Look, we love the TOWIE lot. We've loved them for 14 years. And the dudes and divas of Brentwood are many wonderful things, but actors and actresses they are not. Which is why a fortnight on, we are still not quite over that end-of-season teaser trailer for the hotly-anticipated Christmas special showing our faves all pretending to phone (we're guessing) each other to gossip about Junaid Ahmed and Joe Blackman apparently splitting. In fact, the only moment we actually bought was when Amy Childs poured a glass of prosecco. Realism.
As cringey (and yet, somehow iconic) as the heavily-produced teaser was, it served it's purpose - we're licking our lips in anticipation for this Christmas special and we want the Junaid x Joe tea more than ever.
After all, it really is quite confusing at this point; at the end of series 34, Junaid and Joe were together (after a season of ups and downs and all that Harry Derbidge dramz), then in the teaser we learned they'd split, and now IRL they are back together (according to their socials). No doubt, all we be explained in next month's The Only Way Is Essexmas special. Which, by the way, has now wrapped filming.
Late last week, several TOWIE stars announced that Thursday 21 November was wrap day for the Christmas special (the first since 2021, btw), including Junaid and Joe. In fact, Junaid took to his Instagram to share a cutesy selfie of him and Joe where he confirmed that him and his new boyf had managed to get out of the Christmas special alive.
He captioned the snap, 'We did it ❤️ made it out alive 🤣 until next series 🎥.'
Junaid is, of course, referring to the latest series drama which has seen the majority of the cast turn on him – even former friends, Amy, Jordan Brook and Sophie Kasaei – after him and Joe unexpectedly got together moments after Joe's split from Harry (despite Junaid and Harry being best friends). It's truly Junaid and Joe against the world at the moment, and from the looks of Junaid's post, it would appear that next month's Christmas special is set to elevate the drama we witnessed in series 34.
What's Christmas without a little family drama, though, eh?
News of a Christmas special was confirmed earlier this month when Junaid took to his Instagram story to share that he was heading for a meeting with TOWIE bosses to discuss the festive episode. And let us tell you, Christmas came early in the Closer office that day.
Junaid shared a picture of himself in the car, following a recent romantic getaway to Ibiza with Joe, and captioned the snap, ‘Back to reality 😔 TOWIE Christmas special meetings 🎄.’
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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 💅.