Joey Essex has gone public with his rumoured new girlfriend Brenda Santos after introducing her to his family and friends while celebrating his 30th birthday.
The reality star celebrated the milestone birthday yesterday (29 July) at his Essex mansion with his nearest and dearest including cousins Chloe, Demi and Frankie Sims, James ‘Diags’ Bennewith and Vas Morgan.
Not much is known about Joey’s relationship with Brenda, a Brazilian model who currently lives in London, but the pair were spotted looking loved-up on holiday in Ibiza earlier this month.
“Joey was so excited to introduce his girlfriend to the family and celebrate his big birthday,” a source told The Sun.
“He made sure he googled the law about how many people he could have over and had loads of sanitiser knocking about.”
Joey’s relationship with Brenda is his first since splitting from Celebrity Ex on the Beach girlfriend Lorena Medina, who we couldn’t help but notice bears an uncanny resemblance to his new bae.
Lorena dumped him earlier this year when he was pictured leaving Rita Ora’s house after a night out.
Although there’s no insinuation Joey cheated on Lorena with Rita, the Mexican model admitted she no longer trusted him and had to end their relationship.
“I told Joey, ‘This s--t can’t happen. Are you crazy? How would you feel if I spent the night with some guy?’ I was very upset and was like ‘F--k this. I don’t trust you. I don’t trust what you are saying’,” she told The Sun at the time.
Check out: TOWIE's most iconic moments
TOWIE's most iconic moments - SLIDER
Amy gives Sam a vajazzle
There's no better place to start than the birth of the 'vajazzle', a crystal encrusted pattern that can be applied to a woman's nether regions to make their bits looks fancy and elegant. Beaut babe. After Amy Childs and Sam Faiers filmed this scene and it had aired, this was the only thing the nation was talking about, with salons across the country starting to offer the beauty treatment so fans of the show could replicate their idols and be a true Essex women.
Kirk calls Maria an extra
Cast your minds back to when Kirk Norcross and Lauren Pope were a thing (dig deep guys) and Kirk fell out with Lauren's friend Maria Fowler. Obviously, the pair were fighting over literally nothing, but that didn't stop them, as they came head to head in a bar and Kirk ended up calling Maria an "extra". Savage. Things then soured further as Maria started to date Kirk's DAD Mick Norcross, joking that she was Kirk's step-mum.
Arg buys Lydia a pig
When James 'Arg' Argent and Lydia Bright joined series 2 of the reality show, they instantly became fan favourites, with their romantic love story wooing the nation. So when Arg bought Lydia a micro pig named Mr Darcy to declare his love for her, they both made us think, 'Would our partner do that for us?'. However, it turned out Mr Darcy wasn't a micro pig and was in fact a normal pig, outgrowing Lydia's back garden and having to be sent to a farm to live.
Lauren and Mark get engaged
How could we forget the first ever engagement of TOWIE, with Mark Wright and Lauren Goodger looking loved up and ready to take on the world. They'd been together nearly ten years before they joined the show and their love seemed to blossom as Mark popped the question, confirming his love for the Essex beauty. There was just one thing, they got engaged in a car park. Classy.
Sam declares her love for Mark
But there was drama just around the corner, as Sam decided she was in love with the hunk and admitted it to his face, making him question whether he wanted to be engaged to Lauren anymore.
Lauren pushes Mark into a swimming pool
Literally, the most iconic moment. Having been questioning his relationship and engagement to Lauren, Mark was having doubts, as was Lauren, after rumours of cheating began to surface and cracks started to show. As Mark headed to a pool party with the rest of the cast, leaving Lauren at home, she was having none of it and decided to unexpectedly turn up. Mark was so surprised and Lauren kicked off, following Mark's comments that she should go back home. She ended up pushing him in the pool and the pair split.
Lucy and Mario get engaged
TOWIE has seen many of these but Lucy Mecklenburgh and Mario Falcone's engagement was the most romantic, extra TOWIE scene to air. Away on holiday, sunbathing on a yacht, Mario pulls out a whopper of a diamond and asks Lucy to be his wife. Despite the ups and downs in their relationship, it seemed like the pair were finally settled....
Lucy swilling Mario with red wine at a white party
Cue the drama. Lucy and Mario's relationship becomes plagued with cheating rumours, breaks down and they eventually call it quits. Will there ever be a happy ever after on this show? Probably not.
Harry's 18th birthday party
A favourite party moment of ours was when Harry Derbridge hosted a fancy dress themed party for his 18th, with many of the cast member going over the top (of course). Harry turned up as Lady Gaga, wowing his attendees but let's not forget the late Nanny Pat who turned up as the actual Queen. Icon.
