Earlier this week – after some Wagatha-Christie-esque sleuthing that should definitely warrant us some sort of Christmas bonus – we revealed that the cast of The Real Housewives of Cheshire are currently filming the first few scenes of series 18 in Thailand.
Our fave reality telly queens have been lightly teasing this milestone for months, but have now gathered over 5,000 miles away to resume filming for the hit ITVBe series and while we've still got a few months to go before we see the full events of the episodes play out on our screens, the Instagram stories are enough to keep us going for now. Just.
The likes of Tanya Bardsley and Lauren Simon have already promised drama, surprises 'new faces' from the anniversary season, but one thing we didn't count on – at least not so early on – is heavy feels and emotions.
According to queen of queens Lystra Adams - whose girls trip outfits are giving us LIFE by the way, so do give her a follow – the first day of filming series 18 was an emotional one for her; in fact, she ended up doing something that took her majorly out of her 'comfort zone' and resulted in her 'bawling her eyes out' on camera.
Taking to her Instagram (and looking inhumanly gorgeous while doing so, obv), Lystra told her followers, ‘I’m going to be real with you guys, yesterday was… I think this series of Housewives, you guys have got to really stay tuned because yesterday was the first day of filming and let me tell you, I literally bawled my eyes out all day because I was so out of my comfort zone.'
She elaborated adding, 'I think when it airs you’ll understand what I’m saying, I can’t really give too much away, but I did an activity yesterday that completely is not me. It took everything out of me to do it. Now, I know I do this for your entertainment, but yesterday almost took the life out of me.'
Our guess is as good as yours regarding what this 'activity' actually is, but in our minds, we're envisioning some sort of reunion dinner where the ladies hash out any residual negativity left over from last series, because let's be fair, the reunion for series 17 didn't exactly end in a group hug.
Saying that, the ladies have made it clear that they're all on good terms going into the new series. We know for a fact that Lystra and Rachel Lugo have squashed their tension, and Lauren and Paige Chohan made a point to film a video message for Closer to stress that they are now good pals (following a raging feud towards the end of last season) with a mock boxing video.
Queen behaviour.
Since joining The Real Housewives of Cheshire in spectacular fashion in 2020 we've been obsessed with series legend Lystra.
Seriously, she had us at her very first glamorous entrance (and it was glamorous). From high fashion to fiery rows, from drama to diva demands, Lystra Adams was born to be a reality television superstar.
She was one of the only good things to come out of the pandemic and long may she slay on our screens.
WATCH: Real Housewives of Cheshire's Tanya Bardsley and Lauren Simon have spilled the tea on series 18
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 💅