The Real 'What Not to Wear' Drama May Have Taken Place Between the Hosts

In the early aughts, there were few things as satisfying as watching the $5,000 makeovers and glow-ups featured on TLC's What Not to Wear. From Clinton Kelly and Stacy London's rapport and knacks for finding the best clothes in every shop to Carmindy's five-minute face makeup tutorials to Ted Gibson's haircuts and color changes, the show was groundbreaking in the reality TV landscape. 

It's no surprise, then, that the series lasted for a full decade before it came to an end in 2013. 

Hundreds of fashion-challenged people got the help they needed. While many viewers hoped that Stacy and Clinton would remain a dynamic duo who would go on to other TV ventures together, the two were later rumored to be feuding. 

Though it's been the better part of a decade since we've seen them on the small screen together, fans still want answers about what exactly went down between the iconic former co-stars. 

After What Not to Wear ended and the 360-degree mirror was covered up, Clinton and Stacy went their separate ways. Clinton soon became one of the hosts on the daytime cooking talk show, The Chew, while Stacy led all three seasons of Love, Lust, or Run on TLC.

In 2017, Clinton revealed that his former WNTW sidekick had blocked him on Twitter. He shared a screenshot that detailed the action, and in his caption, he expressed that he wasn't exactly sure what he had done to get her upset.

"Alllll righty then," he wrote.

Unsurprisingly, the tweet soon got a lot of attention online, as it was the first time that either Stacy or Clinton had suggested a rift in their former working relationship. 

Fans were speculating about the cause of the drama in the replies section, and many wondered if their banter on the show was more cutthroat and serious than viewers may have initially realized. 

But, Clinton later refused to elaborate on the status of his friendship with Stacy.

"The tea is old," he replied to one user. "And I never spill tea unless I’m shook, which I'm not."

To another he wrote: "Don't go spreading out-of-context b------t."

On an episode of The Chew in 2017, Clinton told co-hosts Michael Symon and Carla Hall that the drama was "juicy."

"It seems juicy, but it really wasn't that juicy. I'll just explain the story. So yesterday, I leave work and I check Twitter on the way to the subway. I notice that I've been tagged in the same tweet with my former What Not to Wear co-host, Stacy London," he said. "So I click on her name to see what this tweet is about, and what pops up is, 'You've been blocked from viewing Stacy London's tweets." 

The TV personality admitted that he was hurt to see the block.

"It was like getting a little slap in the face, like 'What is that all about? Like how and why and when?' So, I get a screenshot and I tweeted it because I thought the people of Twitter should know."

Clinton said that he went to the gym after posting the screenshot, and afterward, he realized how much it had blown up. 

"The tea is [that] there ain't no tea," the fashion guru continued. "I literally don't know if she blocked me yesterday or a year ago or a month ago or by accident."

But he didn't think it was accidental, since Stacy had yet to unblock him. 

"I got no beef with Stacy at all," Clinton concluded, before inviting her back on The Chew. 

While Clinton claimed that he didn't know what exactly caused Stacy's Twitter move, some fans suspected that she could have gotten upset about what he wrote in his 2017 book, I Hate Everyone Except You.

Per Inquisitr, Clinton hinted in the memoir that his relationship with Stacy changed as a result of spending the better part of 10 years together.

"I either adored her or despised her, and never anything in between. We spent nearly sixty hours a week in captivity, rarely more than an arm’s length away from each other," he said about filming WNTW. "Trust me when I tell you that is just too much time to spend with any other human being you didn't choose of your own free will."

In another jaw-dropping line from the book, Clinton wrote that he needed a break from Stacy.

"There's a part of me that will love Stacy London forever, and a part of me that would be just fine if I never saw her again for the rest of my life," he wrote. 

He also said that Stacy was often craving attention and that it "annoyed" him.

A month after Clinton shared his side of the story on The Chew, Stacy seemingly addressed the blocking controversy for the first time on her Instagram page. She shared a screenshot of the unblock notification, and she discussed "forgiveness" in her caption.

"Last night, I was thinking about forgiveness. It's very easy to say but sometimes not easy to do truthfully. If you're like me, when I'm hurt I can hold a grudge. I know the old adage: being angry or vengeful or hateful to someone because they've wronged you is like taking poison expecting the other person to die. Anger is much easier to cope with for me than sadness and pain. Being angry feels proactive and empowering, like I'm in control of the situation," she wrote. 

"But last night (and WHY last night, I'm not sure) it occurred to me that taking action like blocking people in order to feel some sense of control over others actions is a waste of my time. I can't stop people from the way they behave. I can't stop them from being angry with me, hurtful to me, or indifferent to me," she continued.

She then noted that she had previously blocked "ex-friends and ex-lovers," but that she had decided to "unblock a bunch of people" that day.

It's unclear where exactly things stand between Clinton and Stacy now, or if he was included in her list of unblocked frenemies. 

The two do not follow one another on Instagram.

You can catch up on all of the past seasons of What Not to Wear on Hulu. Clinton's show, Self-Made Mansions, airs on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on HGTV.