TOWIE 10th Anniversary: How the stars’ looks have evolved during a decade in the spotlight 

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When TOWIE burst on to screens a decade ago, the lavish and flash lifestyles of the home county’s most glamorous residents captivated viewers instantly. 

Yet aside from flash cars, blinging jewellery and barely-there ensembles, the Essex natives’ penchant for surgery and cosmetic procedures left fans in awe, with early seasons showing the aftermath of Jess Wright’s boob job, Amy Childs hosting a Botox party and Maria Fowler lauding ‘The Race Horse Look’.  

We take a look at how the stars of TV’s most talked-about show have changed over the years, with injections, implants and weight loss all causing some vast overhauls in the formerly fresh-faced stars’ looks. 

LAUREN GOODGER  

Lauren has always been candid about the many enhancements she has undergone since soaring to fame following TOWIE’s 2010 inauguration.

In 2011, she had a rhinoplasty to fix her broken nose following an accident. 

She revealed to Now magazine at the time: ‘Peeling back the bandages I was too scared to look at first, but when I finally saw myself in the mirror I was so relieved – I loved it.’

Three years later, Lauren underwent a breast augmentation surgery, transforming her 34D chest size to 34E. 

Since then, she has become known for her plumped up pout and her penchant for cosmetic procedures. 

Disaster struck however last year, when what should have been a simple series of filler injections caused her face to form a bizarre shape, leading to a solemn vow from the reality stunner – who likened her false look to that of Jim Carrey’s character in 1995 hit The Mask. 

Speaking about how she felt the fillers made her look like Carrey’s square-jawed wacky character, she wrote in her column: ‘I don’t have it like everyone else does, I have it done once or twice a year. 

‘I had the filler in my jaw, at first I thought: “Wow!” but when I got papped – I’m not joking – I looked like The Mask. Five days later I got it dissolved, I’d never get filler in my face again.’

Lauren’s changing looks have also helped her forge a new career. 

Having hit screens as an aspiring events organiser and mover and shaker in the fashion world, she made a transition into beauty and cosmetics and is currently training to administer lip fillers herself. 

On the side of her medical aspirations, Lauren has set up an account on subscription-based adult content website OnlyFans, where she treats followers to X-rated snaps.  

AMY CHILDS  

As a poster girl for early TOWIE, Amy proudly boasted of her enhanced cleavage when she entered the show. 

Yet her meteoric rise to fame led to some regrets for Amy, as earlier this year, she expressed remorse over undergoing plastic surgery at the tender age of 18. 

In a new BBC documentary, I’ve Been There, the star, 29, detailed the dangers of cosmetic procedures as she attempted to steer two young women away from going under the knife.

‘I honestly look back at pictures now and I look like a freak’, the media personality reflected on her past ‘addiction’, which led her to have a boob job, botox, lip fillers and veneers. 

In her teens, Amy boosted her bust by three sizes, going from an A-cup to a D-cup, before jumping to a 30EE for a second boob job at the age of 23.

Admitting the negative aspects of being a role model during her rise to fame, she told host Katie Thistleton: ‘These 14 year old girls wanted to look up to me and I’m obviously part of the problem.’ 

In May last year, the mother-of-two underwent an eight-hour operation after experiencing pain in her chest following a rupture in her left implant, and a month later, doctors discovered a lump had formed in her breast tissue from leakage.

The reality TV icon – who spent a week in hospital during the ordeal – has since downsized her breast implants from an EE cup to a C cup.

BILLIE AND SAM FAIERS  

The Faiers sisters have always been defiant about their changing looks, with Sam insisting on an episode of The Mummy Diaries last year that they had never had Botox despite their ‘faces changing’ since starring on TOWIE.

In the scenes, the two reality stars went to have a lavish facial as part of Billie’s wedding preparations ahead of her Maldives nuptials to Greg Shepherd. 

However, chat soon turned to Botox when Billie revealed that her make-up artist had claimed some models have the treatment to lift their eyebrows.

The reality star insisted that she didn’t want it done, instead choosing facials to refresh her skin, with Sam adding: ‘We’ve never had Botox, we’ve always looked after our skin.’ 

