'This is all very, very grim': KATIE HIND reveals the chatter among Real Housewives of Cheshire insiders about whether Ampika Pickston will stand by her disgraced fiance David Sullivan - and what her arch-rival Dawn Ward makes of the scandal

It’s the boastful scene on ITV’s reality show The Real Housewives of Cheshire which its newly returned star Ampika Pickston may well live to regret.

During a tour of her £4million mansion, which has two swimming pools and a hair salon, Ampika points to a picture of her and her fiance, the disgraced former West Ham boss, billionaire David Sullivan, on the dressing table.

‘I’ve known David for 17 years,’ she brags. ‘I’ve grown to love him, know all his wonderful qualities, the good, the bad and the ugly.’

Ampika, dressed in a red satin designer dress, later confides to fellow stars Seema Malhotra and Rachel Lugo how she has ‘christened’ certain parts of her sprawling mansion situated in the upmarket enclave of Hale Barns with Sullivan, who is 33 years her senior.

Her comments were aired in April as she made her return to The Real Housewives, nine years after quitting amid clashes with her co-stars.

But now, as her famous boyfriend finds himself embroiled in a historic sex scandal, she again finds herself at the centre of much bitching among her fellow housewives, with one quipping to me: ‘Well, that didn’t travel well.’

Indeed not.

Because last Monday, seven women accused the 77-year-old tycoon of predatory behaviour, with alleged incidents dating back to the 1980s.

In a joint investigation by the BBC’s Panorama and The Times, it was alleged that Sullivan engaged in sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour with young models in their late teens or early twenties who were seeking work at his Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers.

They accuse Sullivan of pressuring them for sex during business meetings, where he offered to boost their careers if they slept with him or performed sex acts on him.

One of them, Florence (not her real name) claims she felt forced to have sex with him.

Through his lawyers, Sullivan has denied the allegations.

But his claims of innocence will do little to stop the vitriol from Ampika’s Cheshire co-stars.

Sources tell me that some are ‘rather perturbed’ that the next series of the reality show, which has already been recorded and is due to be broadcast in August, is set to feature Ampika showing off her wedding plans for her forthcoming nuptials with Sullivan.

Whether this will now be judiciously edited out of the show in the light of the allegations against her husband-to-be is yet to be decided by ITV bosses.

But one source connected to the programme tells me: ‘We are certain that Ampika knew that David was no goody two-shoes but she loves him. She loves spending his money and she has literally made the series all about her wedding.

‘It’s not exactly ideal now we have been told what we have about David. It’s typical Ampika. It’s about her and her money.

‘She loves showing off her money which funds her wonderfully fancy lifestyle and we all know where it comes from.

‘Ampika doesn’t care about the age gap either. Her first husband was a lot older than her. She’s just attracted to older men and she loves their cash.

‘Ampika will stand by David, nobody thinks she won’t. She loves David and believes his version of events. She will not leave him. She’s excitedly planning their wedding and that’s not going to change. She thinks other women are jealous of her but this is all very, very grim.’

While I’m told Ampika is ‘fixated’ on being the leader of the pack, there is one co-star in particular who, friends say, ‘will be loving’ Ampika’s troubles.

Step forward Dawn Ward, the mouthy, brash and downright terrifying WAG and self-appointed queen of Cheshire.

Several years ago she and Ampika fell out over matters relating to Dawn’s feud with another member of the Cheshire clan, Leanne Brown, wife of former Manchester United and England star Wes Brown.

Leanne reportedly lent Dawn – who is married to former Sheffield United footballer Ashley Ward – £500,000.

I’m told that Sullivan offered to help Dawn by paying Leanne back, which prompted issues between the two women.

‘Dawn will be loving everything that’s happening right now. She can’t stand Ampika,’ a source connected to the show tells me.

‘When Dawn and Leanne were fighting it was so toxic and so awful that most of the other housewives did their best to stay out of it but Ampika made no secret that she was siding with Leanne.

‘Ampika was very vocal about it all. Dawn met her match with her. Ampika couldn’t believe the audacity of Dawn and she definitely stirred up arguments. For that, Dawn will never forgive her.

‘The thing is Ampika and Dawn are actually quite similar and have that “Queen Bee” mentality. A lot of the others back down whereas Ampika and Dawn will go at it.

