#nicluke

Good day, I am back to talk about Voldemort, he who shall not be named. A being who strikes fear into the hearts of Wizards and Muggles alike. I am kidding, I'm referring to Luke Newton. A name so sacrosanct and forbidden that Nicola cannot dare speak it publicly for fear an army of Jakeholes, armed to the teeth, will stampede her mother's house in Galway or that she might intensify the shipping so much that the handful of die hard Lukola's that are still left, stubbornly refusing the move from the SS Lukola, myself included, will go into meltdown and once again the Lukola's will inadvertently rise victorious.

So Nicola, or more likely her scheming PR team, have concocted a most cunning plan indeed - DO NOT MENTION LUKE"S NAME PUBLICLY! In fact, basically ignore his existence all together. He was never your co star. The chemistry of the season three press tour never happened. Nicola went to all these places on tour by herself. Erasure is the best course of action to put off the Lukola's (and Jakeholes) who sniff around Nicola's business like overzealous bloodhounds. Nicola appeared on This Morning on 13th April 2026 with co-star Lydia West to promote Big Mood season 2 and of course the ever industrious Ben Shepherd had to ask Nicola about the previous interview Nicola had done with Luke on This Morning in 2024 that caused such an uproar amongst Lukola's, it is still talked about two years later. However, Nicola was extremely careful not to mention Luke's involvement whatsoever, despite the This Morning team blasting pics of Penelope and Colin kissing in the background. Even when the chaise lounge is mentioned, still no nod to the man who pinned her to it and imitated sex so convincingly, that even the furniture broke under the pressure.

I like to imagine that Nic's PR guru is standing off to the stage and miming slicing at her throat. Remember the script Nic! HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED! Do not do it, for all the love that is holy! We'll have a herd of Lukola's outside before you can say the words 'broken chaise lounge!' So, she doesn't. Nicola coyly says that SHE was gifted a mini chaise lounge as a present from the production. Not a mention of the ghost that is her costar. Did Luke also get one, I wonder? Or was it a joint present?

Another instance was recently on the Dish Podcast with Nick Grimshaw just last week when he again mentions watching Nicola's sex scene with his niece on Gogglebox. I'm sorry, say again, Nicola's sex scene with who? I can't quite remember his name. I'm starting to wonder if Nicola remembers it at this point. Nicola says oh yes, haha, my mum came to watch the premiere in Galway (and do not mention Galway to a Lukola, because we all know what happened there) and I LEFT THE THEATRE. No girl, you and LUKE left the theatre in a little huddle of love and then came back arm in arm like he was escorting you back down the aisle after marriage.

This erasure of history or at the very least, leaving Luke deliberately out of conversations is aggravating, but I truly believe their PR teams have told them to do this strategy so that the GA will believe they are with the adjacents. I'm telling you now PR teams, pigs will fly before I believe that shite. But I'm not the GA. Which brings me nicely to SNL. Again, what should have been Nicola's night, we had the adjacent narrative rammed down our throats again, but now so unconvincingly, even my mum is like what the feck is that. The photo of Nic and Jake awkwardly side hugging while he rests his giant head on hers is as about as authentic as botox. It is the bare minimum. The photo was so laughable my discord found it hilarious and promptly forgot about it. We no longer spiral at the amateur dramatics.

These absurd photos were dropped and shared almost immediately by the pink pony club to demonstrate their closeness to their 'star'. Meanwhile, her real friends and family were quietly celebrating and left it to next to day to applaud Nicola's triumph. Which leads me to her real champion. The actual ghost we never really see. He did show up spectacularly to her play though, didn't he? He had the Ant in tow, but that is a clever cover isn't it when you are standing up applauding your 'work wife', going backstage repeatedly, laughing at every single joke and basically being her biggest champion. Onlookers also commented that he knew every word of that play and laughed continuously. I went to see the play in December 2025. I had gone within group of Lukolas, but we were sitting separately. I want to preface this with that I am Welsh, my granddad was Irish and I'm also a drama teacher, but most words of that play went completely over my head. I was utterly lost. There was a row of Irish people from Dublin behind me and they were roaring laughing. I wished I was sat with them so I had a fecking clue. I probably should have read the play first. It was incredibly fast and accented dialogue. I didn't read the play, but I think maybe Luke did or at least practised lines with someone. I think it was also possible he was there a few times before unnoticed also evidenced by reports of how well the staff knew him and how he felt comfortable going backstage that Friday night. I imagine him leaving Antonia in a corridor somewhere and saying, stay there like a good little doggy.

