Jamie Laing 'rejected' his family and friends during 'lonely' experience on Made in Chelsea

Jamie Laing has opened up about what inspired him to move out of reality TV, revealing that he felt "really lonely" and "rejected" his family at one point during his time on Made in Chelsea.

The presenter, who starred in the E4 reality show from 2011 until 2021, appeared on the Shameless podcast to chat about his reality roots. Opening up on how doing reality TV changed him as a person, the 36-year-old admitted that being on the show made him become "slightly hedonistic".

"I think what happens when you do a reality show and everything is based around you, you become slightly hedonistic," he said. "You think you're the be-all-and-end-all in lots of different ways and my priorities were like, 'Ok I want to film this TV show and be whatever on this show, and focus all on that.'

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"In our twenties, we are quite selfish, we're just finding ourselves out. But if you add a little bit of some-sort of fame, earning a bit of money, it then goes to your head a bit and I think I was a bit of an idiot for a few years."

He added: "I kind of rejected my family, I never saw my family. My relationships with my amazing friends became a bit fractured. I was a bit selfish."

His situation finally hit home when his best friend and flatmate Georgie told him that she didn't want them to live together anymore.

"I was living with my best girlfriend at the time, Georgie. She was best woman at my wedding. She's the best," he said. "I've known her since I was 13 years old. We were living together and I was extending our apartment for another year. She was never in the show.

"She said, 'I don't want to live with you anymore, Jamie.' She said, 'I think you want different things to me. I think at this age we are now, some people are going to go up top and some are going to stay here. I don't want to stay drinking and having fun and doing these kind of things. I want to achieve lots of things and explore and have lots of adventures and start stuff.'"

Jamie said that he began to feel "really lonely" as a result and kept "letting people down" - including his Candy Kitten business partner Ed Williams. "I missed another meeting and I made up an excuse why I couldn't make it. He said, 'I think we should talk about how we work together.' He'd never said that. He was finding it tricky.

"I'm letting people down, my best friend doesn't want to live in the same space as me because she feels like we're not going anywhere. I'm feeling a bit lonely and I haven't seen my family as much. I thought, 'I need to just change this.'"

Jamie ultimately decided to change his priorities after going to a Taylor Swift-themed spinning class - and now his career has come a long way since his Made in Chelsea days.

He went on to compete on Strictly Come Dancing in 2020, having originally joined the line-up the year before but being forced to pull out due to an injury. In March last year, he replaced Jordan North on BBC Radio 1's Going Home show and hosted alongside his now-wife Sophie Habboo for a few weeks while co-hosts Katie Thistleton and Vick Hope took maternity leave.

Shameless' In Conversation with Jamie Laing is now available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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