Chyka Keebaugh: “Lydia Kept Pushing My Buttons For Her Own Sport”

Chyka Keebaugh is taking to her Arena Blog to dish on this week's episode of The Real Housewives of Melbourne. Chyka Keebaugh dishes on Dubai trip and explains why she was getting frustrated with Lydia Schiavello. Chyka writes:

"I was so excited to invite the girls to Dubai. I knew it would be a great opportunity for us all to run away together and have some fun. Not all the girls had been there before and so I thought it would be a fun place to discover as a group.

Six years ago, Bruce and I were invited by Sheikh Mohammad – the Vice President and Prime minister of the UAE and Emir of Dubai, to the opening of Meydan Race Track for the inaugural Dubai World Cup . It was a week-long event and we were one of 500 guests chosen by HH from around the world to enjoy this amazing place.

It was an extraordinary experience, and both Bruce and I fell in love with Dubai immediately.  We were treated like royalty by royalty and met some incredible people during this week.

As a result of this, we have been asked on numerous occasions over the last 6 years to work on many royal weddings and private events. It has been an absolute honour and privilege to have been taken into this exotic world and trusted by so many local families. The reason for this explanation is that from the minute the invitation was given out to the girls, Lydia became the ‘Dubai expert’. Constantly contradicting things that I said and telling us all that she had been going there for 25 years and it was like her “second home”. As I think I said in the episode, Dubai was still pretty much a desert 25 years ago so I am not sure what flight she took or where she stayed, but it would be interesting to know!

I have never said I knew Dubai any better than Lydia, and am also  a very uncompetitive person, however, over the last 6 years we have been travelling to all parts of the UAE between 4-6 times a year, always stopping in Dubai, which is why I wanted to take the girls and show them, my Dubai. As the hostess of the trip I felt that was my prerogative.

I started getting frustrated with Lydia when we had our welcome drinks at the Nasimi Beach restaurant. We had all had the day to ourselves after a long flight and day of travelling. I wanted to welcome everyone and give the girls a snap shot of what we were up to. Lydia was not going to allow that to happen as she wanted us all to know again that this was her “second home”.

I started a toast to the girls and the trip – Lydia decided to take over!

I usually can let the little things slide by me, but Lydia kept pushing my buttons for her own sport. The trip to the desert, Janet started talking to me about my blog – I just knew this would cause a problem. None of the girls have ever really talked to me about what I do off the show, so when Janet was saying some nice things about it, I was really flattered. Janet had kindly given me a basket of her tea to give away on my blog and had been having a read of the Raw Essentials blog content on Chyka.com.

Lydia just couldn’t let this conversation happen without talking about her “blog” and that fact that she had been written up in a recent newspaper article. I had read what she was so excited to be in and said I was so glad not to have been included. This was definitely not jealousy, rather the article basically compared Lydia’s blog to another reality TV personality’s blog that the article pulled apart.

The conversation continues and I ask Lydia if she feels competitive with me as I constantly feel that she attempts to puts me down. I have also been hearing rumblings of stories that Lydia is talking about me behind my back to both my clients and friends, and it’s starting to really annoy me.

They may have called me Switzerland in the early days, and that’s due to my nature of being able to listen to any problem and resolve a solution. That said, when someone appears to be malicious for their own enjoyment I can assure you I move directly into defensive mode.

I am a great believer in true friendship and girlfriends. I believe in supporting one another and having each other’s back. I know I have done that for Lydia during both season 1 and 2, as well as in her personal life – but don’t feel she is doing the same for me!

Chyka"

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The Real Housewives of Melbourne Season 3 airs Sunday nights at 8:30pm on Arena

Source/Photo Credit: Arena