Early March is usually somewhat of a limbo season for us reality telly lovers; we're waiting patiently for ITV to release new seasons of The Real Housewives of Cheshire and TOWIE, while mourning the latest series of Love Island that has just wrapped.
Basically, it's ITV's world and the rest of us are just living in it (even the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5, apparently).
However, thanks to the introduction of a rebooted Celebrity Big Brother on – you guessed it – ITV, we didn't have to go out and get a social life during the annual telly gap, so thank you, for that. Life's too expensive and it's still freezing outside.
As much as we're enjoying CBB so far, we are getting seriously impatient for some fresh RHOCheshire dramz – after all, March is when we've come to expect a new series from those Cheshire queens. As per, the ladies have been teasing us on their socials to no end over the last few weeks revealing behind-the-scenes footage from filming series 17 in and around Cheshire, but we'd really welcome an official start date to give us something to look forward to, ladies.
Cue RHOCheshire's unofficial spokesperson/PR, cast member Rachel Lugo.
If we want RHOCheshire answers Rachel's Instagram story is commonly the go-to, and if she's doing a Q&A with fans? Well, that's just a gold mine if you're a Closer journalist.
Thankfully, Rachel was doing just that earlier this week and predictably, did talk about the upcoming series, revealing that it would begin airing on ITVBe in a matter of days. DAYS.
A fan asked when the new series was starting and Rachel replied, "End of March."
Okay, so it's not an official start date, but it's right around the corner, and considering new episodes of the reality series historically drop on a Monday, our money's on Monday 25 March 2024.
We'll see you then ladies 🥂. Just don't delay it by weeks like you did the Pride special, yeah?
Who is taking part in Real Housewives of Cheshire series 17?
While ITV are yet to confirm the official cast lineup, Rachel, CBB's Lauren Simon, Lystra Adams, Sheena Lynch, Seema Malhotra, Nicole Sealey, Ampika Pickston and Tanya Bardsley have all been seen filming content on socials. Hanna Kinsella, Natasha Hamilton andPaige Chohan Housewife status is still up in the air.
We do know that the official press shots for series 17 have been taken, so no doubt we'll learn who has been filming full-time in the coming weeks – as well as the identity of any new Housewives/guest Housewives.
WATCH: Tom Clare and Molly Smith expose 'not PG' Love Island scenes that we definitely did not see on TV
Ben Pulsford is a digital writer for Closer, a London-based drag queen called Beary Poppins and The Real Housewives of Cheshire would be his Mastermind subject. As would the hairstyles of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In his spare time Ben likes to watch re-runs of The Real Housewives of Cheshire, making him the ideal Closer employee. He's still waiting for RHOCheshire bosses to invite him on a press trip - hint hint.