It’s been over 13 years since The Only Way is Essex burst onto our screens in a frenzy of fake tan and vajazzles, making stars of Mark Wright, Amy Childs and Gemma Collins. It was like nothing we’d ever seen before and, honestly, we were hooked right from the get-go.
Over the past decade or so, there’s been a whopping 32 series of the ITVBe show and over 100 cast members... of varying durations.
While the show is all about the lives of the cast, there are some behind-the-scenes secrets that you’ve probably not heard, including how bosses phone the cast every day to catch up on the drama and how they are forced to film in empty clubs. We just hope it's not like Love Island and there is actual music playing and they're not all just dancing in silence.
Anyway, over the years we've seen some dramatic arguments - Lauren Goodger pushing Mark Wright into the pool and Lucy Mecklenburgh throwing red wine at Mario Falcone both spring to mind. And it turns out that their reactions are all real because cast members are not allowed to talk about drama off the camera.
Spilling the tea about their infamous feud during their early TOWIE days, Chloe Brockett was joined by BFF Kelsey Straford on her On The Record with Chloe B podcast.
Chloe explained, "I don't take it personally our falling out at all. I can fully see why we fell out. We were both competing for airtime that we didn't know how to get.
"We were annoying each other and instead of talking it out in a normal way, we're being told to speak about it on camera".
Kelsey then added, "You get told not to speak about anything off camera don't ya? And we were young and just joined the show and didn't know much about it so we was just doing what we were told."
So that's why the drama is so explosive... Go ITV producers, tbh.
Here's hoping Chloe and Kelsey will be back for the new series that will start in Bali.
CHECK OUT TOWIE behind-the-scenes secrets
Things you didn't know about TOWIE
1 of 16Cast members aren't allowed to talk about drama off camera
Over the years we've seen some dramatic arguments - Lauren Goodger pushing Mark Wright into the pool and Lucy Mecklenburgh throwing red wine at Mario Falcone both spring to mind. And it turns out that their reactions are all real because cast members are not allowed to talk about drama off the camera. Speaking about their infamous feud, Chloe Brockett admitted on her podcast, "We were both competing for airtime... and instead of talking it out in a normal way, we're being told to speak about it on camera". Kelsey Straford then added, "You get told not to speak about anything off camera."
2 of 16The cast take loads of cheeky behind-the-scenes snaps
Taking behind-the-scenes photos on the TOWIE set is a big no-no, so when our fave Essex hunks and hunnies manage to grab a sneaky snap of producers and crew doing their thing it makes us feel all tingly and naughty. As series 30 reached its climactic conclusion, regular cast member Chloe Brockett shared an Instagram photo dump from filming over the summer; one of these snaps included a naughty one from Courtney Green's birthday party that clearly shows a crew member filming content in the background. Slap wrist, Chloe, but not really, as we LIVE for this 'wizard behind the curtain' content.
3 of 16A LOT goes into organising street scenes
You know those iconic street scenes (that normally involved an argument or an awkward encounter), turns out there's quite a lot that goes into organising them and they don't just happen by chance. You knew that, anyway. Dani Imbert recently gave away the wild camera setting in a behind-the-scenes snap, where she showed off multiple cameras and crew.
4 of 16Amy Childs and Harry Derbidge have revealed the RUDEST cast member
TOWIE legends Amy Childs and Harry Derbidge have recently revealed who they think is the rudest cast member, however their identity remains somewhat of a mystery as the cousins only gave fans a split second glance at who it is in a TikTok video. The pair were taking part in a trend where they flash pictures of celebrities at the camera in response to a series of quickfire questions. Fans flooded the comments section with speculation, with many suggesting that reality diva Gemma Collins was chosen as the rudest cast member. "Harry’s rudest member is either Saffron or Gemma," wrote one, while another added, "Harry’s rudest member: Gemma 😅" However, Harry replied, "All wrong 😊"
5 of 16Sometimes the shots they drink are water
Amber Turner has let slip that sometimes the alcohol they drink on set is sometimes just water. She shared the secret whilst filming in the Dominican Republic with Elma Pazar, posting an Instagram story with people chatting in the background asking a producer, "Are they real shots or just water?".
