Vogue Williams is something of a rarity on Spencer Matthews’ Instagram grid these days.
It’s fair to say you have to look hard for a picture of her, something which is quite the contrast to their early years together, when they would regularly plug their joint business ventures – as well as pictures of their three, adorable, photogenic children.
But things have changed – significantly.
Nowadays, after ‘splitting’ their work interests, the former Made In Chelsea star’s social media action is… well, all about him.
There is one exception: a photograph of Irish model Vogue, dressed in her prerequisite red trousers, khaki hat and walking boots – the I’m a Celebrity jungle attire – on the day she was confirmed to be joining the ITV show.
‘Vogue isn’t just fearless and gorgeous on TV, she’s like that in real life,’ he wrote alongside the snap. ‘She is loved by all and for good reason. She’s my best friend, a phenomenal wife and a perfect mother.’
Only those who know the Eton-educated reality star, whose brother James is married to Kate Middleton’s younger sister Pippa, suggest that he ‘may have had to pinch his nose quite hard’ while he wrote that post because, they say, he is ‘humiliated and jealous’ at the sheer amount of attention that his wife of seven years is now getting.
There is perhaps good reason for that. ITV have signed Vogue as their ‘star’ contestant, putting her – along with Celebs Go Dating star Tom Read Wilson – in three days after her jungle mates to stir things up.
Some suggest her appearance on the popular programme, which is filmed in Australia, heralds the start of a ‘special relationship’ with ITV, with some insiders suggesting she will become one of their big new stars.
The photo of Vogue Williams in her I’m a Celebrity get-up which Spencer Matthews posted to his Instagram. He wrote: Vogue isn’t just fearless and gorgeous on TV, she’s like that in real life
Some say Vogue’s place in I’m a Celeb is a sign she is being lined up for big things by ITV
Which is in complete contrast to Spencer’s own experience with the network – exactly ten years ago he suffered the ignominy of being booted off I’m a Celebrity before filming had even started, when he was found to be taking steroids.
‘Spencer is very humiliated by Vogue’s success,’ says a friend. ‘She is very much having her moment, she is having a great time with her career and she has a great team around her making sure she has some great projects.
‘She is loving life right now and the public seem to really like her. The same can’t be said for Spencer, he is definitely the less successful one out of the couple right now.’
Indeed, that seems to be the case because I can reveal Spencer has having to ‘self shoot’ his current fitness challenge which he has called PROJECT SE7EN. It will see him attempt to complete seven full distance triathlons on seven continents in just 21 days, after a media partnership deal put in place with streaming giant Disney+ mysteriously disappeared.
To rub salt in the wounds, Spencer’s former best friend Jamie Laing, from his Made in Chelsea days, and his wife Sophie Habboo are currently filming an upcoming reality series on Disney+ called Jamie and Sophie: Raising Chelsea.
The show will follow the couple’s journey as they prepare to welcome their first child, covering the highs and lows of pregnancy, their careers and settling into a new family home.
They’ve been filming around London in swanky hotels for the past few months, before Sophie gives birth. The series is produced by Dorothy St Pictures in association with Jampot Productions, Jamie’s production company, ensuring that it is probably a very lucrative deal.
Jamie’s 50-mile ultra marathon from London to Manchester earlier this year raised £2million for Comic Relief – four times the amount Spencer raised for charity in his Great Desert Challenge, which saw him run 30 marathons in 30 consecutive days.
Spencer’s latest challenge, in Cape Town, South Africa, means that he won’t be at the bridge to meet Vogue when she exits the jungle in the Aussie Outback some time in the next fortnight as his challenge doesn’t end in time. Instead, Vogue’s mother is babysitting the children and her agent, Louisa Booth, is likely to be the one to greet her.
Spencer ran 30 marathons in 30 days for charity earlier this year
Vogue and Spencer were once seemingly inseparable, but more recently their social media profiles have been far less about them as a couple and more about their individual projects
Vogue Williams’ profile picture had, until she entered the jungle, featured a picture of herself with Spencer and their two children
It is quite the downturn for the once inseparable pair but then those familiar with the Spencers have long speculated about their marriage – although, in equal measure, there is nothing to suggest they are not totally in love as well.
Spencer and Vogue first met when they were appearing on Channel 4 reality show The Jump, not long after Vogue had split from former Westlife singer Brian McFadden in 2017 after five years of marriage.
