Free Living Life the Essex Way by Sam Faiers Page A

parties, and then his cousin began dating my best friend Ferne
– see, I told you Essex was incestuous! But I had never really talked to him until we were between series one and two and I went on a night out with Ferne to Revolution in London. We had a
proper chat, but he had a girlfriend at the time, and I didn’t really fancy him. But he got my number and we began texting a bit.
    In the meantime I mentioned him to the producers, because we had been photographed coming out of Revolution, and I just thought he would be good fun on the show. Also the fact that his surname
was Essex pretty much meant that he was destined for it! His cousin Chloe had been interviewed for the first series, and although they hadn’t used her at the time, I think they had liked her,
so it all started falling into place for them.
    Meanwhile Joey had split from his girlfriend, so we were both single, and basically he was someone I could have fun and a laugh with, which was something I didn’t have in my life at that
time. I just really enjoyed being around him, and we grew closer. I don’t suppose I ever thought it would last – he is too young, and I was still moving on from Mark – but it was
good while it lasted. I think anyone who watched the scenes of us together can see we enjoyed our time together.
    He used to be around my house all the time, and got on really well with my family, which is so important to me in a boyfriend. And yes, I did tell Joey I loved him, and he said the same to me,
but looking back I am not sure it was that kind of crazy, deep, romantic love – it was more of a very close friendship. As for sex, I made Joey wait about five weeks before he got any of
that.
    Looking back, I can’t deny that you do get influenced by the public’s opinion. I didn’t date him because viewers liked him, but I guess knowing that people liked us together
added an extra appeal to him. It’s kind of like if your friends like your boyfriend, it can only help. So while our relationship was for real, I’m not sure it would have lasted as long
without the show, if you know what I mean.
    Anyway, things started to go wrong because we were both so busy all the time.
TOWIE
was becoming more and more popular by the week, and Joey was doing a lot of PAs – nearly every
night of the week – and I was spending a lot of time sorting out Minnies. I don’t believe in dragging out a relationship that is going wrong, and I didn’t want to spend the time
we did have together arguing about it – that isn’t my thing. And I didn’t believe either of us should cut back on what we were doing – at that age your career really does
have to come first. So I told him I needed some space, and said that if we missed each other, we could rethink. But to be honest, I found I didn’t miss him. There was just too much going on
in my life at that time.
    Joey was like ‘whatever’ and was really off with me, and criticised me in the press, which upset me as we had agreed we would not do that. But then we became friends again.
    I know some people criticised me for not being happy when Joey and Jess kissed after we had split up. It’s not that I was jealous, as I had moved on by then, but it was weird, as she was
the first person after me I’d seen him snog. But I was also unhappy because she is my friend and I would never kiss a friend’s ex. But she’d had a few drinks and decided to go for
it, and that was her choice. I decided not to let it break up our friendship, and we discussed it and moved on from it. Things between them ended quickly anyway, and I don’t think they would
have been suited.
    Then I started seeing TJ again – he was the poor guy I dated after Marc cheated on me and then left to go back to Marc. I had always regretted not giving that relationship more of a
chance, and then I kept seeing him around the place and we’d have a chat, and then he asked me out and we started seeing each other. He was so lovely, and I