Sophie Habboo has dished the dirt on the not-so-glamorous reality behind her Made In Chelsea fashion choices, revealing that while the cast often looks designer-clad, many are actually wearing cheap fast fashion brand Pretty Little Thing.
She was so intimidated by the thought of appearing alongside high-end designer picks that it led to an ‘unbearable fail’ on her first day of filming.
Sophie had secretly bought a £1,000 designer dress for filming on the hit reality show, but she’d planned to return it.
Instead, she was left horrified when a producer ripped the tag off the luxury garment.
Speaking to Melissa Tattam on their Wednesdays podcast, the 30-year-old admitted: ‘When I first joined Made in Chelsea I thought everyone wore real designer. But a lot of people were literally wearing Pretty Little Thing.’
Despite earning just ‘£50 a day at the beginning’, the reality star had splurged on a £1,000 Net-A-Porter dress for an event day, intending to send it back after filming.
Sophie Habboo has dished the dirt on the not-so-glamorous reality behind her Made In Chelsea fashion choices (pictured this month)
She revealed that while the cast often looks designer-clad, many are actually wearing cheap fast fashion brand Pretty Little Thing (pictured o the show in 2019)
‘I’m 23, I’ve got this event day, I go onto net-a-porter I buy this dress and I’m like I’m just gonna keep the tag in and return it. Sorry, cuff me!’ she said.
But her plan fell apart when she arrived on set.
‘I turned up in my dress which is not the done thing you turn up in tracksuit and UGGS and then change into it,’ Sophie explained.
‘So I have this tag tucked inside my dress. As I’m walking up the stairs the product goes “Oh got your tag still in!” and rips it out my dress. It was like a grand, the dress!’
‘Unbearable, unbearable. I was like Dad, I’m sorry!’
But it seems Sophie has come a long way since her early ‘Made in Chelsea fail’.
In 2023 Sophie tied the knot with fellow Made in Chelsea star Jamie Laing in a lavish ceremony in Spain.
The couple recently received the keys to a house in Notting Hill, after having spent three years renting an apartment in the area.
Sophie was so intimidated by the thought of appearing alongside high-end designer picks that it led to an ‘unbearable fail’ on her first day of filming
She bought a £1,000 designer dress for filming on the hit reality show, but she’d planned to return it. Instead, she was left horrified when a producer ripped the tag off the luxury garment
As stars of the scripted reality television show Made In Chelsea, Sophie and Jamie helped promote the expensive Chelsea area, but later revealed they decided to buy their first home in a different corner of west London because Chelsea is ‘boring’.
The new abode has a basement, which they will turn into a media room, as well as a garden.
They plan to renovate the property, with a kitchen created by the upmarket firm Smallbone.
Explaining why they were living in a rented property in Notting Hill, Jamie, 35, told The Times: ‘We’ve been renting a two-bedroom apartment in Notting Hill for three years. I previously owned an apartment in Chelsea, but I found Chelsea boring.
‘We also needed to move out because the flat had a history – Sophie didn’t like the fact my ex-girlfriends had lived there.’
In 2021, OK! magazine revealed that Jamie Laing had amassed an impressive fortune of £7.1 million.
While his family’s connection to the McVitie’s biscuit empire meant he was already financially comfortable before stepping into the spotlight, Jamie has significantly expanded his wealth through a thriving showbiz career.
His time on Made In Chelsea reportedly earned him around £8,000 per series, alongside additional income from various television appearances, including his stint on Strictly Come Dancing.
But Sophie isn’t the first Made In Chelsea star to speak out about the show’s pay.
Louise Thompson has revealed she was paid just £25 per day when she first appeared on E4 reality series Made In Chelsea.
The influencer, 34, who launched her career on the show, has claimed that it favoured badly-behaved men and made her look like a ‘weak doormat’.
‘I’m 23, I’ve got this event day, I go onto net-a-porter I buy this dress and I’m like I’m just gonna keep the tag in and return it. Sorry, cuff me!’ she said
In 2023 Sophie tied the knot with fellow Made in Chelsea star Jamie Laing in a lavish ceremony in Spain (pictured this month)
Speaking on Elizabeth Day’s How To Fail podcast, Louise slammed the show as a ‘waste of a good education’, after securing a geography degree at the University of Edinburgh.
‘At the beginning it was £25 a day, then it went up to £50 after one series, and then after a while I was paid £200 a day and that was capped at that – that was the absolute max.’
Her ex-boyfriend, Spencer Matthews, has also previously claimed that Made In Chelsea stars would be paid bonuses for bringing extra drama to the show.
The star, 36, made headlines during his villainous stint on the E4 show back in 2011, including his iconic row with ex Louise Thompson, where he famously said she ‘let him’ cheat on her.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, he said: ‘In some cases – I’m sure I’ll probably get into trouble for saying this – we’d be given bonuses if we created certain levels of drama.’
