Ollie Locke feels ‘humiliated’ and says his reputation is in tatters over a £45,000 unpaid rent bill shared with husband Gareth.
The Made In Chelsea star, 39, told the Daily Mail he suffered a ‘breakdown’ and is in the lowest place he’s ever been, after leaving their four-bedroom west London home in February owing three months’ rent, plus fines and legal costs.
In an exclusive interview, Ollie said fans who have watched him quaff champagne, jet-set across the world and stay in grand country manors on E4’s Made In Chelsea have the wrong impression of him, shaped by the show’s glamour and the picture-perfect image he ‘curates’ on Instagram.
Ollie said: ‘I feel horrendous. Not only with different friends who are showing their true colours and have broken my heart, but physically, I have been the most depressed I have been in my entire life. This has pushed me to have a breakdown which has been incredibly hard.
‘There have been private issues and disputes between friends which have been really horrible, in the worst way possible. I am absolutely covered in psoriasis, which is my stress thing. I have been in the lowest place I have ever been.
‘Not only humiliated… Talking about this is incredibly hard. For 14 years, I haven’t really had any bad press, but this was above me really. It’s been difficult.
‘My reputation has never been thrown into doubt before. Going into places where I’ve felt so upset and seeing people whispering breaks my heart. My mental health and mindset have gone to a dark place.’
In February, it was revealed that Ollie and husband Gareth, 37, had failed to pay three months’ rent, amounting to £25,000, forcing them to leave their family home under the threat of eviction.
Ollie Locke feels ‘humiliated’ and says his reputation is in tatters over a £45,000 unpaid rent bill shared with husband Gareth
The Chelsea star’s husband claims the couple were shafted by a lodger who was also living at the property, but says the rent remains unpaid due to ‘cashflow issues’
Ollie told the Daily Mail he is in the lowest place he’s ever been, after leaving their London home in February owing three months’ rent, plus fines and legal costs
They now owe £45,000 to their landlord after failing to pay the initial £25,000 earlier this year, with late fees and legal costs pushing the total higher.
To make matters worse, the couple were living with a tenant whose rent was paid directly to them throughout her stay at the property.
The tenant, who is named on the tenancy agreement alongside Ollie and Gareth, paid her rent in full each month, believing the money was being passed on to the landlord.
She later discovered the payments had not been used to cover the rent and instead, she claims, were diverted to ‘fund the couple’s luxury lifestyle.’
Despite meeting her obligations, the tenant is now being held liable for the unpaid rent and bills.
With her name on the contract, she is being pursued by debt collectors for the outstanding sum.
However, Gareth says there was in fact a fourth lodger at the property who had agreed to pay their share but ultimately left them in the lurch – a claim they refute.
The couple often filmed scenes from Made In Chelsea at the £4million four-bedroom, four-bathroom house just off the King’s Road, including the recently released spin-off Beyond Chelsea, which was shot last summer.
The couple had been living in a £4million, four-bedroom, four-bathroom home in Chelsea, paying over £7,000 per month, until they were forced to leave in February
Gareth, who joined original cast member Ollie on the TV series in 2018, insisted they have every intention of repaying the money they owe, stressing that they are a ‘normal family’ who budget like anyone else for their two-year-old twins, Apollo and Cosima.
He appears keen to place the blame for their current predicament on the other people who were living at the property.
‘The situation we’re in at the moment is we have unpaid rent because of a drawn-out issue between the other tenants that were living at the property and unpaid bills,’ Gareth said.
However, he suggests the issue stems from a lack of cash flow, citing the ‘freelance’ nature of the couple’s work as influencers.
He said: ‘We have been trying to rectify the issue, but the reality is we need to pay for it. That money has to come in from all the jobs we have done and be moved around.
‘It’s not the easiest thing to pull out of your a***, especially when you’re budgeting. Morally, I wouldn’t want to be seen as someone in this situation; we want to pay what we owe.
‘We need to sort ourselves out, clear the decks, and move on with our lives. We budget our lives like any other parents. We have twins, we have childcare costs, we have living costs – the same as anyone. We budget the same as anyone else.’
