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If you haven’t heard of ‘The Only Way is Essex’ you are probably from another planet! For those that haven’t seen the show but want to know all about it, this article is for you.

The actually show is a ‘dramility’ which means it’s a type of reality show that is unscripted and usually features ordinary every day people rather than professional actors. It Wikipedia page describes the show as “real people in modified situations, saying unscripted lines but in a structured way”. The show is filmed in Essex just a few days in advance and is narrated by Essex born Denise van Outen. There have been 4 series with the recent series finishing in February 2012. The first series was the most popular and made Mark Wright and Amy Child’s household names. Amy has since left the show and went on ‘big brother’. She has since had her own reality show and beauty salon, and Mark came runner up in “I’m a celebrity get me out of here’.

The show has had a few complaints to ITV2 as a number of people think that it’s a negative representation of Essex.

Since the series burst onto the British TV screens in 2010 lots of new words and phrases have caught on. The show is a bit like marmite; you either love it or hate it. The show’s name itself has become abbreviated to ‘TOWIE’ which obviously stands for ‘The Only Way is Essex’. Below are a list of other words and phrases which have been made famous thanks to the show.

What are vajazzles?
Vajazzles are crystal ‘tatoos’ that are stuck onto the skin near to very intimate parts of your body. The word is a combination of two words, vagina and dazzle. You can get them applied from a beautician and can cost anywhere up to £100. But many stores now stock the crystal gems so you can easily stick them on yourself.

What does ‘reem’ mean?
Reem is a word used to describe anything looks or smells attractive, fit, healthy or cool. Joey Essex made it famous in the show and he even created a song called ‘Reem’ in August 2011 with the cast featuring in the video.

What does ‘well jel’ mean?
This stands for ‘well jealous’. So to put in a sentence you could say: “I’ve love your coat, I am well jel”. This is basically saying that they love the coat and are well jealous.

Sha’ap!
Sha’ap is a way of saying ‘shut up!’ You need to say it with the Essex accent to get the right affect. If you saw the recent advert for the last series you would have seen one of the new cast members using this phrase.

One other word which has been made more popular since the show is ‘babe’. Many of the characters in the show have repeatedly used this word to describe an attractive young man.

So there you go, thats TOWIE in a nutshell. You will have to watch the show to really understand what all the fuss was about. You can buy the first series on DVD and fans can even go on a tour of the locations.






Source by Carolyn Clayton

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