So If Luke was so publicly supporting Nic at the Playboy of the Western World, who's to say that he wasn't also at SNL? Even as a costar and friend, would Luke want to miss that? Unless he is filming elsewhere, I truly believe he would never have missed that moment. Once again, Jake is dragged out to cover what is actually going on in the background. I also do not believe that Nicola would have missed Luke's play in New York and her recent mentions of Italian food and JVN on the Dish Podcast, plus her extensive wardrobe from a. NY store and Insta likes around the time, highlight to me that she was there. They only post things to SM when they want us to think a certain way. It's all fake and 99.9% of the time we do not know where these people are and what they do. Luke, is especially very good at being invisible like this. I just wish he was given a bit more credit. I feel he just goes so overlooked while the PR team is trying to protect whatever is really going on in the background. What is wrong with mentioning Luke and giving him that nod to a successful season of TV. In my opinion, It is because they don't want us digging beneath the surface too deeply.

My point in writing this blog is that we are continuously being told by a mountain of PR, not to look too closely. Stop shipping. Nofacenofilters blog made a great point the other day in their blog: https://www.nofacenofilters.com/post/sledghammers-sacrifices-why-the-pr-machine-slammed-the-brakes-after-the-sag-awards

Why would a PR team encourage leads of a hit TV show, the most successful leads in fact, to squash all shipping rumours? It's highly damaging to their brand. Will they, won't they dynamics are always fascinating and draws in huge numbers. Their undeniable chemistry speaks for itself and I often wonder if their screen time was so diminished in season 4 because their chemistry blew the season 4 leads out of the water. There is no comparison. Before Benophies come for me, I enjoyed season 4, I love Sophie especially and I did enjoy most of it. But comparing Polin to Benophie is like chalk and cheese (a nod here to my cheese loving Mr Bridgerton). A PR team will only do this much damage control if there I something BIG to hide. Otherwise, why not mention Luke at least briefly during her promo? Luke in comparison gives absolutely no fucks and on his Bridgerton press junket talked about Nicola so much, Claudia and Hannah were seriously side eyeing his audacity. I absolutely love him. He is done with this bullshit and you can tell by his face whenever he is forcibly dragged out. I'm not going over Luke's emotional suffering again, as we've all seen it.

It is ok for them to actually have partners, the issue we have here is the adjacents are constantly rammed in our faces and normal couples don't do that. There is no need for it. Not forgetting that Nicola is extremely private. If they are going to have partner, they would have more realistic ones that a 26 year old gay man and a 25 year old girl who Luke blanches at the sight off. His expression always reminds me of when Chandler sees Janice every season on Friends.

I am reminded of a body language panel I watched in 2024 with Janine Driver (if anyone has that video btw let me know) and the expert said that if all proximity and interaction ceases between the couple, that is when things are happening and that is exactly what we have seen for these last two years.

"When two people are in a secret romance, their body language often reveals a mix of intense attraction and nervous attempts to hide it. They key to spotting this high-frequency, subtle and reciprocal behaviours, where they subconsciously act as a unit trying to appear casual." Marriage.com

I believe this in theory is what they are trying to do and it possibly works on the outset if social media interactions are anything to go by. Where it falls apart is, having them in the same room. They knew that after SAGS, they couldn't let that happen so they separated them at BAFTA for the interviews despite Nicola and Luke being nominated for the same award. They instead rolled Antonia out off ice and waved her around like a bad smell. The Bridgerton season 4 press junket that Nicola was able to do was again extremely revealing and dispelled any ridiculous 'beefing rumours'. The pair are like magnets, the chemistry was off the charts and they moved their pelvises towards each other so much I was having flashbacks. It's blatantly obvious to all with eyes that there is something more to this and yes that includes Jakeholes, who are all former Lukolas.