Ollie added: ‘We are 100 per cent going to pay the rent. The landlord knows that everyone knows that.’
After moving on from the property, Gareth claims the pair’s new abode is costing as much in rent as their old house, which is pictured here on their YouTube channel
When probed over why they weren’t paying their rent of over £7,000 per month, Gareth replied: ‘But does everyone else pay their rent? Everyone else has financial issues, whether it’s paying a credit card bill late or paying their rent late.
‘The reason is it’s a private issue over unpaid bills, and we expected funds to be coming through, which we were then going to pay the rent off with, and that didn’t happen. Now we are paying for it.’
Given the high monthly cost of the upmarket property and its prime Chelsea location, will Ollie and Gareth be downsizing to pay less on their new home?
Gareth said: ‘Our rent for the next house is pretty much the same. It’s more to do with cash flow and having to stump up an amount we didn’t expect.
‘It’s not been down to not having enough through social and TV projects, but it’s more about the regularity of it and having something that’s more consistent.
‘We now have something like 90-120-day payment terms, and you do a job that takes a month in itself; you get an invoice and you’re not paid for 3-4 months. Unless you have a consistent flow, that’s a very risky way to live.
‘Now this has happened it’s impacted the rest of our lives because we have this grey cloud hanging over us, so brands won’t work with us and it’s counterintuitive to getting this all sorted.’
On the subject of declaring bankruptcy, a possible outcome if they don’t pay the money owed, which is currently being pursued by the landlady, estate agent, and legal team, Gareth insisted they are far from needing to take that step.
Gareth claims that he and Ollie can arrange a ‘payment plan,’ while Ollie maintains that financial struggles are experienced at some stage by ‘most of the country.’
He said: ‘That would never be a thing because we can – there are other things we can do and move money around to pay it.
‘Worst case scenario we could set up a payment plan so it would never be a thing to think about bankruptcy. We are so far away from that it’s insane.’
Ollie added: ‘At this point, we need to have a mature attitude and tackle this step by step and plan what we need to do. Most of the country goes through financial problems and it’s a part of life.’
The couple’s financial struggles came as a shock to their fanbase after they kicked off the year by jetting to Barbados on a cruise alongside TOWIE’s Lydia Bright
Ollie and Gareth’s financial woes came as a shock to their fanbase.
The pair had kicked off the year by jetting off on a Barbados cruise, courtesy of P&O Cruises, as part of a brand partnership.
They posed together on a luxury boat alongside TOWIE star Lydia Bright, champagne in hand, with the sea glistening in the background.
Ollie wrote: ‘We are back home in London… and missing our P&O Cruises family terribly, I will never take advantage of how lucky we are!’
Just days before the story broke, Ollie attended a friend’s 40th birthday celebration at a luxurious country manor, sharing the event on Instagram.
He said: ‘A bit hungover… everyone’s gone shooting. If I’m honest, I’m going inside to drink champagne by the fireplace… icons only.’
In reality, Ollie has quietly shut down four businesses since 2017, including Chelsea Pub Company Limited and Chelsea Harbour Wine Limited, while continuing to operate his remaining firm, Laughing London Limited.
Once boasting healthy reserves of around £122,000, his fortunes have since taken a stark turn. He now has just £109 left in the business and has borrowed £144,000 from the company.
The latest accounts for Laughing London Limited are also two years overdue.
Alongside a £40,000 bank loan, Ollie’s company also owes creditors £126,119, which included £110,319 in tax and social security and £15,800 to unnamed creditors.
Despite growing up in Southampton, Ollie was cast as an original member of Made In Chelsea, alongside the likes of Spencer Matthews, whose older brother, James Matthews, is married to Pippa Middleton, sister of Catherine, and Millie Mackintosh, who was the heiress of confectionery brand Quality Street.
He insists that, unlike his former co-stars, he’s earned his success without leaning on family wealth, claiming the glossy TV image is far from the truth.
Ollie said: ‘We’re a normal family. People always say about reality TV, why has Made In Chelsea lasted for such a long time?
