttered her very first Housewives tagline: 'I'm young, pretty and clever, I'd hate me too.'
Just a phenomenal slay from Miss Egar from the start.
Now, in recent years, most new Housewives who have been integrated into the group, take one glance at the sheer level of #dramz going on and head for the hills (we won't name names), but Ell has firmly stuck with it, despite going head to head with two major players – Rachel Lugo and Nicole Sealey – since joining the show.
While Ell and Rachel seem to be on good terms these days, after watching the first episode of series 18, it's safe to say that things are still a little strained between Ell and Nicole.
Last series, Nicole questioned Ell's career as an influencer and had a fair bit to say about her not living in the moment as a result. That has certainly bled into series 18 and towards the end of the first episode, Nicole came for Ell about not inviting her to her engagement party until the last minute, continued her probing with questions about the influencer life and even admitted to thinking Ell's name was Ellen (something that even her mates Lauren Simon and Seema Malhotra felt the need to call out). Ooft. Say what you want about Nicole, she knows how to bring that drama to the screen. Also one of our faves, btw.
After an altercation between the ladies during a night out in Thailand (which, of course, eventually involved EVERYONE else), both Ell and Nicole ended up walking off camera, leaving a wonderful cliff-hanger for next week.
Those scenes were actually filmed in December 2024, so when we got the opportunity to sit down with Ell for an exclusive chinwag days after those scenes first aired on ITVBe, you know we had some Nicole questions for her.
Ell began, 'We've started off the series with bang in Thailand and that definitely continues throughout.'
Speaking of where she stands with Nicole now, she exclusively told Closer, 'I think Nicole is very quick to have an opinion on decisions that I make, maybe relating to age, which I've had conversations [about] here and there, but the longer I'm in the show, the longer I'm around the girls, age is purely just a number. It doesn't come into anything. I think they're all realising that now.'
Speaking of Nicole describing Ell waking up the day after her engagement to partner Chris to recreate the proposal for pictures (to be fair they'd had three bottles of champagne on the day itself, so we get it) as 'weird' which kicked off the evening drama, Ell had thoughts...
She told us, 'The decision I made out of the engagement pictures was something I made out of my own choice. Nicole's entitled to an opinion but, you know, I was in that moment, in that place, in our happy bubble.
'We wanted to celebrate that and I really wanted to capture the moment for myself and to share them with my audience. I mean Chris is so glad now that we've got those moments to look back on and have them as pictures in the house. It's really special to us.'