I have a message for their PR teams if they are reading this, you're gonna have to do better than this....

So, I’ve been thinking about writing this one for a couple of days and I finally decided to carve out some time because it’s been weighing on me. And maybe now that it’s been a few days, we can let cooler heads prevail and look at this week’s mess with fresh, hopefully kinder eyes.

This week, Luke took a massive hit in the fandom because of a really, really stupid photo carousel that wouldn’t ordinarily deserve even to be discussed, if it weren’t for all the fallout that ensued. Then, the next day, he posted a story, and even more fallout crashed down from the fandom sky and onto an already battle-scarred landscape.

People were mad. Not mad, furious. How dare he post yet another carousel with another irrefutable image of her? And not only was there that video (is merely crossing the street really worthy of a video?), there was the TV stand, the pasta, the poster, and most damningly, the feet and hands. (Are feet and hands stepping into a crosswalk really worthy of a photo?) She was all over that grid. At least, that’s how they wanted it to appear.

I’m not, for now, going to discuss the relative truth and lies contained within that carousel. On the face of it, regardless of what was really going on in those images, it was terrible. Whether you believe it’s real or not (for the record, I definitely do not), absolutely nobody wanted to see that shit. If you think it’s real, you probably want it to end. Most people do because no one likes the sides (by design). If you think it’s fake af (as I do), then you still want the b.s. fakery to end. We are all getting sick and tired of the games.

And yes, it hurts. Every time the signs point to the stories dwindling, they find another way to jab the knife in anew. Whether you believe Lukola is real and happening now (which I 100% do) or you think they’re actually with the sides, either way, this stuff is exhausting and disheartening. And one has to question why they’re (I’m speaking broadly of the whole system of players) still doing it if they want their principals to remain beloved. Honestly, these games are systematically driving away devoted fans, one by one.

I would call myself one of their strongest soldiers. I am absolutely confident that Nic and Luke are together and I love them both, but I’m tired. And these games are enough to make even me consider turning away. Like, I love them and I know they’re happy together, but if you’re going to keep shoving this fakery and fuckery in my face, why should I keep sticking around for it? Exactly how much crap am I supposed to take before I decide to walk away? And believe me, if I walk away, at least 90% the fandom is already gone. One of my toxic traits is loyalty. So the fact that even I am in danger as a devoted follower should be a word of warning to the powers that be. But let’s set that aside for the moment because this is supposed to be a defense of Luke, and likewise of Nic.

So back to that horrific carousel, followed by that House of McQueen thank you story. This is where my defense begins. Because I won’t defend that stupid carousel. (Okay, actually I will, but later, and not as vociferously.) Everyone across the board, from the haters to the typically devoted Luke solos went after Luke hard twice over. First, for not posting about HOM and saying thank you, acknowledging his experience, etc. Then for having the audacity to do exactly what they wanted him to do, but doing it too late. And to be honest, I don’t think we as a fandom were very fair to Luke in that moment. The world called him out. He saw it and realized the world was right. He did exactly what everyone said, and then everyone got mad at him for doing it.

One of our big problems as a fandom is we make a lot of assumptions. So many assumptions. About absolutely everything. I suppose it’s the same in any fandom, but I generally don’t wade into fandoms. I haven’t been interested in any celebrity like this since I was a teenager. And I’m one and done with this one! But it’s certainly true here that we are daily making assumptions about two people we do not know at all.

Whatever you believe about Luke and Nicola’s love lives, it’s entirely based on your interpretation of the publicly available information. And based on that information, we can all agree on certain “facts.” Or things I’ll call facts because we collectively agree that we’ve all seen them.

