Out-of-the-blue cast-shake-ups, wild axings and shock returns aren't exactly foreign in the world of TOWIE. The series has been running for a mind-blowing 15 years and is currently in its 35th series, and while that is undeniably impressive, the show's hardly been a smooth ride in that time. But is anyone surprised by the most dramatic reality show on television?
Well, buckle up, because another shock shake-up has struck the show and no one could've seen this coming.
Okay, let's pause there; we're just as guilty as TOWIE of making drama out of absolute nothing every now and again, and we'll put our hands up - we're doing exactly that now.
While, yes, this news is a significant change to the show, it won't really affect the fans at all, but telly lovers will definitely find it interesting...
ITV has recently announced that it is 'retiring' ITVBe as a channel and all big hitters from that channel (for Closer readers that's TOWIE and The Real Housewives of Cheshire) will move to ITV2 as of June 2025.
ITV said, 'ITV2 will now officially become the linear home of all of ITV’s best-known reality series, as The Only Way is Essex, The Real Housewives of Cheshire and Real Housewives franchises from around the world move from ITVBe to the UK’s most successful digital channel for 16-34s, in June 2025.'
The channel change coincides with TOWIE's 15-year-anniversary celebrations, which are set to take place later this year on ITV2 with a 'celebratory Autumn series' and it's somewhat of a full-circle moment for the reality series, as TOWIE initially debuted its first 12 series on ITV2 before moving to ITVBe.
TOWIE and Housewives are jumping ship this summer as ITV has chosen to 'retire the ITVBe brand' completely and, instead, use the channel slot for something called ITV Quiz, 'drawing on ITV's popular, market-leading UK quiz and game shows'.
TOWIE launched in the UK on 10 October 2010 (that was the year Katy Perry released California Gurls, Justin Bieber released Baby and Lady Gaga wore the meat dress, FYI) and introduced the world to the likes of Amy Childs, Mark Wright and Lauren Goodger for the first time.
Since then, the world has been gifted with over 400 episodes of TOWIE.
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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 TOWIE, Love Island and The Real Housewives of Cheshire, he's storming the London LGBTQ+ scene as drag queen, Beary Poppins, or co-hosting Spill The Fizz podcast alongside Traitors legend, Diane Carson. 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 💅.