He comes across as one of TOWIE’s most confident and bubbly cast members, but Bobby Norris has revealed that he’s so shy when it comes to men that his friends have been giving him dating tips.
The 29-year-old has only had one relationship during his time on the ITVBe reality show, with former star Harry Derbidge, and has had his hands full recently with much more important things. In August 2014 he revealed his mum Kym was battling leukaemia and desperately needed a stem cell transplant, and Bobby campaigned extensively to find her a donor.
Bobby revealed Danni and Chloe Sims have been giving him dating tips
Thankfully Kym managed to find a donor and she is now recovering – meaning Bobby has time to focus on his love life once more.
Speaking exclusively to Closer Online, he explained: “I’d kind of made a conscious decision to not date because of everything that was going on with mum. But now she’s on the mend I feel like it might be time to start dating.
“Chloe [Sims] and Danielle [Armstrong] were like, ‘Right, Bobby, you’re turning 30 this year so we’re going to find you a man’. Everyone thinks I’m the most confident person in the world, and I am with my friends and I can go and do live TV, it doesn’t bother me. But when it comes to dating and going over to a guy in bar, I couldn’t think if anything worse.”
Chloe and Danielle have even launched social media campaign #FindBobbyAFella – and he’s hoping he’ll have more confidence when it comes to chatting to potential dates in future.
He doesn't understand why anybody would be embarrassed of their TOWIE past
Last week Bobby’s co-star Tommy Mallett appeared to take a dig at Mark Wright and suggested the 29-year-old has attempted to distance himself from TOWIE since leaving.
He told Digital Spy: “You never see Mark Wright standing on the red carpet with us lot. Or [sitting] on a table near us.”
But Bobby insisted he thinks everybody should be grateful for the opportunities The Only Way Is Essex has given them.
He explained: “I would say, as a whole, everybody needs to remember that TOWIE has given us all a platform and so many huge opportunities – and I think you should never bite the hand that feeds you. You need to remember your roots, we all owe the show so much for these amazing things we get to do. I always think, ‘Wow, how lucky am I?’ I wouldn’t understand anybody who tries to disassociate themselves from the show. I think you need to be grateful for what the show has given you. There’s no shame in TOWIE.”
Catch The Only Way Is Essex every Wednesday and Sunday at 10pm on ITVBe.