Both were in looking for fame. ‘They were not always the nicest of people, Spencer was definitely the least likeable though,’ says my source.
‘There was always chatter, perhaps unfair, that being together was helpful to their quests to make money and be famous, but you’ve got to ask, if that is the case then surely Vogue doesn’t need Spencer any more?
‘She’s doing great on her own. Spencer always likes to be the top dog. Maybe it is something to do with their different backgrounds. He went to Eton, Vogue had a far more modest upbringing in Ireland.
‘Spencer is remarkably entitled. Vogue is a grafter and a strong woman. Maybe it isn’t such a convenience to be with him any more… who knows.’
There have also been Spencer’s bizarre friendships with Christine McGuinness and Charlotte Dawson – both of whom are very different to Vogue.
His bond with Christine McGuinness came as they were taking part in BBC2 show Pilgrimage last year, which was filmed shortly after she split from television presenter Paddy McGuinness.
He bonded with Charlotte, the outspoken model and daughter of late comedian Les Dawson, on the E4 reality TV show Five Star Hotel in 2018.
He was just months away from marrying Vogue, then pregnant with their first child, at the time of being on the show.
Their wedding, on the banks of the picturesque loch on the Matthews’ family 10,000-acre estate in Scotland, was stunning. Spencer’s brother James was an usher.
The Spencers then moved into a lavish home in Battersea, south-west London, where they now raise children, Theodore, six, Gigi, four, and three-year-old Otto.
They also recently bought a property in Ireland.
As a couple, they went on to have two reality series on the Channel 4 spin-off network E4, one called Spencer, Vogue and Baby Too and the other Spencer, Vogue and Wedding Two.
Vogue Williams with Tom Read Wilson during a Bushtucker Trial this week
Vogue and her three children Theodore, six, Gigi, four, and three-year-old Otto
The pair continued monetising their relationship with a collaborative podcast which ran for more than four years until they abandoned it earlier this year. Now Spencer has his own podcast, Untapped, while Vogue hosts one with her sister, the aptly named Vogue And Amber.
This coincided with Spencer ditching the agent he and Vogue shared. He left Booth’s Money Management earlier this year in search of something a little more glitzy – YMU, the London-based talent agency which represents the likes of Ant and Dec and Davina McCall.
For years not only had Booth created Spencer and Vogue’s money-spinning brand but she loyally defended Spencer from the tabloid press.
‘Spencer obviously has a more inflated view of who he is than others do,’ says my source.
It did, though, start so well. My spies at the Soho House festival in July said YMU CEO Mary Bekhait was ‘parading Spencer around like a prized puppy’.
They told me: ‘The new management thing is utterly bizarre. The idea of breaking them both up is an odd business decision. They clearly have big hopes and plans for him next year.’
Only I hear differently. Spencer has apparently been placed with what a source described as ‘less experienced’ agents – much to the amusement of his former firm. ‘He thought he was so big time,’ said one. ‘Now look at him.’
There is one project, which has prompted much hilarity, however. He is to front a new Channel 4 documentary, entitled, Am I a Psychopath – where he discovers if he fits the label.
Quite a departure from Vogue’s star-turn in I’m a Celebrity Jungle this week, which is bound to bring back some uncomfortable memories for Spencer.
Like his wife, he was a late addition to the show but he didn’t ever make it into the camp after failing to tell ITV producers about the medication he was taking when he entered the show – steroids
In a statement which he issued at the time, Spencer said it was a ‘serious error of judgment’.
It added: ‘Shortly after I arrived in Australia I told the production team that I was taking a steroid-based medication that had begun some weeks ago.
‘When I started taking this programme of pills it was in preparation for a charity boxing match which, ironically, never took place.
‘Vanity, I suppose, had been the reason for wanting to bulk up a bit for the fight. I had intended to come off the pills gradually, but there was no time to do this before I reached the jungle.’
The team making the ITV show decided it was unsafe for him to carry on being part of the programme. Spencer said that decision was ‘extremely hard to stomach’.
And despite trying to get his own way, the network’s strict duty of care guidelines ensured he was sent back to the UK with his tail between his legs.
‘Spencer knows a role on I’m A Celeb would have elevated him to new heights, just like it will for his wife,’ says a friend.
‘So it’s probably a good thing that he’s pounding the streets because he doesn’t have to see her on TV.’
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