Shock announcements, paternity rows and epidural U-turns… meet the reality TV babies of 2017
IT seems reality TV is experiencing somewhat of a baby boom at the moment.
Love Island's Cara De La Hoyde has just revealed she's expecting a baby with her co-star Nathan Massey.
The pair won last year's series but split in April - two weeks after she found out she was pregnant.
The new full-time Towie star is the latest in a string of reality stars to announce the happy news in 2017 - and we're not even halfway through the year yet.
From First Dates to Celebrity Big Brother, here are the newest additions to reality TV's brood...
January 13, 2017
Stephanie Davis gave birth to her son Caben-Albi George (reportedly named after a guy she met in a bar) in January after a drama-filled pregnancy.
The ex-Hollyoaks star met Jeremy McConnell, the father, while in the Celebrity Big Brother house and fell in love on screen despite having a boyfriend, Sam Reece, on the outside.
They made things official after leaving the house but things quickly turned sour and they split after two months.
When Steph announced her pregnancy, Jeremy denied he was the father - but a DNA test after the birth proved Steph was telling the truth.
They reconciled but have continued their on-off relationship; most recently splitting on the eve of his court appearance, where he denied attacking Stephanie, but stepping out together hand-in-hand soon after.
March 7, 2017
Former Towie star Billie Faiers gave birth to her second child with fiancé Greg Shepherd in March.
She confirmed the arrival of her baby son Arthur with an emotional Instagram post in which she called him "truly perfect".
The Minnies Boutique director recently revealed that she and Greg have set a date for their beach wedding, confirming it will take place in September.
March 26, 2017
Now you may not consider Cheryl or Liam Payne to be reality stars, but considering they met on The X Factor in 2009, who knows if they would be together now without it?
When it came to the delivery, no expense was spared, with Cheryl checking into a luxury hospital with rooms costing £8,000 where she later gave birth to a healthy 7lb 9oz son.
A week later they announced they'd called their son Bear Payne, a name which attracted some criticism from fans on social media over it's similarity to the phrase 'bare pain'.
Liam has since revealed the name was Cheryl's choice.
April 30, 2017
Towie star Amy Childs gave birth to her first child, Polly Childs-Wright, with boyfriend Bradley Wright in April.
Amy had previously told fans she would be taking a hypnobirthing course so she wouldn’t need pain relief when the baby came - but during her 27-hour labour she decided she needed an epidural.
In an interview with she said: “Labour was terrifying. I thought I was going to die; I’m not going to lie to you, it was horrific.
“I just had no idea it would be so painful.”
May 14, 2017
Aarron Stewart and Ibiba Mudada made First Dates history when they announced they were expecting a baby together.
The couple immediately hit it off on the Channel 4 dating show and returned to the programme after their date to share a photo of the ultrasound.
Ibiba was already pregnant when their episode aired in October 2016 and she gave birth to their baby daughter Aziza less than a year after they met.
She told the : “It’s true that our meeting and the speed with which we’ve started a family is certainly far from traditional.
“And it is hardly ideal to do everything so fast. But that is the nature of modern Britain. Things move at a much faster pace these days.”
Soon to come...
- Made In Chelsea star Alexandra 'Binky' Felstead is pregnant with co-star Josh 'JP' Patterson's baby girl. The pair had split prior to the revelation and have insisted they are just dating and wouldn't get back together for the sake of the child.
- The Hills protagonist Lauren Conrad announced she was expecting in January with an Instagram post of her sonogram. She wed former Something Corporate guitarist William Tell in 2014 and it's believed the baby is due in late Spring.
- Fellow Hills stars (and more recently Celebrity Big Brother contestants) Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt (AKA Speidi) are also expecting their own little bundle of joy. The couple revealed in April they have a baby boy on the way and her due date is on October 19.
- Towie star Ferne McCann discovered she was pregnant a few days before ex-boyfriend Arthur Collins was arrested in connection with an acid attack in a London nightclub - the reason why they split. She got emotional on This Morning discussing her situation but said pregnancy has given her the strength to get through it.