But then there’s a bunch of stuff that we put together in different ways. Some people watch what’s going on and interpret it one way, the way I believe they want us to interpret it. Then others watch the same things and interpret them completely the opposite way, which is not what I believe they want us to see. Admittedly, I’m one of those people. I do not believe what they’re telling us. I do, however, believe what I see them showing us between the lines where we’re not supposed to look, but I think Nic and Luke hope (or know) that some of us do look.

And yes, we’re all interpreting what we see, but for my part, I work very, very hard to stay intellectually honest with myself and to only cling to the pieces of evidence that seem rock solid. Then I’ll lightly clasp the fun hints and bits of “maybe” evidence. And I basically ignore a lot of the stuff that seems particularly flimsy to me personally, stuff that’s based in no more than rumor or assumption. I don’t judge anyone who embraces those things, they’re just not part of the scenario I’ve sketched out in my own head. I try to keep my assumptions, inevitable as they are, to a minimum.

Oops, there’s that word again. Assumption. The biggest assumptions I see made are always about their state of mind and choices at any given time or in any given scenario. The way they act with the fake sides and what that says about them are the very best example of this. People say the most awful, hateful things about both of them based on believing these side narratives are true. People assume terrible things about both Luke and Nic because they think they’re dating these two young, inappropriate partners.

I do not believe they’re dating those two people, so I don’t believe those things. However, my side makes plenty of assumptions, too. We assume they’re happy and blissfully in love because that’s how they seemed on the WT. For those of us who believe in the “souvenir,” we assume they’re happy parents with a sweet young family, and we have fun imagining all the precious family time.

In reality, it’s possible they’re fighting all the time. It’s possible Nic had ppd or that Luke has checked out or that they love each other, but they’re constantly on the run and not seeing each other enough and it’s taking its toll. That last one, in particular, is why a lot of celebrity marriages fail. Plus, there are a million things that could be bumpy because literally every couple has bumps! Every couple including NicLuke.

It’s also possible that the toll of constantly having to hide their relationship, and pay off paparazzi, and scuttle around each other’s worlds like rats in the darkness, is proving more exhausting and stressful than they ever imagined. But obviously, it’s way more fun to imagine the fun stuff, so that’s where we linger with our thoughts. And yet, those are still assumptions.

In other words, no matter which side of the aisle we fall on, we make a lot of shit up in this community. Me included. Absolutely. Because we are interested in, and therefore imagining the lives of two people we don’t actually know.

Well, this week, the assumptions took a turn for the hateful. Because, yes, pretty much every bit of hate hurled at Luke like a gorilla tossing its poop was based on assumptions that might, in point of fact, have absolutely no basis in reality.

Now, at this point, I want to say that it’s perfectly fine to be angry at Luke sometimes. Or Nicola. Or both of them together. They’ve played a lot of games, both of their choosing and possibly not, but they’ve both done a lot to fool us and jerk us around. It’s very natural to get mad sometimes. I do. I get sick to death of being played, and even though I don’t fall for it anymore, I don’t like being treated like I’m stupid. So, for me, that’s a trigger that makes me angry. We all have triggers. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be angry sometimes.

But the key is sometimes. Because once again, most of our anger is based on assumptions we’re making about them and their motives and lives. This week, people freaked out (justifiably) because he had the audacity to put her in his carousel again. That’s a fact we can all agree on. He put her in his carousel. Or at least, someone did. (I’m not entirely sure who is doing these posts sometimes, but that’s a subject for a different blog.) But then he posted the belated HOM story and the fandom screamed a collective “How dare he?????” that would have made Munch’s Scream proud.

My problem with that second round of anger was that it was entirely built on assumptions that may not be remotely true. Was it bad optics and timing? Yes, absolutely! It couldn’t have been worse. But was it actually a terrible thing to post for terrible reasons? No. At least, it certainly wasn’t a terrible thing and we have no evidence that suggests the reasons were bad.

