Axed TOWIE star Pia Smith has posted about her "besties" Mia Sully and Hannah Voyan as they made their show debut without her.
Pia posted a picture of the threesome on Hannah's birthday, writing, "Happy birthday to our beautiful bestie @hannahvoyan. I love you so much. You have got one of the purest hearts I know. Us 3 till the end ❤️❤️❤️."
Mia, who has now finished filming series 30 of TOWIE, is currently in Ibiza living the influencer life with friends – including controversial Pia. Mia shared a video of her, Pia and two friends dancing in Ibiza on the same day that she finally made her debut on the Essex-based reality series, a debut that had been pushed back several weeks due to the knock-on effects of Pia's alleged "breach of contract".
While these posts appear to show that the pair have remained friends despite the overwhelming off-sceen #dramz (they still regularly appear on each other's TikTok channels), Hannah is yet to post anything about Pia since the incident over the summer.
Back in July, the TOWIE cast was rocked by some serious drama before the current series had even begun, when brand new cast member Pia was been sensationally axed from the show - before ever appearing on our screens, we might add - after angering ITV bosses with her alleged “inappropriate behaviour”, which saw nine TOWIE stars, including Diags, being detained in Madrid.
Pia had already filmed her debut scenes in the Dominican Republic with besties Mia and Hannah, but producers were forced to leave them on the cutting room floor after booting her from the show. She may not have made it on TOWIE, but it turns out Pia does have a reality TV past...
Pia appeared on E4's Stage School - a reality show billed as Glee meets TOWIE - which ran for two seasons and followed the lives of stage school students at the prestigious D&B Academy of Performing Arts in Kent and a clip of the show recently resurfaced on social media, giving us a glimpse of what might have been if she hadn't been spectacularly axed from the ITVBe show.
In unearthed scenes, Pia is branded a "snake" by her co-stars after allegedly kissing a man that her co-star Leah Bauckham was seeing. The confrontation begins in the middle of a dance rehearsal as Leah warns her classmates, "There's a massive snake in the room and her name's Pia." She continues, "If you've got a boyfriend, make sure you keep him tight... or it might just be my men that you're after, I don't know."
Pia then claps back, "But he said that you're not seeing anyone and he classed you as a friend. I was going to come and talk to you, but obviously someone has opened their mouth." Their co-star Daniella Byrne chimes in, "Yeah, I told her because it's ridiculous. You can't go around kissing the guy that she's trying to see."
"I've not done anything wrong in this situation as far as I'm concerned," Pia fumes, to which a visibly shocked Leah responds, "I'm sorry, what planet do you actually live on? Do you live on a different planet?"
Pia replies, "He's mugged you off, right? I went to go and speak to you. I haven't see you, have I? Have I seen you?"
Megan Jossa - the cousin of former EastEnders actress Jacqueline - who also starred in Stage School then attempts to defend Pia as she says, "Can you both just chill out? Can I just say one thing, please? You called Pia a snake... snakes are the ones who talk behind each other's backs."
Daniella hits back, "Are you serious Megan? She's gone for five minutes and Pia, you think you can just suddenly just start kissing him and everything? You've done it with Jamie, you've done it with OJ and now you've done it with Jordi," before a teacher returns to the room and breaks up the bust-up.
After that massive row, it's safe to say that Pia would have been right at home amongst all the Essex drama.
After a period of radio silence over the last half of the summer, the (almost) reality star returned to her Instagram to share a "savage" post on her Stories which we can only assume is a message for both TOWIE producers, press and her haters online.
The post read, "Scorpio: Combination of sensitive and savage".
Why was Pia Smith axed from TOWIE?
Before the incident in question, the aesthetics practitioner joined the cast of TOWIE alongside pals Hannah and Absolutely Ascot star Mia just in time for series 30, with the trio jetting off to film in the Caribbean alongside fellow newbie Elma Pazar (of Love Island fame) and returning stars Ella Rae Wise and Jordan Brook, back in June.
However, bosses were left with no choice but to give Pia the boot before she even appeared on our screens after she was allegedly removed from her flight home for vaping on the plane home – meaning her scenes will be left on the cutting room floor, while besties Mia and Hannah will reportedly continue to appear on the show.
A TOWIE spokesperson confirmed the news in a statement, “A new contributor of The Only Way Is Essex who recently filmed scenes in the Dominican Republic, will no longer feature in the upcoming series due to a breach of contract.”
"Bosses were stunned"
Meanwhile, a TV insider told The Sun, "Pia was openly vaping on the plane back from the Caribbean and bosses were stunned. They cannot tolerate that kind of behaviour, especially from a newcomer so early on. It was unacceptable and outrageous."
Although her time on the show was short-lived Pia still managed to ruffle the feathers of co-star Saffron Lempriere, who hit out at her “questionable respect” in a furious Instagram rant.
Following her shock axe from TOWIE, here’s everything you need to know about the recently axed TOWIE star, Pia Smith…
Who is Pia Smith?
Pia is a reality star who joined ITVBe show TOWIE in 2022 just in time for series 30 before swiftly being axed for "inappropriate behaviour" before her first scenes even aired. She is also an aesthetics practitioner and owns her own business Plumped By Pia. She performs non-surgical treatments such as botox and fillers.
Hang on, do we recognise Pia Smith from somewhere?
You may recognise Pia from her famous pals that include her fellow TOWIE newbies, Absolutely Ascot star Mia Sully, Hannah Voyen and well known Essex faces like Yazmin Oukhellou and Dani Imbert.
Apparently Pia, Mia and Hannah come as a trio and are all a force to be reckoned with, with a source telling The Sun, “Mia only wanted to do the show if her two best mates Hannah and Pia could do it with her, and as soon as bosses met all three of them, they knew they were onto a winner.
“They are a force to be reckoned with and will bring so much drama to the new series. They know some of the cast already and there is beef between some of them, so expect some explosive telly.”
However, Mia and Hannah will now appear on the show by themselves after bosses wielded the axe over Pia.
How old is Pia Smith?
It's thought that Pia is around 24 years old.
Why was Pia Smith axed from TOWIE?
Pia was among the nine TOWIE cast members who were removed from their flight back to the UK via Madrid after filming in the Dominican Republic. She reportedly vaped on the plane, which was seen as "unacceptable" by show bosses.
A source revealed, "It didn’t help that Pia’s behaviour while in the Caribbean wasn’t great either. She rubbed quite a few other cast members up the wrong way and said some things that were uncalled for. Ultimately she just didn’t make a very good first impression all round, but when she vaped on the flight, that was the final straw.”
What happened with Pia Smith and Saffron Lempriere?
Pia was one of the few stars to speak out about the ordeal when it happened, taking to Instagram stories at Madrid airport where she explained that she "hadn't eaten in 24 hours."
Her pal Mia posted (and swiftly deleted) about the ordeal on her Instagram story, sharing a picture of another plane with the caption, "Been travelling for over 24 hours now. Escorted off the plane by police 👮♀️ because eating crisps with no mask on. Second flight missed that due to them taking too long to find our luggage. 10 hour wait at Madrid airport. Safe to say I never want to see this airport again. Third time lucky. Get me f--king home."
However, Pia's name was brought up again as Saffron Lempriere spoke out about the situation after receiving 'a lot of messages'.
In response to her follower's mentioning of newbie Pia, she came for the jugular, saying, "As for the name above, I told her to firmly shut up 24 hours before because it don't think when it speaks, but there we go certainly not my friend yes a new cast member with questionable respect and as for the person vaping please spend your time sending her messages all day".