Love him or hate him, no one can argue that TOWIE's Mark Wright was the main character when the iconic reality show started back in 2010. And, since he left the show in 2011, he has gone on to be one of the most successful UK reality TV stars.
From taking part in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and Strictly Come Dancing to marrying queen of queens Michelle Keegan - he's done pretty well for himself.
Saying that, we don't spend a huge amount of time thinking about him these days (no shade), but we did find ourselves thinking about him recently when his legendary ex Lauren Goodger made her spectacular return to TOWIE, 12 years after leaving the show first time around.
Unlike Lauren, Mark has seemingly made every effort to leave his TOWIE past behind, but during an appearance on Jamie Laing's Private Parts podcast this time last year, the presenter opened up about TOWIE and his salary at the time. And all we can say is, Amber Turner would never...
After Jamie asked, "How much did you get paid on TOWIE?", the former reality stars shared a knowing look before Jamie added, "I can tell you what we got for Made in Chelsea."
They both laughed before declaring in sync, "We got fifty quid a day."
Fifty British pounds a day? They best be paying Lauren Goodger 2.0 more than that in 2024.
It's been over a decade since Mark was part of the Essex show, and the TOWIE salary has gone up a fair few quid since then – and to be fair, they go on a LOT more free holibobs these days. A gentle reminder that the likes of Ella Rae Wise, Dan Edgar and Harry Derbidge spent the vast majority of January in Bali, the fruits of which we are enjoying on ITVBe right now.
Jamie went on, "I heard a rumour that on The Only Way is Essex if your scene wasn't aired - you then weren't paid."
The news seemed to shock Mark who responded, "Oh, really?"
But as the golden boy of Essex back in 2010 we imagine all of Mark's scenes were aired. Eye roll.