We're not really allowed to have TOWIE favourites here at Closer, but we'd be flat-out lying if we said we didn't have a soft spot for Harry Derbidge.
We've adored him ever since Gemma Collins took him out for that anxiety-inducing driving lesson when he was a teenager (mainly because he was all of us in that chaotic scene) and our hearts and souls have been with him throughout his very messy, on-camera breakup from Joe Blackman – and the subsequent Junaid Ahmed-related heartbreak/betrayal that followed.
In the here and now, Harry is very much in his single, revenge era – at least that's what his Instagram is telling us these days. He's living his absolute best life at swanky events and then waking up early the next morning to get those all-important gym endorphins. He's also in his thirst trap era, which we can massively get behind when you've been through any kind of heartache.
Anyway, to summarise, we adore him and thankfully he adores Closer too, so we managed to squeeze in a juicy catch-up at this year's Beauty Awards in London, where he revealed that he's enjoying 'stepping out of his comfort zone' in the wake of his brutal split from Joe.
When asked whether he was seeing anybody new, Harry revealed, '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.'
You do you, babe.
Speaking about how he was really doing after everything that went down on TOWIE series 34, he told us, 'I’m doing really good, thank you, honestly. A lot of time has passed since everything that you see on telly. We’ve just filmed our Christmas special which is really exciting, that comes out soon.
He continued, 'Time’s a healer, and I think sometimes you have to go through the horrible times to come out on the good side. So hopefully my life is now going in a different direction and, yeah, life’s looking very exciting for me. I’ve got a very exciting year coming, and life’s looking good.'
Last time we saw Harry on-screen he was being told that Joe and Junaid had split by Amy Childs in that painfully dramatic – and highly-produced – teaser trailer for the Christmas special. Of course, now we know that Joe and Junaid are very much (back) together IRL, so who really knows what's going on, or where the f**k we are on this very confusing TOWIE timeline...
One thing's for certain, though – our Harry is going to be just fine.
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Ben Pulsford is a digital writer for Bauer Media, writing for both Closer online and heatworld. When he's not getting paid to gossip about Big Brother, Love Island and The Real Housewives of Cheshire, he's storming the London LGBTQ+ scene as drag queen, Beary Poppins. Both Ben and Beary are awaiting an invite to join The Real Housewives of Cheshire for series 18. The budget's not there, but the drama is 💅.