It's not uncommon for a TOWIE star to make a dramatic exit from the show, take a bit of time away from the spotlight and then come back with some boujie new job announcement.
If you cast your mind back to 2022, Gatsby – aka Liam Blackwell – did just that. He spent virtually a whole season telling his nearest and dearest TOWIE chums that he was leaving the show, and Essex, to start a new real estate venture in LA. When he finally left the show he spent months getting his affairs in order, under the radar, before he eventually made the move.
Then last year we reported that although we were dearly missing Gatsby from our screens, he was doing really well for himself Stateside. Like, really really well (keep reading).
When the reality star first touched down in the States he sparked rumours that he was joining the cast of Selling Sunset and, while he's not working for The Oppenheim Group, he’s got a successful real estate business of his very own.
Fast forward to the here and now and Gatsby appears to have broken the TOWIE mould by announcing yet another new business venture – one that has absolutely nothing to do with real estate, and one we definitely didn't see coming...
According to a recent Instagram story post, Gatsby has been busy working behind the scenes on an AI tool that will apparently help Instagram users come up with snappy, witty captions to accompany their pictures. Yep. The future is here and it's lazy - saying that, we do get paid to write, so maybe we're a tad biased.
In the story post, Gatsby apologised for being quiet on social media over the last few weeks, outlined his new AI tool – known as Image Caption Generator Pro – and encouraged his followers to give it a go and to share their thoughts with him.
The former TOWIE star wrote, "I have been quiet on here for the last few weeks as I have been working on an idea I had and have created an AI (Artificial Intelligence) tool that will be revolutionary for today's society. It is called 'Image Caption Generator Pro' and can be used by 'ChatGPT' users. It takes out the headache and hours of thinking what would be a sick caption for my social media post!? You upload your image and it quickly generates creative and concise captions along with a hashtag for your social media posts by analysing and reading your images for people, location, actions, landmarks, occasions, animals and clothing. If you don't like the caption, you can instantly generate another caption with a click of a button and when you find one you do like ti can even be translated and localised into any language your heart desires. There is no custom GPT out there quite like it with the same features. Give it a go and let me know what you think!"
We have a feeling some of his TOWIE pals might be downloading this one.
Just don't start using it on the official TOWIE Instagram – because whoever looks after that is slaying; as are those looking after Closer online's account for that matter 💅.
Diags on Gatsby: 'He’s doing what he wanted to do and living the LA dream'
As we all know from hours of binge-watching Selling Sunset on Netflix, homes in the Hollywood Hills are stunning but they don’t come cheap at all and Liam’s business Gatsby Estates recently closed a deal worth a whopping $9MILLION. Excuse us while we pick our jaw up off the floor.
We recently caught up with Gatsby’s former co-star James ‘Diags’ Bennewith, who opened up about feeling “proud” of his pal.
Diags exclusively told Closer online, “Gatsby’s doing well selling houses, I think he’s got his first $9million listing.
“I’m very proud of him out there, he’s doing what he wanted to do and living the LA dream.”
Gatsby has been giving fans a glimpse into his new career on social media and in 2023 opened up about launching his own business just six months after arriving in America.
He told his followers, “When I arrived six months ago I didn’t even know where to start or begin. Today I’m launching my own real estate company @gatsby_estates with the office being in the heart of Beverly Hills.
“With the guidance of a great mentor and other amazing people who have been in my life since my new journey began, I’ve been able to make this exciting opportunity happen and to whom I’m extremely grateful.
“This is only the start with a long and difficult journey ahead but I’m gonna give it a right good go! If you don’t take risks and chances in life then what’s the point?”