As reality television goes, The Only Way Is Essex has long been a phenomenon not just for its millions of devoted fans, but for the ‘normal’ people it catapults to instant stardom.

Once they appear on screen, the glamorous cast members become household names, turning heads when they saunter down Brentwood High Street. 

And with that newfound fame and recognition comes social media followers, money from brand partnerships, luxury freebies and lavish trips abroad. Indeed, when they’re scouted for the show, they’re promised it all.

Many of the Towie regulars have gone on to become very rich. Mark Wright owns a £6million mansion thanks to the property empire he was able to cultivate, while Sam Faiers is now swanning around Hollywood promoting her super-successful collagen range.

But behind the perfect teeth and lacquered talons lies a darker side of the ITV show.

As one former producer confides: ‘For some, it has been the dream. For others, it has been nothing but a curse.’

Undoubtedly, many Towie alumni have faced horrors since the show’s launch in 2010. There have been untimely deaths, addiction battles, criminal activity, mental illnesses and business failures, while others can’t shake the way they were portrayed on the series.

And earlier this month, with the death of Jake Hall, those horrors came under the spotlight again. Jake’s death in Majorca, apparently after walking into a glass door following a night of partying, rocked the Essex circle, and the wider world of showbusiness.

More shocking still is that it is just a couple of months since his fellow Towie alumnus Jordan Wright was found dead in a ditch in Thailand.

Today, we lift the lid on what it’s really like to be part of the programme – and why some slip into the kind of torment that ends in such tragedy.

One former Towie star, who did not want to be named, has told the Daily Mail of the mental toll that being on the show takes, and the lack of support after producers ‘drop and replace you’.

‘There’s such a dark cloud hanging over that show right now,’ they said. ‘[Jake and Jordan’s] deaths have hit people really hard because they were young, talented, beautiful people. I do think the TV industry as a whole has a lot to answer for.

‘I don’t know what was going on in their lives, and I don’t know their situations, but I do think that carrying the burden of being a character on a TV show and then leaving, and having to be a real person and having people pre-judge you, it does have an impact on your mental health.

‘I’m now carrying around the burden of the character they created for me. I have massively struggled with it.

‘The identity that I created, or was given and played up to on that show, and then when I left and had to be myself… I think the preconception that you get from people is so hard to deal with. In my last few series, I remember watching and thinking, “This is not the real you”.

‘For them [producers] it is like a game, but this is my life. I’m watching them edit things, and at the end of the day, they get to go home to their families, but when I went home, I had to read pages of people trolling me, and no amount of money takes that away.

‘And when they decide you don’t fit storylines any more, they just drop you, and you would lose your job with no support on what to do next. It has happened to so many cast members over the years. People have bills to pay, but all they care about is good TV.

‘I think it is only getting worse as well.’

Long-standing fans will know that the Towie cast do not earn a massive amount from filming. It was previously reported that the stars would earn as little as £100 a day filming, with former cast regulars claiming they were making ‘minimum wage’.

Our source adds: ‘I don’t think they really care about the cast at all. There’s no support for the cast members.

‘Before every series, you have your psych call, which is with a psychiatrist. There was one guy who told me not to do the show. He told me, “I don’t think you should do this. You are intelligent and young, and I think there are so many other things you could do. I don’t think this industry is a nice place”.’

Despite the low salary, ITV and Lime Pictures ask the cast to be extremely loyal to the show and follow strict rules, including not posting negative content online or commenting on edits, the Daily Mail has been told.

Many top up their earnings, and in some cases, make their fortunes, from club appearances, brand deals, and other TV appearances.

But one wrong move could see them sidelined, they said.

‘We were told we weren’t allowed to go to big ITV events if we had done something wrong, for example if we posted something negative about the show on social media, or promoted a product that didn’t align with them. They would embarrass us,’ the former Towie star said.

Our source added that, if producers thought filming was getting too much for individuals, they could be forced to take unpaid time off.

While a break from filming sounds beneficial, it ultimately left cast members struggling financially, adding to their problems rather than resolving them.

Inevitably, any problems would only come rushing back when they returned to the set.

The insider said: ‘There were times where I said I didn’t want to film, and I was told I had to film, and that’s had a lasting effect on my adult life.

‘On set, they would take our phones from us to film and would lock cast members in different rooms so we couldn’t speak to each other, or support each other.

‘We were told that we should never say anything negative about the show and never talk about the edit. If we did, we would pay the price.’

Not all have had bad experiences, of course. Along with Mark Wright and the Faiers sisters, Gemma Collins has also found huge success. All have pocketed a fortune from brand deals and their own businesses since leaving the show.

But the Daily Mail has seen first-hand how orchestrated some of the scenes are – and how mentally draining it can be for the cast – after joining the Towie set to watch the Christmas special being filmed in December.

