The Valleys (TV series)

The Valleys is a British reality television series based in Cardiff, Wales and broadcast on MTV UK. The show first aired on 25 September 2012. It follows youngsters from the South Wales Valleys as they move to Cardiff to live out their dreams with the help from their new bosses, AK and Jordan.^[1] On 1 June 2014 it had been announced that the show has been put on permanent hiatus due to MTV venturing for new ideas and commissioning new shows such as Ex on the Beach.

The Valleys
Genre	Reality
Created by	MTV UK
Starring	See below
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original languages	English, Welsh
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	22 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Fiona O'Sullivan
Running time	42 minutes (excluding adverts)
Production company	True North Productions
Original release
Network	MTV UK
Release	25 September 2012 (2012-09-25) – 15 April 2014 (2014-04-15)
Related
Jersey Shore Geordie Shore Beauty School Cop Outs The Only Way Is Essex Acapulco Shore Super Shore

History

Series 1 of The Valleys premiered on 25 September 2012.^[1]

It returned for series 2 on 30 April 2013. Before the series began, it was announced that twin brothers Anthony and Jason would be added to the cast.^[2][3] Cast member Aron also announced his departure from the show.^[4] The first promo for the second series premiered on 2 April 2013 during a new episode of Geordie Shore. On 23 April, a week before series 2 began, a special episode entitled "The Valleys: Filthy Bits" aired, which featured the best bits from series 1.

On 5 July 2013, cast member Leeroy confirmed there would be a series 3 of The Valleys.^[5] On 14 January 2014, it was announced that a new cast member would join for the third series of the show. The cast member was revealed to be Jack Watkins, a 24-year-old stripper. The series premiered 25 February 2014 and was filmed in various locations around the UK and Ireland, as "Valleywood Nights" went on tour.^[6]

On 1 June 2014 it was announced that The Valleys had been axed by MTV due to the ratings drop. An MTV spokesperson noted "The Valleys has performed exceptionally well for MTV with three successful seasons behind it. However, with our audience always looking for new and engaging content, we're focused on developing new original programme ideas for the MTV schedule such as new smash hit Ex on the Beach to sit alongside returning favourites like Geordie Shore."^[7]

Series

Year	Series	Predominate location	No. of episodes	Average viewership
2012	Series 1	Cardiff, Wales	6	581,000
2013	Series 2	Cardiff, Wales	8	563,000
2014	Series 3	Cardiff, Wales	8	493,000

Note: These viewing figures are those of MTV and MTV+1^[8]

Cast

The official cast members were revealed on 7 August 2012.^[9] They are Aron Williams, Carley Belmonte, Darren Chidgey, Jenna Jonathan, Lateysha Grace, Leeroy Reed, Liam Powell, Natalee Harris and Nicole Morris. The series also features two bosses that will mentor the cast as they try to make it in the city of Cardiff. The bosses being Jordan Reed and Anna 'AK' Kelle.

During episode 3 which aired on 9 October 2012 Lateysha Grace left the house after falling out with her fellow cast mates. She later returned in episode 4 when the female cast travelled to Port Talbot to bring her back to Cardiff.

In episode 4, which aired on 16 October 2012 Chidgey and Natalee were kicked out of the house by club "owner"(manager) Jordan Reed, after fighting with one another during a night out.^[10] Chidgey is later made a conditional offer (during episode 5) of being able to return to the house and series, as long as it's without Natalee.^[11] He chose to return to the house, however Natalee still featured in the series but only outside of the house. She remained a cast member for the second series and returned to the house during the second episode.

On 21 March 2013, it was announced that there'd be 2 new additions to the cast. Twins, Anthony and Jason Suminski.^[12][13] On the same day, Aron revealed that he would not be returning for the second series.^[4]

On 30 April 2013 during the first episode of series 2, Anthony and Jason made their first appearances. Leeroy and Natalee did not feature in this episode, despite still being cast members. Natalee returned to the house during the second episode on 7 May after apologising to AK for her actions in the first series. During this episode, Carley decided to voluntarily leave the house after constant arguments with Natalee and Liam, but returned in the next episode. Leeroy returned to the series in Episode 4, and though he did not permanently move back into the house, he continued to make frequent visits and was also featured in scenes outside of the house until the end of the series. In the final episode of series 2, Carley voluntarily decided to return to The Valleys due to her continued issues with Chidgey and Natalee. Jordan and AK then revealed which cast members they would like to continue working with in the future, with everyone being asked to return for the next series apart from Liam and Nicole. In December 2013, Leeroy announced on Twitter that he would not be returning for the third series.^[14] On 27 January, Nicole announced she would be returning for the third series.^[15]

