Eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed that a brand-new TOWIE cast member was introduced to series 33 over the weekend and he's none other than Ella Rae Wise's bestie, reality star and TikToker Freddie Bentley – and if you're a telly addict like us, then you've definitely seen his face before.
Freddie rose to fame when he appeared on Channel 4’s social experiment slash reality show The Circle in 2018 when he was 22 (he finished as the runner-up behind winner Alex Hobern), but apparently, he could've found fame four years before that when he was just 18 – if only he'd followed one of the golden rules of television – never break your NDA...
Speaking on Love Island star Chloe Burrows podcast, Chloe VS The World, Freddie admitted that he actually auditioned for Big Brother two years prior to appearing on The Circle and "got really far into the process" until he was "kicked out" for telling too many people about it.
He is all of us.
He told Chloe, "When I was 18 I auditioned for Big Brother and got really far into the process and it was really good. Obviously, I was young, I was 18, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got this in the bag.’ I got a bit cocky and told a few people. By that I mean I told the whole club, I told [the] post office, I told [the] Co-Op… It then got leaked in the press, so I got kicked out of the audition process. It was savage and I was heartbroken."
As much as we are now feeling like we were all robbed of a truly iconic housemate all those years ago, if he hadn't been booted from Big Brother he probably wouldn't have ended up on The Circle, nor TOWIE, which we just don't want to think about.
He explained, "Two years go by and the same producers were working on The Circle. They rung me up and were like, ‘Fred, we want you on the show.’"
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Freddie announced his TOWIE debut on Instagram back in March, writing, “The only way is… FREDDIE BABY!! “I’m buzzing to have joined the cast of @towie series 33 alongside my best friend @ellaraewisex doing what we do best together ❤️ coming soon to ITVBE😜🎥❤️🔥✌🏼.”
His bestie Ella was quick to reply in the comments section, writing, “We are going to have a blast. I am so proud of you Fred ❤.”