Everyone rushed to this very negative, dare I say hateful assumption that he was pathetically scurrying to do damage control after the carousel. That he saw everyone bitching and rushed to try to save himself by posting a “too little, too late” story. That makes him look pretty pathetic. But what if it’s not true?

Let me offer an alternative version that is equally possible. I can easily imagine a scenario where yes, Luke (or his team) was monitoring the response to his carousel and saw people commenting about how he should have done an end of HOM post. And he thought, “Oh, shit, they’re right! I should have done a post. I’ll do that now!”

And maybe he meant to do it when he finished, then thought, "no, I’ll wait until it ends so I don’t distract or confuse folks for the last two weeks." And by the time the last two weeks had passed, he’d gotten busy with the rest of his life and one day rushed past the next like happens to everyone and he simply lost track of it. And then it was time for him to post his carousel, so he did, not thinking about the fact that he never got around to the end-of-HOM post. No bad will. No ill feelings. No intentional neglect. Just life getting in the way as it does for everyone. (Especially for new parents.)

Then, the world reminds him through a lot of angry comments, and with the best will in the world, he does a thank you story. I know some folks wanted a grid post, but to be fair, everyone would have been happy with that story if it had happened before the carousel. It was mostly by comparison that the story seemed insufficient. If that story had hit a week or two earlier, everyone would have been perfectly happy with it.

And let’s not forget that Luke had already posted 10 times (TEN) about HOM and related press, including the three announcement posts that he recently archived. But he still had 7 HOM era posts on his grid. The show already had a lot of real estate on his grid. I don’t blame him for choosing to story his final message.

Plus, it’s worth noting that four of the photos in his carousel were very directly HOM related – the mirror, the opening night photo, the vodka, and the pic onstage. (And P.S. Mirrors also summon thoughts of Nicola, if we want to dissect this stuff that hard.) So even in his carousel, he was acknowledging the play repeatedly. By contrast, I count direct (and likely at least mostly fake) implications of being with A in 5 photos. Now, yes, that sucks for the aforementioned reasons, but the point is that HOM was very much represented in the carousel about his summer. And he’d already posted about it TEN times before that carousel.

Again, I’m not saying we don’t individually or collectively have a right to be angry sometimes. We all have a right to our feelings and anger is natural when things push our buttons. But anger makes us unhappy. It is a fundamentally negative, disruptive feeling that poisons us much more than the target of our anger. And if it causes us to nurse animosity against others, then yes, it can also hurt others, especially when their livelihoods depend on our collective good will.

I said early on in this post that I love Luke and Nicola, and that’s completely true. I don’t love them the way I love my husband or my friends or my family, but they are among my very favorite celebrities and they hold a special place in my heart. And they are certainly the only celebrities who get a sizable daily portion of my time. I don’t love that part, but it’s where we are. Those two lovable fools are addictive and beautiful together, so they’ve hooked me, and for the most part, I’m happy to sail along on the Lukola enjoying the waves. It feels good.

Being angry at either of them for the bullshit games they play does not feel good, so each time it happens, I try to shake it off as quickly as I can. It helps that I genuinely believe they have contractual obligations that are likely driving most of this b.s. I like to think that they’re as sick of this shit as we are and are eager to be done with it as well, but contracts and timelines being what they are, they are obliged to keep going.

That’s why I can’t get too mad when Luke posts a TV stand that A posed in front of a couple months ago, or the literal exact same poster from the Italian restaurant, clearly taken at the exact same time. Or some stupid hands and feet that may or may not be theirs. Or, worst of all, that horrible video of her crossing the street like she’s Mary Tyler Moore turning the world on with her smile.

Btw, did anyone notice that this is pretty much an exact duplicate of the In Style debacle? A posts a bunch of seemingly random things first. Then, awhile later, Luke shares stuff that proves to be the same places as A’s, thus poof! Magically implying a relationship. It’s a literal PR playbook of b.s.