Gemma telling Arg, "You ain't ever gong to get this candy
After Arg and Lydia broke up then got back together then broke up then got back together then finally ended their relationship, Arg moved on with Gemma Collins, otherwise known as the GC. Yet again, it looked like the pair were made for each other but things soon spiralled out of control and the relationship catastrophically ended, with Gemma turning up in front of everyone at a pool party, whacking off her caftan and shouting "You ain't ever going to get this candy". James just stood in the middle of the pool, mouth opened, shocked. We still haven't recovered.
Sam and Joey have their first date
Sam and Joey Essex were an unlikely match on TOWIE, seen as though Joey was a few years younger than Sam. However, the pair seemed to get on like a house on fire and decided to see whether their friendship would work as a relationship and Joey took Sam on their first date. But he took her to a dump. His reasoning was that it would be "different" and "cool", but it ended up being stinky and gut wrenching instead.
Gemma leaving Mick a pie, and him pieing her off
Kirk's dad Mick was a catch back in the day, owning the legendary club Sugar Hut, where all the cast members would party on and off screen. One cast member who wanted a bit of Mick was Gemma, who lovingly made him a pie and left it on his doorstep to win his affections. However, it didn't seem to work as Mick said he didn't like Gemma in that way and pied her off with her pie. Ouch.
When Gemma held an exorcism
Gemma is known for her "GC" persona - the larger than life, savage and diva princess. But in one episode, Gemma decided enough was enough and wanted to show the real her. Therefore, the took the logical conclusion to having an exorcism to get "the GC" persona out of her body. You cannot write this stuff.
Joey and Ricky fight in a shop
After Ricky Rayment joined the show, there wasn't an instant connection between him and Joey, after the pair were talking about each other behind each others backs. It all came to a head at the re-opening of Lauren Goodger's beauty salon, with the pair scrapping inside and outside the shop, knocking products over as they fought onto the high street. The fight was seen as so bad, Essex Police were called to stop the pair from fighting. They later apologised to each other and made up.
Gemma and Ferne's diva fight
The fight of all fights. In a quiet, suburban town sit three women as they watch Gemma and Ferne McCann have a war with words over who has "earned their divaship". Nothing else needs to be said, except from TV gold.
WATCH 'What film gets me hard🍆?' Joey Essex and Calum Best talk exes in Who's Most Likely To?
Meanwhile, as the TOWIE cast resume filming after the coronavirus pandemic shut down production, there’s rumours that Joey could be returning to the show.
A number of Essex OGs are making a comeback to the ITVBe show to celebrate its 10th anniversary including Amy Childs, who confirmed the news yesterday.
Which TOWIE stars are returning for the 10th anniversary?
TOWIE cast returning for the 10th anniversary
Amy Childs
She was very much the IT girl when TOWIE first started in 2010 and now she's confirmed her comeback on Instagram."'TOWIE 10 is coming, it's time to get back to Essex' .... IM BACK ud83dude1d @towie," she wrote.
Nicole Bass
She dated Lewis Bloor when she first joined the show but things took a turn and they had a bitter split. Nicole has since dated Aaron Chalmers (after meeting on Ex on the Beach) and Sam Mucklow. Unfortunately Sam quit the show alongside his now pregnant girlfriend Shelby Tribble (who was Nicole's friend). Anyways, we're excited to see what Nicole gets up to on the next series...
Joey Essex
Let's be honest, it wouldn't be right to have a TOWIE reunion with Joey Essex. He's one of the show's most iconic cast members of all time so we're excited AF to see that he's been filming with BFF James 'Diags' Bennewith.
Danielle Armstrong
A lot has changed for Danielle since she left TOWIE. She's now engaged to her childhood sweetheart Tommy Edney and recently gave birth to their daughter Orla Mae. She's been spotted filming for the new series with Chloe Sims so we can't wait to see what they get up to.
Fran Parman
Fran Parman has been spotted on set for TOWIE and we cannot wait to see her back with the Essex gang. The last time we saw her was with Diags on Eating With My Ex and they parted ways after discovering they were on different pages.
Carol Wright
Mark Wright's mum Carol is making a comeback to TOWIE (we're still hoping her son does).
Jess Wright
Jess was unlucky in love on TOWIE (remember when she dated Ricky Rayment?) but things have changed and she's newly engaged.
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She posted a clip to Instagram featuring a shot of her climbing into a jacuzzi to a voice over of historic lines from her short time on the show.
“'TOWIE 10 is coming, it’s time to get back to Essex' .... IM BACK 😝 @towie” she captioned the post and fans were overjoyed at the news.
“Yesss girl can’t wait to see you on the screen” wrote one excited commenter, while another said, “She’s baaackkkk❤️woooo xx”.
“Omg babe I LOVE so excited to see you back on it!” said another, with one more adding, “Yay always loved watching you in TOWIE!! Welcome back ❤️.”