On 14 January 2014, it was confirmed that Jack Watkins had joined the cast.^[6] And on 27 January, despite originally being dropped from the show, it was announced that Nicole would be returning for the third series.^[15]

Series	Episodes	Name[16]	Age (at start of series)	Hometown	Dream
1–3	22	Carley Belmonte	21	Caerphilly	DJ and promoter
1–3	22	Darren Chidgey	25	Bridgend	Model
1–3	22	Jenna Jonathan	21	Tonyrefail	Model
1–3	22	Lateysha Grace	19	Port Talbot	Model and singer
1–3	20	Natalee Harris	23	Pontypool	Model
1–3	22	Nicole Morris	19	Swansea	Stylist and photographer
2–3	16	Jason Suminski	22	Pontypridd	Model
3	8	Jack Watkins	24	Cwmbran	Stripper
1–2	11	Leeroy Reed	21	Bridgend	Rapper
1–2	14	Liam Powell	25	Ystrad Mynach	DJ and model
1	6	Aron Williams	19	Tredegar	Kickboxer
2–3	10	Anthony Suminski	22	Pontypridd	Model

Timeline of cast members

The Valleys / The Valleys New Beginnings cast members

Cast member	Seasons
1	2	3	The Valleys: New Beginnings
Jenna	Main
Nicole	Main
Carley	Main
Natalee	Friend	Main
Lateysha	Main
AK	Friend	Main
Aron	Main			Main
LeeRoy	Main	Friend		Main
Chidgey	Main
Liam	Main		Guest	Main
Jordan	Guest	Friend	Main	TBA
Anthony		Main	Friend
Jason		Main
Jack			Main

International broadcasts

Country	Channel	Title	Year	Reference
Australia  New Zealand	MTV Australia	The Valleys	2012–14	[17]
Serbia  Croatia  Slovenia  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Montenegro  Republic of Macedonia	MTV Adria		2013–14	[18]
Spain  Andorra	MTV Spain			[19]
Poland	MTV Poland	Ekipa z Cardiff		[20]
Germany  Austria	MTV Germany	The Valleys		[21]
Switzerland	MTV Switzerland			[22]
Netherlands  Belgium	MTV Netherlands			[23]
Finland	MTV Finland			[24]
Portugal	MTV Portugal			[25]
Italy	MTV Italia			[26]
France	MTV France			[27]
Israel	MTV Israel	העמק	2015	[28]

References

1. "The Valleys". MTV UK. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012.
2. "The Valleys Is Back, Twins Jason & Anthony Join Cast!". MTV News. 21 March 2013. Archived from the original on 25 March 2013.
3. "The Valleys on Twitter".
4. "Aron Williams on Twitter".
5. Leeroy Reed (4 July 2013). "@jord1995_: @LeeroyValleys your single is ledge........ Is there gonna be a valleys series 3??" Thanks , yeah". Twitter.
6. "Stripper Jack Joins The Valleys on Tour! - MTV UK". Archived from the original on 16 January 2014.
7. "The Valleys axed by MTV?". Digital Spy. 1 June 2014.
8. "Weekly Top 10 Programmes". BARB. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
9. "Into The Valleys! Get the lowdown on MTV's brand new reality entertainment series…". MTV News. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2012.
10. "thevalleysonline.com".
11. "Chidgey Offered Lifeline To Return to the Valleys - MTV UK". Archived from the original on 7 November 2012.
12. "MTV Reality TV Shows". Archived from the original on 14 April 2013.
13. "MTV Reality TV Shows". Archived from the original on 24 March 2013.
14. "LEEROY REED on Twitter".
15. "Nicole Morris on Twitter".
16. "'The Valleys': Meet the cast of MTV show". Digital Spy. 6 August 2012.
17. "MTV Reality TV Shows". Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
18. "The Valleys 3". Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
19. "The Valleys - Programa | MTV España". MTV.
20. "Ekipa z Cardiff - Shows - MTV". MTV. Archived from the original on 19 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
21. "The Valleys - Shows - MTV". MTV Germany. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
22. "MTV Germany | Neue Musikvideos, alle Shows, unterhaltsame News und Popkultur". MTV.
23. "Shows: MTV Original TV Shows, Reality TV Shows | MTV Nederland". MTV.
24. "The Valleys - Shows - MTV".
25. "MTV.PT Programas Serie The Valleys Page". Archived from the original on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
26. "The Valleys - Programma | MTV Italia". MTV.
27. "The Valleys épisode, télé réalité, description du programme - MTV.FR". Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
28. "העמק - סדרה חדשה! - MTV Israel".