Ollie Locke has admitted he is returning to Made In Chelsea because he needs to keep his mortgage payments up.
The reality star and actor will be joined by his fiance Gareth Locke when he rejoins the cast and said he is also looking forward to representing gay couples on the show.
He told the PA news agency: “Basically, for so many years I’ve done reality TV, but before that, I was an actor. So I wanted to get back into acting, and do my bits and pieces, so I was very lucky, I did an audition and ended up in a Michael Winterbottom film with Isla Fisher and Steve Coogan (Greed), so I was really lucky to get that.
“So I gave up Chelsea for a year to do auditions and do my bits and pieces, and the film came out, and I had to do all the press for that and all that sort of stuff.
“There was that article about a a lady that was in Coronation Street now working in DFS or something, and it was very embarrassing for her, and it’s like, ‘Well we’ve got to make money somehow’.
“Chelsea for me is that situation. Now I’ve gone back into acting, I was in drama school 15 years ago, I wanted to get back into acting, and I wanted to break that mould that stars can’t go back into acting – well, I’ve managed to do that. But I’ve got to keep my mortgage payments up, as well, if I’m completely honest.
“I’ve got to sit there and be like well, two reasons, the fact I’m doing this to keep myself on television, have a bit of fun, and to earn some money, but also I’m doing it inbetween auditions.
“Some of us are multi-billionaires and some of us aren’t. Some of us still have to keep up with our mortgage payments, and that’s reality.”
Locke will also return to the show alongside his old friend Binky Felstead, but admitted they do not have much to do with the younger cast members that now populate the series.
He said: “You’ve got the young lot doing the stuff that we did when we first started, and you’ve got the older lot talking about marriage and having kids and stuff that in your mid-thirties you are talking about.
“It’s a very big divide, so I haven’t done one scene with any of those people.”
He continued: “We’re still the same people, we still create fun and laughs, but there’s also really wonderful moments where you’re talking about really adult stuff, whether it be talking about whether me or Gareth are going to have children or not, stuff like that, which hasn’t been seen actually on British television really at all, is an organic gay couple sitting there being like, ‘well, this is the situation’, about whether we want children or not.”
Asked if he was nervous sharing that aspect of his life on TV, he said: ” Never, really. I tell you what overrides all of that is the way that we are, in our own way, helping people understand that gay life is completely normal.
“What a wonderful privilege to be able to sit there and that 21-year-old struggling in Manchester… that’s one side of it, and the interesting side of it is their parents, which haven’t seen a gay couple talk in that manner that’s not on Holby City.
“So what a lovely privilege to be in, and what a delight to be able to talk about that kind of stuff. That overrides any anxiety or worry.”
Made In Chelsea returns to E4 on Monday, March 23.