We can always rely on our TOWIE faves to break through all the BS and tell us exactly how it is. You don't last 15 years on the telly by sitting on the fence.
Now that Mickey Rourke is out of the Celebrity Big Brother house (finally), the CBB storyline spotlight is now fixed on whatever the heck is going on with Love Island 2017 star Chris Hughes and US pop icon JoJo Siwa (two names we NEVER EVER thought we'd be writing in the same article, let alone the same sentence).
A secondary spotlight is fixed on the one or two housemates who are raising an eyebrow at the pair's blossoming relationship - in particular, TOWIE queen Ella Rae Wise.

Basically, as soon as social media learned that Ella and Chris were going to be in the CBB house together, people began anticipating a 'showmance'. We did too, to be honest, especially given she split with Dan Edgar just days before entering the house. This ain't our first rodeo.
That's very clearly not happened, though; in fact, Ella isn't particularly impressed with either Chris or JoJo and has gone on to suggest that Chris is 'playing a game' in the house, insinuating that he's gravitating towards JoJo (who has over 11m Instagram followers) for clout.

At this stage in the game, we have a million and one questions for Ella, and while we can't ask them directly right now, we can ask her bestie FreddIe Bentley, who arguably knows Ella better than anyone - so we did just that.
First up, where the heck has this feud between Ella and Chris come from and how did we all get it so wrong?
Freddie exclusively told Closer online, 'Hand on my heart, I don’t think anything’s going to happen between Ella and Chris. He isn’t her usual type - yes, he has elements of being funny, but I do think Chris is playing a bit of a game.

'He’s latched onto JoJo, and Ella Wise is called Ella "WISE" for a reason. She clocked this a couple of days ago, and she probably kept it to herself a little bit… but she was the first housemate to call it out for what it was, and now everyone else is seeing it for what it is. But Ella hasn’t had to try and convince people of that, they’re seeing it for themselves.'
Interesting. Now, we can't ignore the fact that a huge chunk of the fandom thinks that Ella's frostiness towards Chris and JoJo is down to jealousy, as Chris was drawn to JoJo and not her....

Freddie told us, 'People couldn’t be more wrong if they tried if they think Ella is jealous of JoJo. It’s got nothing to do with jealousy - if you know Ella on a personal level, you’ll know she isn’t a jealous person one bit. She isn’t like that, she loves seeing people win. What will probably get on her nerves is if she thinks people aren’t being authentically themselves or are playing a game, and I think that’s exactly what’s happened. She’s got no reason to be jealous of anyone - she’s just come out of a relationship herself, she hasn’t gone in there to pursue anything with anyone. She’s done this experience for herself and herself only.'
INTERESTING.
It's safe to say, we can't wait to see how this plays out (cue RuPaul with opera glasses gif).
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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 TOWIE, Love Island and The Real Housewives of Cheshire, he's storming the London LGBTQ+ scene as drag queen, Beary Poppins, or co-hosting Spill The Fizz podcast alongside Traitors legend, Diane Carson. 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 💅.