She might be constantly striving for that drama-free life, but it's safe to say that The Real Housewives of Cheshire legend Rachel Lugo has been somewhat failing on that front in the latest series the hit ITVBe series.
We're only a few episodes in to series 17 of the Cheshire-based reality series and Rachel has already come to blows with series 16 enemy Paige Chohan, entered a couple of screaming matches with Lystra Adams (a fallout which seems to have ferociously divided the cast) and has had some charged conversations with Lystra's show bestie, Sheena Lynch.
Lystra wasn't kidding when she teased that friendship dynamics had changed this season...
As much as we're always here for the drama on shows like RHOCheshire, we absolutely adore each and every one of these women and part of us just wants them to all get along and live a blissful life of champagne brunches, lavish shopping trips and exuberant girly holidays (minus anyone storming off or violently shaking an expensive dinner table). Alas, the ladies are from that rig right now.
Naturally, the current drama isn't just rattling this chaotic cast, it's rattling this chaotic fanbase (us).
In fact, plenty of fans had plenty to say about Rachel's very notable absent during last night's episode, just as her feud with Lystra was reaching boiling point. In fact, she only appeared in the episode for a few minutes during a scene with Seema Malhotra and Nicole Sealey.
Rachel's absence was first clocked when both her and Nicole were no-shows for Lauren Simon and Ellie Egar's bootcamp team bonding day. Upon learning that the girls had given filming the scenes a miss due to illness, Tanya Bardsley said, "Oh come on! Sick note Celia. I'm not having that."
While Sheena said in her confessionals, "Sick or avoiding? Sick or avoiding? Avoiding."
Rachel then went on to miss Nick and Royston's "evening of intriguing curiosities" later that day, sending her apologies to the hosts.
Soon after the episode aired on ITVBe, Rachel – who clearly heard the phrase "avoiding" and said, "Hold my earrings" – took to her Instagram story to clear-up her absence.
She wrote, "Lots of messages tonight asking why I'm hardly in tonight's show... I was very poorly for over 2 weeks with Bronchitis so I wasn't able to film very much at all until I got better. I'm back in it next week."
She then filmed a quick video from her car the next morning, telling 311K followers that "It’s always weird when you hear what people say about you when you’re not there.
"Sometimes it's surprising."
Ooft.
Rachel and Lystra's latest feud stemmed from Rachel's heated fall-out with newbie Paige Chohan, who recently joined the cast as a full-time Housewife (and gave birth to her first child), however tensions reached new heights when Rachel mentioned Lystra's daughter during a related argument.
Last summer, Rachel sent fans (well, us) into meltdown after suggesting that she could be moving on from the ITVBe series that made her a household name six years ago. Not only that, according to a recent Instagram story post, she might be leaving Cheshire – potentially the UK – altogether to be closer to family as she prepares to sell her lavish Cheshire home.
Rachel is currently in the process of packing up her home of 20 years, following her divorce from John Lugo and her split from boyfriend of two years, Nick (which played out on the last series of RHOCheshire).
Last year Rachel told OK!, "I have no time for relationships just now, I’ve got loads on. Moving out of the home I’ve lived in for 20 years has been a massive upheaval.
“Let me tell you, I keep everything and I mean everything [laughs]. But, emotionally, it feels like another loss and I’m struggling with that, especially for the kids who are having to go through it. It’s very sad.”
She then went on to stress that she wasn't leaving Cheshire as the majority of the reality series is filmed there, explaining, "I’ve got to stay in Cheshire, obviously, because of the show. I’ve also got four children living at home… and four horses, three dogs and a cat.”
However, the winds appear to have changed as Rachel recently took to her Instagram story to reveal that she is entertaining the idea of moving out of her lifelong home of Cheshire once the house is sold, stating, "The world is my oyster".
She told her followers, "The world is my oyster... a change will be good.
"I have a sister in Gibraltar, one in London and one in Boston, USA. It would be nice to nearer to one of them. I'm ready for the next chapter... whatever that looks like."
Rachel joined the Real Housewives of Cheshire in 2017 for series six and has kept her full-time Housewife status for 11 series.