We've definitely entered the era of established reality stars returning to the shows that made them and here at Closer we are obviously unbelievably here for that. Take TOWIE as an example; Amy Childs, Harry Derbidge, Lauren Goodger and most recently, James 'Arg' Argent - who popped up in this year's The Only Way is Essexmas) have all returned to the ITVBe reality series as either main characters or guest stars.
Heck, Love Island has made a whole spin-off show about iconic Islanders making epic returns to the series in the form of Love Island: All Stars.
So, naturally, when Closer bumped into TOWIE icon Gemma Collins – who famously dated Arg in the series' heyday – we simply HAD to ask whether The GC would ever make a spectacular return to the series that propelled her to fame, especially in this comeback era.
We'll be honest, we fully expected Gemma – who hasn't appeared on the series since 2019 – to shut this question down, but to our utter delight, she confirmed that she would love to return to TOWIE, but her agent has told her it would be a 'career disaster'.
Respectfully, we disagree.
She exclusively told Closer, 'I would love to go back on TOWIE. I love TOWIE, but my agent says, "Gemma, if you were ever to go back now, it would be a career disaster for you."
'When they do a reunion in a few years’ time, I’ll probably be the Posh Spice of TOWIE.'
Gem, they're doing the reunions NOW. Hop on that Spice Bus, Victoria.
The conversation then moved on to the current series of TOWIE and whether she keeps up with the drama. Gemma said, 'I’m really fond of TOWIE, [but] recently I was disgusted by what went on with Harry [Derbidge] and how he was treated. Off camera, Harry was at my house a lot and I was consoling him.'
She really is in the market for playing mother bear to blond cubs these days, isn't she?
She's besties with Jedward, FYI (in case you missed that iconic crossover).
Gemma's ex Arg' returned to TOWIE for the Christmas special, which aired last weekend. While he didn't really do much – he met up with Dan Edgar and James 'Diags' Bennewith for some festive bants and sang at Saffron Lempriere's Christmas party – the buzz around his return was buzzing.
It’s been over a decade since TOWIE viewers whooped as Gemma told Arg to 'kiss that' as she slapped her bum and strutted off set during the show’s Marbella special.
Gemma has since become one of the show’s most successful stars and, after ditching Arg for good in 2020, reunited with former love Rami Hawash and the couple are still together.
Read the full interview with Gemma here. Closer spoke to Gemma at the Quintessentially Foundation’s Fayre of St James’s Christmas carol concert in aid of The Firefly Project. See more at quintessentiallyfoundation.org.