Gemma Collins’s fall at the Radio 1 Teen Awards is all anyone can talk about this week, and she is hoping to use that to TOWIE’s advantage, according to her co-star Charlie King.
The fitness instructor, who appears on the ITVBe show alongside The GC, has claimed she believes the videos of her crashing down a hole on stage at Sunday’s (22 October) event will boost TOWIE’s ratings.
Speaking to HuffPost UK on an episode of ‘BUILD’, Charlie admitted Gemma has been “lapping up” the attention, and is confident it will help reclaim some of the audience they have lost to rival show ‘Love Island’.
“She was fine, but obviously she was going to lap that up,” he said.
“When we went into the green room, she was like, ‘That’s going to take over ‘Love Island.’ Because ‘Love Island’ is totally smashing it these days, especially over ‘TOWIE’, because it’s the new thing and the most popular reality show from the summer.
“So to her, in her little PR head, she was like, ‘That’s going to get ‘TOWIE’ back on top.’”
However, Charlie did admit Gemma is suffering a bit of a bruised ego over the incident.
“I spoke to her minutes after she came off stage - she was in shock, it was a legit fall,” he said.
“It was horrible for her embarrassment wise. She was like, ‘What am I doing to do, Charlie? Am I going to be a viral sensation for the wrong thing?’
“Speaking to her the following day, she was like, ‘I’m really bruised. My ego is not only bruised, but the whole side of my body is.’”
The video has dominated entertainment headlines over the last few days, with Gemma since revealing she is taking legal advice over the matter, having accused the BBC of negligence and of not briefing her properly prior to appearing on stage to present an award.
While ‘TOWIE’ does not like to usually reference things that happen outside of the Essex bubble, Charlie also reckons it will be mentioned in this week’s episodes.
“I think it will - how can you not?” he said. “Reality is what reality is. It is what happened. The whole of the UK is talking about it - it’s gone everywhere.
“It would be unrealistic to not have some sort of reference to, I believe. I’m sure they’ll do something.”
Watch the full ‘BUILD’ interview with Charlie in the video below...