A TV show about real housewives conjures up images of hard-working mums, struggling to put food on the table while balancing the school run and a part-time job.
Those rules do not apply in the depths of the countryside around Knutsford and Alderley Edge. The latest series of Real Housewives of Cheshire has started with the usual round of makeovers, gossip and weapons-grade bitching. The lives of Ampika, Dawn, Lauren & Co are laid bare for the cameras. But are they real? Really real?
The program centres around the lives of nine women who certainly do not struggle to make ends meet. Real housewives don’t drive Lamborghinis, wear head-to-toe Versace and spend their days sipping champagne. These are the wives of footballers, businessmen and property developers, who spend more on a pair of shoes than most people pay out in a month of food shopping. The show is part of a worldwide franchise seeking to satisfy the lust for a glimpse into the way the other half live. They must be doing something right, because we are now on series five.
A new element is a legal dispute between two of the parties, over a loan made some while ago. This isn’t about a few quid to help with the gas bill, we are talking about half a million pounds. One of the other ladies has labelled the two involved as “pathetic drama queens” which is pretty rich coming from a woman whose entire life is fuelled by drama and ruled by gossip and bitching.
We tune in because of our compulsion to people-watch, the same urge that makes us sit outside coffee shops and brave the cold in the hope of seeing the weird and wonderful stroll by. Our Cheshire ladies deliver in spades and we get to see it all from the comfort of our own home. We see their taste in clothes (pretty horrendous) and the way their houses are furnished (equally awful), ultimately getting a sense of what they are actually like.
Each episode provides the viewer with a dilemma. We alternate between wanting to punch the participants in the face and admiring their homes. Sometimes, very occasionally, we will nod sympathetically as a makeover goes wrong.
Underneath it all, we want validation of our own situation. We may not have the cash to splash on £10,000 handbags but we go to sleep safe in the knowledge that at least we are nice people, admired by our friends and family. The housewives of Cheshire desperately crave attention and are not afraid to stab their “mates” in the back to barge their way ahead. If on the way they can sell you some of their exclusive designer perfume at £100 a bottle, then all well and good.
The lives of these vacuous bimbos and their endless rounds of make-up, makeovers and chatter has us screaming at the TV but at the same time, we beg for more!
by Ian Hine
The post Whats On TV: Real Housewives? Don’t Make Me Laugh appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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