The scene that day was being shot at Leez Priory, a Tudor manor house just outside Chelmsford, where a fake Christmas market had been erected.

The cast ‘bumped into’ one another – despite having had a full-blown conversation before the cameras started rolling.

Diags, 35, real name James Bennewith, the longest-serving cast member, greeted almost every crew member by name, cracking jokes with the director before positioning himself in front of the stalls.

The scene included couples Joe Blackman and Junaid Ahmed, and Roman Hackett with Love Islander Matilda Draper.

Production staff gave them directions: who was meant to stand where, what topics to discuss, and how long the scene should run.

Although there’s no precise script, their every move was directed.

They filmed the scenes multiple times and at one point something that was said prompted Ella Rae Wise to start crying in a corner, comforted by friends. It didn’t take long before a producer noticed.

‘Can we get a camera on her?’ a member of the production team shouted, and within seconds, a cameraman rushed over to film a close-up, barely giving her space.

It was a reminder, even then, that vulnerability, even when spontaneous, is the preferred content.

And what of Jake Hall’s vulnerability? The star, aged just 35, had been renting an Airbnb in Santa Margalida on the Balearic isle when he apparently ran through a single-glazed glass door, believing it was open.

His friends, and his ex-partner Misse Beqiri – the mother of his eight-year-old daughter – believe his death was accidental. But the Daily Mail revealed that he had made a number of previous suicide attempts.

It came a decade after Jake was stabbed in a nightclub – and even that is just one of many assaults involving Towie stars.

Sam and Billie Faiers were subjected to a violent, unprovoked assault by a group of women during a night out in central London in 2011, and Ferne McCann’s boyfriend, Arthur Collins, was jailed for an acid attack in a Dalston nightclub in 2017.

Then there was Jordan Wright, who was found drowned in a drainage canal in Phuket on March 14.

His body was repatriated to his native Essex, and a post-mortem examination was carried out at Basildon Hospital. An inquest into his death was opened earlier this month and has been adjourned until September 14.

Jordan was also seen acting erratically in haunting CCTV footage shortly before his death.

Video captures him looking over his shoulder as he sprinted back to his hotel on the Thai island shortly before midnight. Police said the circumstances are ‘unclear’ and that it is possible ‘other people were involved’.

A source close to the show tells the Daily Mail: ‘Extremely sad and shocking news. So much tragedy from one show.

‘The Towie family is facing its darkest chapter yet. With the loss of Jake Hall and Jordan Wright occurring just weeks apart, the “curse” seems to follow those who stepped into the reality TV spotlight.

‘It’s crazy how many incidents like this there have been when you compare it to another similar show like Made In Chelsea, for example. And they’re all relatively still so young.’

 Other cast members have spoken out about their struggles in recent years, including James Locke and Bobby Norris, who both suffer from body dysmorphia.

Another ‘OG’ cast member, James ‘Arg’ Argent, entered a dark chapter during his time on the show, which saw him develop a drug addiction.

In October 2019, ambulances were called to Arg’s house after friends and family feared he had overdosed, and he subsequently jetted off to Thailand for a spell in a rehab facility.

Last year, things turned darker still for Arg when he was handed a suspended sentence for a gender violence offence against his then-partner, Nicoline Artursson, while holidaying near Malaga.

Yazmin Oukhello was involved in a horror car crash in Turkey in 2022, which killed her boyfriend, Jake McLean, after the car he was driving left the road and fell 70ft off a cliff.

Left with severe arm injuries, Yasmin, who joined the show in 2017 and left in 2023 – a year after the life-changing crash – admitted it had taken years of mental anguish to recover from.

Mick Norcross, who first appeared on Towie in 2011 as the owner of the Sugar Hut nightclub in Brentwood, tragically took his own life in July 2021, amid financial concerns and depression during the coronavirus lockdowns. 

His son Kirk, part of the original cast, discovered his dad’s body, trying in vain to save his life with CPR.

Kirk later admitted the discovery had led him down his own dark path. Having previously struggled with drug addiction, he relapsed and went on a five-day cocaine bender.

Mike Hassini starred on the series between 2015 to 2018 before he was jailed in 2021 for six years and nine months after he was caught with £70,000 worth of top-quality cocaine. He was caught exchanging a block of cocaine with associate Gary Bear in Hornchurch, east London, in April 2021.

Clearly, despite the tan, teeth, and smiles, there is a less well-manicured underbelly to Towie that the cast - both past and present – are struggling to conceal.

‘What are storylines to producers are our real lives,’ our former cast member said.

‘The burden of whatever character you are told to play follows you around for the rest of your life.

‘It’s no wonder people go down dark holes.

‘TV bosses have a lot to answer for, and things need to change.’

Lime and ITV have been approached for comment.