When Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu strutted into the Love Island villa earlier this summer, it came to light that she had a secret connection to TOWIE royalty as she was friends with none other than Pete Wicks and had allegedly enjoyed a fling with James Lock.
Shortly after her entrance to the Love Island villa back in June, reports claimed that Ekin-Su and Lockie had been romantically involved in 2021 before he started dating Megan Barton-Hanson.
Given her association with two of the show’s biggest stars (and the fact she’s from Essex, of course), it was previously suggested that Ekin-Su could join TOWIE in the future.
However when Closer caught up with Ekin-Su, ahead of her new TV show Homecomings with her boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti, she set the record straight on whether they'd both join TOWIE.
"I don’t think it’s us. We’re not Essex," she exclusively told us.
"I mean I’m from Essex but I don’t see myself as an Essex girl, so I wouldn’t fit in the crowd.”
However she did add, “I would probably have our own show and that would probably be more real… And produce it myself.”
Well, she is an actress so why not add producing to her CV too?
This isn't the first time there's been speculation surrounding Ekin-Su and TOWIE, in fact, Made in Chelsea's Sam Thompson kicked off the rumours when he said on Instagram, "She is very clued up. She gets the game. She'll be on TOWIE as soon as she comes out the villa."
Sam added the caption, "Ekin will be on TOWIE within minutes of leaving the villa 😂😂😂😂," just to reinforce his theory.
And earlier this month, Pete Wicks spilled the beans on his friendship with Ekin-Su and he seemingly confirmed that she dated Lockie in the process.
The Essex lothario was chatting to best pal Sam on their podcast Staying Relevant when talk soon turned to Ekin-Su after both Pete and Sam received invitations to the launch party for her Oh Polly clothing collection.
“Well, I know her,” Pete said, to which a gobsmacked Sam responded, “Shut up. Shut the front door, spank me on the arse cheek and call me Jonathan Rogers. There is absolutely no way you know Ekin-Su.”
Pete replied, “Yeah, I do. We’ve had many a night out.”
Sam then grilled Pete on whether the nature of his relationship with Ekin-Su ever turned romantic, something which he denied.
The Made in Chelsea star said, “Well, you’ve got to ask. You said you had many a night out.
“Have you kissed? Have you flirted? Have you held hands?”
Pete answered, “No, because a friend of mine was having that moment,” appearing to refer to Lockie.