‘Now Ampika is part of a very high-profile scandal, albeit not of her own doing, Dawn will be very invested. You’ll be able to hear her trademark cackle all the way from Dubai where she spends a lot of her time now.’

Ampika, 44, and Sullivan began dating in October 2020 after he split with his wife of 25 years, Emma Benton-Hughes – the mother of his two grown-up sons.

The couple had known one another for more than a decade and in July 2021 Sullivan proposed with an 11-and-a-half-carat, emerald-cut ring on Ampika’s birthday.

They have been seen attending West Ham games together at the club’s London Stadium and are expected to get married later this year in what promises to be a private but ‘extra lavish’ wedding, according to my Cheshire sources.

It is not known whether this week’s scandal, which saw Sullivan stand down as joint chairman of the recently relegated West Ham United, has affected their plans.

‘You wouldn’t have thought so,’ says my source. ‘Ampika has been too excited to change her course of action.’

According to Ampika, the wedding is going to be a ‘very quiet, discreet affair in London’.

Speaking to promote The Real Housewives of Cheshire in April, she confessed: ‘David doesn’t want a circus or paparazzi. He just wants to enjoy the day with no pressure. It’s about that symbolic moment of two people coming together to show their love.

‘We’re quite private people. I know that sounds a bit tongue-in-cheek when you’re on a reality show, but our circle is very tight and we’re selective about who we spend time with. We actually spend a lot of time just the two of us.

‘When I’m in Essex, because I split my time between Cheshire and Essex, we’re homebirds. We’ve got everything at home: tennis courts, a swimming pool, a bowling alley, a cinema room. We’re happy just being in each other’s company.

‘We kind of cocoon ourselves away from the outside world and have a lot of intimate time together that people don’t really see.

‘We’re not big party people. Everything is quite insular, we’re each other’s best friend, and we don’t really need much else.’

While she may be coy about her marriage plans, she had no qualms sharing intimate details about her risque sex life with Sullivan in the last series.

‘I sometimes feel like I’m the bloke in our relationship because I do all the serenading,’ she said on the show.

‘I say, “Right, tonight it’s going to be a night of passion, right what we doing?” I get all the sex toys out, I get everything out. I always grab hold of David. He thinks I’m a pervert, I can’t stop touching him.’

Ampika also confesses that she and Sullivan like to ‘skinny dip’ when they holiday on their private yacht.

Such claims are likely to trigger Sullivan’s alleged victims, some of whom claim that their lives have been destroyed by his callous treatment.

Meanwhile, common to many blended families, sources tell me that David’s sons from his marriage to Emma, David Jr and Jack, are no fans of Ampika.

My source said: ‘The boys think very little of Ampika, in fact the talk is that they find her pretty vile and aren’t exactly over the moon that their dad is with someone like her. They are both very loyal to their mum, who they adore.

‘They are quite vocal about their feelings but neither David or Ampika have let it affect their relationship. It does, though, make things very awkward.’

Ampika, who has a son named Jake with her former husband Mark Pickston, runs her own company Ampika’s Aesthetics which has branches in Hale, Cheshire, as well as London’s Harley Street.

She also has a firm called AP Care Homes Limited, set up to run a home for vulnerable teenage girls which she founded in 2023.

But last year it was ruled that AP Care Homes Ltd should ‘no longer be authorised to carry on the regulated activity’ at Moss Farm Children’s Home.

The place was permanently closed after a tribunal judge upheld a decision by children’s services watchdog Ofsted to cancel its registration amid concerns about the quality of care being offered.

Ampika appealed against the decision but a first-tier tribunal (health, education and social care) ruled that the registration should not be reinstated.

Tribunal judge Siobhan Goodrich and the panel found a ‘significant’ risk of harm to the health, wellbeing and safety’ of children at the home in Altrincham.

It was following that closure that Ampika made the decision to return to The Real Housewives of Cheshire.

Show insiders suggest that she wanted to elevate her profile in time for her wedding.

Others suggest she was ‘rather pleased’ with herself for landing such a rich man and was excited to show off her romance on the programme.

But as the claims against Sullivan refuse to go away, his presence on the series – even at a distance – threatens to leave a dark cloud over the glitzy mansions of Cheshire.