Cast your minds back to the summer of 2014 (which was somehow ten years ago, FYI). TOWIE had just returned for a new series, kicking off with a cast trip to Marbella (classic). Life was GOOD. And then Bobby Norris and Harry Derbidge made their telly debut as a couple in matching barely-there swimwear known as the 'schlong thong' and things were never the same again. Frankly, we were obsessed, as was the rest of the world.
If you are one of the few people on earth that still hasn't seen the eye-popping pictures – firstly, where have you been for the last decade? – the schlong thong can only be described as a kind of half-Speedo that (just about) covers all the bits that definitely shouldn’t be seen on the beach, while still allowing you to sun yourself without having to worry about tan lines.
Bobby may have been the person to coin the trend ten years ago, but a decade (ish) later it was resurrected by his former flame Harry on the TOWIE cast’s mid-series trip to Thailand. Remember that? To be honest, all these trips blur into one (even for us) these days, but we remember being thrilled to see the schlong thong back in action again.
Closer is now thrilled to reveal that the world may once again see the return of the true telly icon that is the schlong thong on TOWIE later this year.
Yep, according to "b*tch with a heart of gold" Junaid Ahmed, he has every intention to bringing the schlong thong out of its second retirement for the cast trip to Bali – to launch TOWIE series 33 – later this year.
Taking to Instagram, Junaid posted a snap of his swanky Essex gym with the caption, "If I'm not a size 4 by the time we are in Bali filming strutting around in a thong I'll be fuming."
We fully support this sartorial pledge – not the "size 4" pledge; as far as we're concerned the schlong thong has and always will be for all beautiful shapes and sizes. Be free, all.
Now let's all collectively hope Lauren Goodger follows in the schlong thong's iconic footsteps and makes an equally eye-opening return to the series later this year. That's who you thought the headline was about, wasn't it? Oop.
To be fair, she is rumoured...
Speaking about the skimpy swimwear back in 2014, Bobby said, “I didn't expect it to cause a stir, to be honest. It was just all about me getting a good tan with no tan lines.”
He told Digital Spy, “The only better way than that is to be fully nude and you can't really do that in Marbs!"
The schlong thong caused quite the stir at the time and even caught the attention of Paris Hilton.
“There are three major people that I can't believe have even talked about it or tweeted it or Instagrammed it,” Bobby added, while Ferne McCann said, “Until today I didn't know it was actually for real on Paris Hilton's Instagram and I had to look for myself - I was like, 'No way!’”