Made In Chelsea Romeo/loverat Spencer Matthews may be re-evaluating his treatment over ex girlfriend and Made in Chelsea co-star, Louise Thompson, as last night saw his debut as Channel 5′s The Bachelor, air with a half a million less viewers than his predecessor rugby star, Gavin Henson.

Matthews split with  Thompson to take part in the show after poaching her from best friend, Jamie Laing, and turning her into a public figure of hate.

Since the break up, followed very quickly by the announcement that Matthews was to take part in the Channel 5 dating show, Thompson has come with repeated claims that the pair are still an item secretly and how he still loves her.  Despite publicly announcing yesterday that he was genuinely looking for love on The bachelor and that he would never take Louise back, it would seem that doubt over the shows authenticity has been called in to question as only 700, ooo viewers tuned in to watch him start his search for a new girlfriend, over half a million viewers less than Henson’s 1.33m viewer audience for his show debut last year, according to the Metro newspaper.  Would you want to watch a fake dating show?

Matthews isn’t apparently too worried however, and neither are show execs who are crediting the majority of Henson’s success to a lead-in from Celebrity Big Brother, which had attracted 3.2m viewers immediately before it aired.  Matthews also had a Big Brother lead in, but not of  the celebrity type,which only boasted a 1.35m viewer audience.

Still, The Bachelor managed to trend world-wide on social networking site Twitter, although the general reaction was quite varied, with one viewer taking to the social networking site to tweet: ’Spencer Matthews has nothing on Gavin Henson from last year’.

Another added: ‘I love the bachelor eeek, Spencers nice but he’s not Gavin Henson.’

It wasn’t all bad press for the  Made In Chelsea star though , as one viewer tweeted: ‘Spencer matthews is the perfect bachelor! He may even top Gavin Henson in the cringeworthy stakes’. (possibly Louise Thompson?)

It is no wonder then that Matthews has been quick to quash rumours that The Bachelor will spell an end to his Made In Chelsea days, telling Digital Spy in a recent interview how he plans to return to the reality show when it begins filming its 4th series later this year:

“‘The two shows don’t conflict and there will be a season four of Made In Chelsea. Discussions are taking place right now and at no point have I left the show.

“I love the show and if I’m allowed to proceed, I’d want to take part again. It’s just something we’re talking about at the moment.”

If you didn’t get a chance to catch lasts night premier, catch up in the clip below:

So, who do you think makes the better Bachelor, Spencer or Gavin?  We want to hear your thoughts and comparisons about the show below: