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Nothing I have ever seen on the show – the tiffs, the tears, the arrogance or the extravagance – has made me want to socialise with these people, however. And my fears are confirmed when I meet new male cast members Will Colebrook, 24, and Lonan O'Herlihy, 25. The Oxford Brookes-educated pair have joined the cast for the eighth series. Was there an audition process to get on the show, I ask. "Not with us. It just went perfectly," says Colebrook. O'Herlihy, who describes his performance as "memorable", adds rhetorically: "Has he got chat? Yes, he has. Get him on." He later asks: "What's wrong with being rich and posh?" Twenty-eight-year-old American Stephanie Pratt certainly doesn't see anything wrong with it. "I'm, like, a socialite," she tells me. "When I get older, I'm probably going to run my dad's real estate."

I turn to the veterans of the show Jamie Laing, 25, and Andy Jordan, 24, for their political views. "Sweet, c'mon!" laughs Jamie, before admitting that he forgot to vote in the last election but will vote Tory next year because "everyone else is doing it."

"This is my thing," joins in Georgia "Toff" Toffolo, a bit-part character who is on such good form today she deserves a starring role in future series. "Seriously, I'm studying [politics]." She then tells me about the time a fellow student called her a "Chelsea c—t" on her first day at university. "Confidence from the guy to do it," chuckles Laing. "And the cheeky bit is that he was from Essex!" says Toffolo.

The cast can be defensive about both the show and their own participation in it. "There are people who probably come back from [working] 13-hour days and the last thing they want to do is turn on the telly and see a bunch of posh kids supposedly partying and not doing much," says Laing, who is heir to the McVities biscuit fortune but who also runs his own confectionary business. "You want to change their opinion, so that's why I was very determined to go out there and do something for myself."

"I remember when I started the show," says Oliver Proudlock, 28, whose all-round decency on the show has made him one of the most popular characters. "I had my clothing brand and I was thinking to myself: 'is this going to have a positive or negative effect, firstly on me, but also on my brand?'

"It is a very hard decision to make [whether to go on Made in Chelsea] but in the end I definitely don't regret it and I think as long as you stay true to what you're doing and true to yourself, I think you'll be fine."

This is a comment which prompts O'Herlihy to add: "I think at the moment, the way I'm acting, it'll be fine."

After the disappointing last series, which was set in New York, the cast are back in London for series eight. What can I expect from the new episodes, I wonder. "There is night and day more controversy," says Alik Alfus, 25, who joined the cast in New York but has travelled to London to continue his relationship with fellow cast member, 24-year-old Louise Thompson.

"It's like The Riot Club without murders," says Jordan. "And [with] really offensive drinking games," adds Toffolo.

The new series of Made in Chelsea starts on Monday October 13 on E4 at 9.00pm