Yeah, I hate that stuff because I’m ready for it to be done. My patience is wearing thin and I can’t believe we’re still playing these games a full year and a half after those ridiculous In Style photos hit. The good news is that the very intentional efforts to draw connections make it all look very fake. And I like to think that’s what they want. That in their own ways, while they’re obliged to continue with this foolishness, they’re lifting the curtain to let us see the seams. How it’s all pieced together. Because again, I like to think they’re sick of this, too.

Of course, that is also an assumption. Or not even quite an assumption in that case because I’m very far from sure how they feel about everything. They may be driving every bit of it for reasons of their own and they might feel great about it because of their reasons, which we’ll never know. Or maybe making a game of it is fun for them. Who knows?

Or maybe Nicola is simply fanatical about maintaining her privacy, which I do still believe, so they continue to do all of this simply for that reason. But they can be private without being secret. Many couples have successfully done that. There are lots of celebs who are married with babies that we never see. We have no idea about their private lives, and that’s just fine. We don’t need to know. But they can walk red carpets together and not have to hide their truth. That to me seems better than always living in darkness and swearing every person they know to an uncomfortable secrecy. But if that’s the case, I don’t have access to that information.

All I can do is interpret their actions in a way I can live with. So I like to think they’re under contractual agreement with a designated timeline because that makes sense to me. That helps me understand why they would keep playing all these games while also dropping hints like Nicola’s big, honking Claddagh ring on her left hand this week, followed immediately by Luke sharing her post.

And even that was a cause for anger among some fans. It was seen as an effort at distraction, which pissed people off more. But being pissed off feels bad. So I prefer to think that after the b.s., Nicola took advantage of the moment of increased attention to point it toward something worthwhile while reassuring us with the ring. And Luke gave us the gift of reassurance by immediately sharing it.

The point is, everything can be seen multiple ways. I do wish the fandom wouldn’t rush so quickly toward the negative options. Giving them the benefit of the doubt more often would do wonders for our collective mood. I know social media runs on pure, unadulturated rage most of the time, but don’t we all feel happier when we eschew the hate in favor of the love? I know I do. So I embrace the best possible versions of Lukola whenever I can.

Sometimes I get mad or annoyed, and yes, it’s possible they could push me too far. But for now, I’m holding on and giving them the benefit of the doubt because that just feels nicer all the way around. Instead of drinking poison and expecting the others to die, I’m drinking ambrosia and waiting for the others to reveal their love. It will come.

I’m sooooo back!!!!

✨SAG Awards in February 2025 🖤🩵

✨Then we didn’t see them together again until January 2026 🤍🤍

(Shared Jan 1st but promo is from Oct. 2025 based on Ruth, Hannah and Nicola’s styling)

✨ Honourary mention to the BAFTAs in May 2025 🖤🤍🖤

I was actually reluctant to share my research and analysis on the mystery man on my public sm account for various reasons (including how certain people in the fandom will react). That is why i only shared mine in the Discord server i'm modding in. However, since i found part of my research has made its way on X and here on someone's Tumblr, i guess and as promise i will share my full analysis and research here.

I know people are still divided on who that person is. Is it Luke? Or is it JD? For me, my conclusion is Luke. But yea it is still up to everyone's own interpretation.

So this is what i shared with my discord community.

I went through various interview footages, went into Pinterest, googled photos for both Luke and JD to get the almost perfect images of the thumbs, knuckles and ears that i think is the best to compare with the mystery man in Nic's selfie.

For Luke, these are the photos i used to make the comparison:

As for JD, these are the photos that i used.

Of course i had to use Chat GPT to help me analyze these images to see which matches more with the mystery man. So these are the breakdown.

For the thumb and knuckles

JD's on the left (Pic 1), Luke's on the right (Pic 3)

For the ear

So in conclusion, according to my research and Chat GPT analysis, the mystery man is Luke. And actually even without, doing all these, based on my intuition alone and also observation on how Nic smiles in the selfie, we know that guy is Luke cause that smile is the usual smile she always put on when he is around. But yea everything is up for debate and like i said above, it is up to your own interpretation. Not everything presented here is conclusive. I am just sharing what i see and and what i have researched and analyzed. 😊