We ran into TOWIE's Junaid Ahmed at the National Reality Television Awards last week and predictably, he told us the upcoming series of TOWIE is "absolutely crazy". We say 'predictably' because TOWIE stars feed us these false promises time and time again, and said series is always just okay (no shade).
But we have to say, we think Junaid might be on to something re series 34 because this Harry Derbidge, Joe Blackman, and Junaid drama is heating UP at an alarming rate.
In case you missed it, TOWIE veteran Harry and new cast member/(former) boyfriend Joe split last week, and just a few days later rumours started flying that Junaid was involved in their break-up after Harry allegedly looked on Joe's phone and found something he didn't like...
"Harry found messages between Joe and Junaid and it led to a huge argument and them splitting," a source told The Sun.
"Since then Joe and Junaid have been spending lots of time together. They been spotted on dates around Essex and staying at each others, so it’s only a matter of time before things erupt with Harry."
Naturally, the TOWIE fandom have been sharing their thoughts since the news broke.
All of the boys' socials have been flooded by fans desperate to share their thoughts on Joe and Junaid's alleged indiscretions – and, lest we forget, these two were seriously feuding at one point last series.
One, erm, passionate fan commented on one of Harry's recent Instagram grid posts, absolutely coming for Joe and Junaid, writing, "What a pair of backstabbing sh*ts," while another angry fan commented, "Everything is better when you have a clear out of the rubbish," and a third commented, "Absolute arseholes."
Phwoar.
Meanwhile, Joe and Junaid have featured heavily on one another's socials this week, with the boys clearly going to zero effort to keep their new relationship under wraps from the fandom.
Joe captioned his most recent grid post, "💚🎥," with Junaid almost immediately responding publicly with, "😍🔥."
Joe's only response to the criticism has been a passive aggressive meme share on his Instagram story (which you know we love). The meme reads, "People are going to talk about you no matter what, so you might as well do whatever makes you happy."
Speaking of happiness, according to one of Harry's recent Instagram grids he is "happy and healing" following the split, but we guess we're not going to get much more than that until series 34 begins airing in the coming weeks.
So, yeah, maybe Junaid wasn't exaggerating when we spoke to him last week; the digs, jibes and passive aggression are coming in fast and furious from these three, and as ever, we'll be keeping a close eye on how things progress throughout filming – and an even closer eye on who from the cast is aligned with who.
It's giving main story.