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Love it or hate it, TOWIE was a defining moment in reality TV, and more or less provided the blueprint for shows like Love Island. I personally cannot watch anymore as it is too shouty and no longer funny, but I do have a little bit of an obsession with rewatching the old series and WOW have some of them not aged well. Here are my thoughts on watching it again from the very start recently.

Oh my GOD, the tans

I’ve recently written about how desperate everyone in Essex is for a tan, but it seems the early TOWIE girls were REALLY desperate. I just wat to make a point here, I’m not trying to be mean. In fact, my tan has been several shades worse than this on many MANY occasions, but its interesting to see the differences between now and the early series before they all got make up artists. Also, although I have used her as an example I could only ever dream of being as naturally pretty as Lucy Meck so no shade thrown.

The Wright family were actually really horrible to Lauren

Lauren Goodger actually got treated terribly on TOWIE when you look back at the first few series. whatever happened with Mark was one thing, but watching it back now I can’t actually believe how mean the Wright family in general were to her.

Gemma was actually treated as a bit of a joke at the start

Before “The GC” became the sassy, confident, lady we all know and love, she was actually treated like a bit of a joke by the producers I feel. As much as her baking Mick the pie and not getting the champagne were always among my favourite moments, watching it back it does seem like the producers were laughing at her and not with her. She turned that around though didn’t she? Good for her!

Ferne McCann was the gift that kept on giving

I absolutely LOVE Ferne McCann. One of my all time favourite episodes is where she is just fresh from an argument with the Sims family and Charlie says “oh and I suppose we all started on you” and Ferne replies “well…..yeah”. We’ve all been THAT girlfriend haven’t we ladies?

Did Lola the dog EVER learn to walk?

Lucy? I need answers?

I miss Nanny Pat so much

Nanny Pat was an 11/10. I would 100% still watch it if she was still around. While I do get sad for her family she is gone, how lovely it must be so have so many memories with her captured on film.

Some of the girls did actually cheat on the men first

Mario was made to look absolutely horrendous after he cheated on Lucy, and while I do not at all agree with two wrongs making a right, I do think Lucy got off fairly lightly. This is actually something Ferne McCann touches on in her book, which is really good.

What happened to all of their shops?

Amy’s salon? Charlie’s deli? Lucy’s shop? Where are they all? I know Minnies Boutique is still going and the GC is basically selling everything but tampons with her face on, but where have the rest of all of their shops gone? Also, what happened to their full-time jobs?

What ever happened to Billie and Cara?

Absolute legends those two were. Not the normal Essex girls (obviously they were both still beautiful), really funny and both definitely told it like it is. This is the days of TOWIE I miss, when it used to actually be funny.

Why did they EVER let Joey leave?

Joey was hands-down the funniest person to ever grace TOWIE. They should have offered him around £1million at least to say. Him breaking the wall in Marbella is possibly one of the funniest TOWIE moments ever. I really don’t feel like TOWIE has been funny at all since he left.

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