The TOWIE cast have delivered plenty of shock moments over the years, but we were especially surprised to hear the Freddie Bentley and Junaid Ahmed romance rumours that are doing the rounds at the moment – especially given that they didn’t exactly get off on the best foot when Freddie joined the cast last series.
Remember when Freddie slagged off Junaid’s outfit and said he looked like an ostrich at Chloe Meadows’ roaring 20s fundraiser? Awkward…
Fast forward to the present day, however, and Freddie and Junaid are now as thick as thieves along with their mutual bestie Ella Rae Wise and gal pal Dani Imbert.
They’re getting on so well, in fact, that there’s even lots of speculation that they’ve crossed the line from friends to lovers.
During the series 33 finale, Saffron Lempriere, Ella and Dani accused Freddie and Junaid of “flirting” with each other and earlier this month, Ella exclusively told Closer that the pair were planning a date.
She revealed, "They are running before they can walk. They have been friends five minutes and now they want to go on a date... I can't get my head around it.
“They have got a friendship that is quite flirty. It is really weird. It might have been why they initially didn't like each other because they fancied each other."
Since then, Freddie has broken his silence on his potential romance with Junaid and revealed exactly what went down between them.
Speaking exclusively to Closer at an intimate dinner to celebrate the launch of series 34, Freddie explained, “Do you know what? At one point I think me and Junaid did have that conversation, before we went to Cyprus, to explore things.
“I’ve been single for over four years, Junaid’s always been single. We really got along and there’s definitely a connection there that I thought maybe we could potentially be compatible.”
However, it doesn’t seem like they made it out of the friend zone as Freddie continued, “But, after getting super close in Cyprus, it made me realise that we’re just best friends.”
Although he’s not dating Freddie, Junaid might not be single for much longer as it’s rumoured that he’s been giving Joe Blackman a shoulder to cry on following his split from Harry Derbidge.
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Nathan Katnoria is Closer's Senior Digital Writer and resident TOWIE expert. He's seen all 33 (thirty three!!) series of the ITVBe show and regularly reminisces about forgotten TOWIE romances from years gone by. Although he's never been to Brentwood, Nathan has interviewed loads of TOWIE faves past and present including Sam Faiers, Chloe Brockett, Diags and Georgia Kousoulou.