Ollie and Gareth claim their real lives are far removed from the glossy Made In Chelsea image they portray on Instagram, insisting they ‘budget’ and struggle like any other family (pictured May 2025)
‘It’s because the background is Chelsea, they make everything look so beautiful, and we film in all these big country houses and go on wonderful trips, but we’re brought along. That’s the background. That’s what makes it glamorous and glitzy.
‘I imagine people think I’m a multi-millionaire, when it’s not the reality. I’ve worked my whole life – I haven’t taken a penny off my parents since I was a teenager. I have worked so hard for 14 years to do everything commercially properly myself.’
When Made In Chelsea premiered in 2011, Ollie says the opportunities to make money seemed endless.
Although cast members were paid ‘bugger all’ to appear on the show, they were able to pursue brand and endorsement deals, other TV projects, and paid public appearances across the country.
Now, with terrestrial TV in decline and new job offers more limited, Ollie says the only way to stand out is by winning ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! – as Chelsea star Sam Thompson did in 2023.
He said: ‘It’s been reported how much people get paid to be on Made In Chelsea, and it’s bugger all. You get so little money.
‘So, you’re trying to do endorsements and to start companies in the background. It was fine to do it all when I was 25 because I was earning good money, I was the new kid on the block, and everything was exciting. It wasn’t hard to keep up with the Chelsea lifestyle when I was single. We did PAs around the country; it was wonderful.
‘But the TV industry has gone into such a horrible place. People don’t have the same budgets, and we’re not able to do anything. We were in that last little bit of it.
‘Sadly, you have to win I’m A Celeb to get on TV now. I would eat beans if I had to – I just want the children to eat beautifully. I want them to have the most incredible life possible, and that’s where all my money goes. Of course, we have wealthy friends who have their big parties, and we’re invited, and it looks glamorous…
‘With freelancing, it’s a wonderful gig that has been amazing for so long, but the industry isn’t like it used to be. I always wanted to keep my foot in entertainment somehow because it was my baby before it was anyone else’s baby on the show.
‘I was the second person to talk on the show – Caggie Dunlop said, ‘Take me to Chelsea,’ and then it was me standing outside Raffles nightclub, and that was in 2011.
‘It’s been a long time, and I’m incredibly proud of the show and what we’ve done. But now I would love a job where income comes every month.’
Gareth added: ‘The number of people who think that Instagram is real life is madness. It is an edited version of your life.
‘The expectation that we have this luxury lifestyle – it doesn’t exist. I don’t go out because babysitters are so expensive. If we were living the life we did before going out three or four times a week, that’s like £700 on babysitters. If people think we’re partying all the time, then we’re not.’
Ollie and Gareth welcomed twins Apollo and Cosima in July 2023, who arrived prematurely at 31 weeks.
The couple have been open about their IVF journey on camera, sharing the trauma and heartbreak of baby loss, miscarriage, and the challenges of surrogacy for a same-sex couple.
Gareth, whose mother is living with Alzheimer’s disease, has also spoken about his personal hardships to raise awareness for the condition.
Their wedding, filmed for Made In Chelsea at London’s Natural History Museum in 2020, was originally set to lead to a spinoff TV deal. However, the couple returned their ‘TV fee’ after Covid-19 restrictions forced the glamorous event to be scaled back, allowing only a limited number of guests.
Ollie says his goal has always been to bring a smile to Made In Chelsea viewers – who continue to tune in 14 years after the show first aired.
He said: ‘I just feel we have done everything we possibly can to be as lovely to people throughout our entire lives and to give as much as we can – from our wedding, which we didn’t get paid for, we did it for awareness.
Ollie says that while many of his MIC co-stars were born into wealthy families, he hasn’t taken a penny from his since he was a teenager and has worked his way up in the world
‘We have gone through our miscarriages on camera to raise awareness; we really do try and bring light to serious issues. Gareth has spoken about his mother, which is incredibly difficult; she has Alzheimer’s, and she is in a care home.
‘I always say life is really difficult, but if you can make someone smile on a Monday night, it’s been an absolute joy to have that job.
‘It has certainly been a life lesson.
‘We all go through these bumps financially, especially with the cost of living becoming so expensive and so obscene. We’re a family of four, and we need to feed each other and try to keep up as much as we can.’
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