6 of 16They're told to "chat s--t" by the producers
On her Instagram Story, Amber also let slip that the cast are told by producers to "just talk s--t" amongst themselves while they film scenes from above on a drone.
7 of 16The cast find out about filming at the last minute
Chloe Sims has revealed that the cast find out if they're needed for scenes literally hours in advance."We get our call times the night before the day we're filming."So, if we were filming tomorrow, we might not know until 9pm tonight what time and where."She went on to say that the chaotic nature of the timetable means that it's hard to pin down a rendezvous with potential suitors. "It's really difficult in three months to make dates and plans," she said speaking on the Pretty Little Thing Behind Closed Doors podcast.The reality telly legend said that she'd turned up on her last date in full Halloween garb, as filming had gone on so late, and it was very much not 31 October. "It was a weird night," she said.
8 of 16There was controversy over the creation of TOWIE
Remember Big Brother 8 winner Brian Belo? He claimed to have had the original idea for TOWIE and even filmed a pilot called Totally Essex starring Mark Wright, Sam Faiers, Amy Childs and Kirk Norcross. Lime Pictures, the production company that makes the show, always denied Brian's claims and they eventually reached an out of court settlement in 2013.
9 of 16The show has brought BILLIONS to the economy
Back in 2016, it was revealed that the show has boosted the economy by a whopping £1.4billion thanks to TOWIE-loving tourists across the world who have flocked to the UK to visit Essex. That was five years ago now, so just imagine how much more has been raked in since then.
10 of 16But the cast don't earn as much as you think...
When the show first started back in 2011, cast members like Mark Wright and Lauren Goodger were reportedly only making £50 per episode. Four years later, it was claimed the cast's earnings had gone up to £100 per episode. But that's still a snip compared to what they make on social media, through their businesses and other TV work.
11 of 16Those nightclub scenes aren't as lively as they look
The cast may look like they're having the time of their lives at nightclubs and parties, but it's thought that a lot of these scenes are actually filmed during the day. It turns out they're not actually dancing to the music that gets played in the final edit either, as a leaked video showed the cast dancing awkwardly with no music playing back in 2016.
12 of 16towie-insta-ella-junaid
Confirming that the club night scenes are as awkward as we all would suspect, Ella Rae Wise took to Instagram to share some BTS secrets from series 32 and this may well be the first time we are glad we aren't involved in TOWIE. Sharing a video on her story, Ella captioned the footage, "work bts🎥🤣☠️" and the emojis are enough to tell us the scene was equal parts cringey and uncomfortable.
13 of 16There's a name for those awkward confrontations
A classic staple of TOWIE is those awkward scenes where two cast members (usually ones who are feuding) come face to face in a random place like a coffee shop or in the street and it turns out there's a special behind-the-scenes name for them: bump-ins. Speaking to VICE last year, Chloe Sims explained, "On TOWIE, a bump in is when you just bump into someone that you've got confrontation with. They'll just say to you, 'Look, we're rolling, you're walking, you're gonna bump into him' and whatever happens happens." She also let slip that stars are allowed to walk away from bump-ins if they don't fancy a row.
14 of 16There's a secret reason the producers know who should be in the same scene
We've always wondered how the cast members randomly bump into each other on the street, but we don't have to wonder any more as Chloe Brockett recently revealed how the producers choose which stars should be in the same scene.When one fan asked, "How do they know who has an issue with one another at first to put the scenes together??", during an Instagram Q&A, she replied, "TOWIE call us every day for updates."
15 of 16Producers DO orchestrate some scenes
Back in 2019, Amber Turner revealed that producers do sometimes tell the cast what to do after she came under fire for creating a gold star reward sheet for boyfriend Dan Edgar. One fan fumed, "Gold stars. Are you off your head. He is not your child. So so bizarre!! And really controlling." but Amber soon hit back, "It's a TV show get a grip the producers come up with stuff they want u to do! It's just a joke and we found it funny so bore off."
16 of 16Some scenes are WAY longer than they seem
TOWIE episodes are only an hour long so a lot of what we see has been edited down and some scenes are actually a lot longer than what makes it to our screens. Danielle Armstrong is one former cast member who has previously hit out at the editing on Twitter, while Ella Wise told us she wishes certain things hadn't been cut from the show last year.