While later on, she continued: ‘I feel like when you’re a celebrity, people assume you have work done.’ 

Sam went on to reveal that people speculate she’s had her ‘eyes done’ and ‘filler’, but she insisted: ‘I honestly have never ever had Botox.’

Referencing her TOWIE days, she added: ‘I first went on TV ten years ago… your face changes from being 18 to 28. No one looks the same!’

FERNE MCCANN  

In 2016, Ferne revealed she had a nose job, which she unveiled the results of during an appearance on This Morning after the operation. She broke down as she told hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford about the journey she has been on throughout her life, and why she decided to make the change.

In a very open and honest account, Ferne revealed how a lifelong insecurity and bouts of online trolling lead to her final decision. She said: ‘I just wanted something subtle. I didn’t want a big change. I was teased in school about my nose and I thought it was taking over my face.

‘From the front, it looks similar to how it did before so there hasn’t been much to get used to, but it is different from the side profile.’  Beginning to get emotional Ferne admitted: ‘I seem so confident and loud, well I am loud, but on the inside, it really fazed me.’ 

The reality star also revealed she has felt insecure since the age of 12, way before she stepped into the spotlight. ‘The names started when I went to secondary school,’ she said. Boys started calling me goose and it planted a seed. Later, Twitter trolls rubbed salt in the wound.’

MEGAN MCKENNA 

Reality icon Megan showed fans her increasingly swelling lips as she shot to fame, before – by her own admission – she took things too far. Last year, on The X Factor: Celebrity, Megan candidly revealed that she had ditched her lip fillers in a bid to be taken seriously in the music industry.

At the time, she admitted that dissolving the procedure has been one of the ‘best choices’ she has ever made as she wants to inspire other girls to do the same.

The former TOWIE star, 27, also added that she has finally accepted her appearance after losing sight of what a ‘normal face looked like’.

Talking in her guest column to Closer magazine, Megan admitted that she is ‘totally embarrassed’ by her past filler and that she became obsessed with her lips, protesting that they weren’t ‘big enough’. 

She said: ‘It’s honestly one of the best choices I’ve ever made – though it took me a while to get there.’ 

Megan said models, Instagram and being on TV made her undergo the procedure as she never used to have a problem with her natural lips as a teenager.

The reality star turned singer added: ‘I was obsessed with my lips and used to think, “They’re not big enough!”. Looking, back, I’m totally embarrassed. I’d lost sight of what a normal face looked like.’

Megan vowed that she has ditched the fillers ‘for good’ yet admitted that she does sometimes still feel ‘self-conscious’. She concluded: ‘I hope by removing it, I’ll inspire other girls and encourage them to embrace how they look. Everyone is beautiful in their own way.’

JAMES LOCK 

Far from it only being the women of the show who have altered their appearance, male cast members including James Lock have succumbed to the surgeon’s knife during their time in the spotlight. 

In 2018, James splashed out £5,000 on ear surgery and blew a whopping £6000 on a air transplant to move his hairline, rather than to aid any receding.

At the time, he revealed trolls has said he ‘looked like Hitler.’

After the operation, he said: ‘I couldn’t be happier. I was a bit apprehensive before the bandages came off but as soon as they were removed I knew I’d made the right decision.  

‘People will always criticise you but I’m a firm believer that if something effects your confidence and can be fixed, then why not fix it? I’m glad I have – I couldn’t be happier with the results.”

 LAUREN POPE 

Lauren first went under the knife at 23 years old, boosting her bust from it’s initial A Cup before finding fame as a glamour model but in 2017, she revealed she’s now removed her breast implants as she was sick of looking ‘trashy’ and is ready to begin the next phase of her life.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, the businesswoman explained that she had her E Cup implants.

The blonde bombshell first burst onto the scene as a glamour model, before starring in TOWIE – which she left in 2015. Lauren documented her second boob job in an episode of the ITVBe series in 2012.

She was one of 40,000 women affected by the faulty French Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) when she initially had her breast size boosted, and during the process of removing the implants, she replaced the items with larger ones.