TOWIE star Harry Derbidge described 2024 as ‘one of the worst years of his life’ during the Christmas special after a turbulent series 34 which saw Harry split from his boyfriend Joe Blackman and Joe move on with Harry’s close friend Junaid Ahmed.
But, following Harry’s heartbreak, it recently seemed like his year could be ending on a positive note when he appeared to go public with a new man – who was branded an ‘upgrade’ by fans – on a trip to Australia.
The reality star jetted off to Melbourne and we couldn’t help but notice that he was spending a lot of time Down Under with gorgeous tattoed barber Jam Gaud, who shared a number of cosy snaps with Harry on Instagram.
It wasn’t just us who thought that Harry could be moving on either as his TOWIE pals shared a number of supportive comments on one of Jam’s posts.
Sophie Kasaei commented, 'This is everything and MORE 😍', while Chloe Meadows wrote, 'Just makes me so happy 🥰🤗.'
Then, of course, there was Elma Pazar who was, as per, all of us. She wrote, 'YES YES YESSSSSSSSSSSS.'
However, it seems we shouldn’t be rushing out to buy a hat just yet as Harry has revealed that Jam ISN’T his boyfriend, but rather his ‘best friend’.
Following his return to Essex, Harry shared yet another picture of himself and Jam on his Instagram story and wrote, ‘My best friend from Down Under 😘 thank you for the best trip!
‘A very special person and you deserve the world.’
Speaking directly to, well, us, Harry added, ‘Press, he is not my boyfriend, just an amazing person, who is amazing and helped me a lot.’
Well, that’s us told.
Harry recently opened up to Closer about his love life on the red carpet at the Beauty Awards, where he revealed he hadn’t completely ruled out dating but was just focusing on himself at the moment.
‘Honestly, I’m working on myself. I’ve been going to the gym every day, I’m doing things and stepping out of my comfort zone, things that I normally don’t do. I’m not gonna shut off dating, but at the moment in time, I’m just working on myself,’ he explained.
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Nathan Katnoria is Closer's Senior Digital Writer and resident TOWIE expert. He's seen all 34 (thirty four!!) 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.