And as producers get set to mark ten years of TOWIE later this year, with Sam Faiers, Mark Wright and Amy Childs all rumoured to join the line-up, original cast member Kirk Norcross is keen to throw his hat into the ring.
Kirk, 31 – who was initially famed for his relationships with Amy Childs and Lauren Pope, as well as a spat with Mark Wright – says, “TOWIE is where everything started for me. If they are getting the old gang back together, I definitely want to be a part of it.
“TOWIE without Kirk would be like Essex without stilettos, fake tan, and boy racers. It’d be great to say one last goodbye to the programme where I spent so much of my life.”
He gives Closer the lowdown on the co-stars he’s most looking forward to filming with...
‘I held a lot of resentment towards Mark Wright’
“He has done great, hasn’t he? To be honest, for a long time, I would have found it hard to say that. I held a lot of resentment towards Mark for the way he snaked me in that charity boxing match [Mark beat Kirk in 2010].
“He’d told me not to train because he had never boxed. Then he trains like Mike Tyson and it turns out he had boxed a year before. No wonder he won the fight. But the past is the past. I am not going to be squaring up to the geezer in the reunion.”
‘My feelings for Lauren remain the same’
“Even thinking about Lauren now is hard. The girl was the love of my life. The bond we had was very hard to describe. I believe, if it wasn’t for TV and social media, I would have spent the rest of my life with her! We may well have been married today.
“My feelings remain the same now as they used to be for her. She is an amazing person. We’d always kept in contact with each other and made an effort to ensure we were both okay.
“Then one day, I went to message her and noticed she unfollowed me on social media. I was very confused. It got me quite upset – if I see her on the show I will ask her why.”
Check out: TOWIE's millionaire mummy club
TOWIE's millionaire mummy club - stacked
1 of 3Amy Childs
She left the reality show after the second series, but Amy became the first TOWIE millionaire just a year later in 2012. In 2017, the 28-year-old welcomed daughter Polly with ex Bradley Wright, then gave birth to a son a year later with her boyfriend Ritchie. That same year, she was said to be worth £5m through her mummy and fashion ranges, eyelashes and perfumes.
2 of 3Sam and Billie Faiers
Sisters Sam and Billie quit the show in 2014 and 2016 respectively and have gone on to launch their hugely successful ITVBe spin-off series The Mummy Diaries. Aside from their reality success, Sam – who is mum to Paul, three, and Rosie, one, with partner Paul Knightley; and Billie – who has Nelly, four, and Arthur, two, with husband Greg Shepherd – have made an estimated joint fortune of £7m through clothing brand collaborations and sponsored social media posts.
3 of 3Ferne McCann
After leaving TOWIE in 2015, Ferne became a household name on I'm A Celeb!. She welcomed daughter Sunday in November 2017 as a single mum, after her ex-boyfriend Arthur Collins was jailed for an acid attack. She gained an army of fans after documenting her emotional journey on her reality series First Time Mum. Ferne, 28, also has a clothing line with MissPap and a fitness DVD, and was said to have raked in almost half a million in 2017 alone.
‘Gemma and Arg are still going strong’
“The GC... What can you say about her that hasn’t already been said? She is just TV gold. What I think is great about Gem is the statement she’s made for plus-size women.
“She’s shown that you don’t have to be a pin-up girl to have a successful TV career. In my opinion, she is the smartest person on the show. I’m looking forward to seeing her again.
“From what I’ve heard, her and Arg are still going strong. Maybe by the time we meet, she’ll be engaged to him. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.”
WATCH: TOWIE's Chloe, Amber and Courtney answer our quick fire questions
READ MORE
TOWIE's Lydia Bright posts 'magical' birthing pictures to mark one month since giving birth
TOWIE's Amy Childs reveals son's name and reason behind it by accident
‘I wanted to get Amy into bed’
“Amy IS the original TOWIE babe. She was the first person I dated on the show. Yeah, there may have been a few afterwards, but Amy was special. First moment I saw her, I knew I wanted to be with her.
“She had the look I went mad for. I was at a stage in my life where the more fake a girl looked, the more I wanted to get her into bed. I thought Amy might be The One, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“What people don’t know or see on screen is how strong and independent Amy is. She knows how to play to the camera. She has turned into a big success, so full respect.”