Going to the gym every day, ‘dreading’ wearing a bikini and NOT EATING! Now can reveal the competition for the best body on TOWIE has got even fiercer…
The phrase: ‘No carbs before Marbs’ has, famously, become a mantra among the cast of TOWIE since the show hit our screens five years ago.
Having just seen the girls strutting their stuff in Marbella, Now can reveal that the pressure to look good has built up so much that some of the women on the show refused to wear a bikini in front of the cameras, while others go to the gym every single day.
And, despite clearly having enviable figures, they still feel ‘unconfident’, and anxious about cellulite and body bullies… Here, Now investigates just what it takes to get the ultimate Marbella-ready body…
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Lydia Bright: ‘I’m under pressure – my diet is stricter!’
Knowing her body and style will be scrutinised by millions of viewers, Lydia Bright, 25, is keen to make sure she’s looking her best. This week, she exclusively revealed to Now that she would like to increase her training to incorporate yoga and Pilates! ‘I’m still doing the same training but I really want to go to yoga and do Pilates too,’ Lydia says. She has also admitted: ‘I train five or six times a week and do an hour and a half each day – one hour cardio and half an hour weights. I am also quite restricted with my food.’ In another recent interview, Lydia said: ‘I make sure my diet gets stricter. I try and train a lot more just because – it’s like any other person really – if you’re going to go on holiday, you want to look your best in your bikini body. ‘Then I’ve got the added pressure of about a million people watching my body so I do try and train a little bit harder.’
Ferne McCann: ‘I’m not body confident! I refuse to wear a bikini on TV’
When she first burst on to our screens in 2013, Ferne was a slim size 8 and gradually filled out to a curvier size 12 two years later. Last year, Ferne, 25, revealed to Now that some of the girls were starving themselves to ensure they fitted into their beachwear. ‘Some girls won’t eat before we go [to Marbella] because they’re worried about being in bikinis,’ she said. ‘I want to represent real women. I love my food. I don’t want to do fad diets and be unhealthy.’ But speaking of her time in Marbella last month, Ferne refused to be drawn into the competition among the girls. ‘I’m not body confident but I never put pressure on myself to get skinny for summer or filming,’ she says. ‘I didn’t wear a bikini, instead I wore kaftans and cover-ups.’ Recently, Ferne was unable to go to the gym and went up a dress size after suffering a leg injury playing netball. But she tells Now she’ll be hitting the gym hard now she is recovered. ‘I didn’t do much training at all for Marbella but now it’s over I’m going to start boxing, doing cardio and weights, and get back into my running,’ she says. Ferne admitted that her co-stars’ bodies are all ‘inspiring’, saying: ‘Dani’s arse is incredible – everyone has bum envy… and Georgia’s legs are amazing but she goes to the gym every day. I like going out for dinners.’
Danielle Armstrong: ‘They called me fatty!’
Being at the centre of one of the most talked about storylines after her split with James Lock, all eyes were definitely on Danielle Armstrong. And this may explain why she’s felt under even more pressure to stand out among her co-stars. After being on the show for two years, the 27-year-old once revealed she almost had a panic attack before heading out to Marbella. She said: ‘I get anxiety just thinking about it. Sometimes you just want to chill by the pool but it’s the life I got into, so I can’t complain.’ But thankfully now Dani, a size 8, has relaxed slightly but still admits she feels under pressure to look her best. ‘I wish I could be more like Georgia – she goes to the gym every day but she really loves it – I hate the gym. I do loads of squats instead and Pilates as it relaxes me,’ says Dani. ‘I’m not stick thin. I have cellulite and one bad angle or lighting can show up the dimples, but I just don’t like the gym – it’s more about my diet and no carbs for me.’ But despite having one of the most envied figures on the show, recently Dani suffered an upsetting attack by a cruel Twitter troll, telling us: ‘There’s so much pressure to look good because people judge us… Someone put a picture up of me after James cheated on me and did a split-screen with a pic of me now and wrote under it, “You could get cheated on more often, fatty!”’
Jess Wright: ‘We all have “fat days”’
With a suitcase weighing 40 kilos it goes without saying that Jess Wright, 30, takes her trip to Marbella very seriously. As one of the few original cast members, you’d think she’d be used to the rivalry, but it seems she treats each trip as her first. She’s revealed: ‘You have to bring double outfits because if you’re having a fat day or you have a bloated tummy, you’ll go, “OK, I won’t wear that dress, I’ll wear that.” As a woman, you have to have options.’ A month before Marbs, she tops up her ‘eyebrows, toenails, fingernails, fake tan, hair, hair dye and extensions’.
Georgia Kousoulou: ‘I was so stressed I took around 23 bikinis’
Being body beautiful is a high priority, but so are extravagant outfits. To outdo each other within their self-imposed style war, Georgia, 24, reveals that last time she went over the top as she was so stressed out about looking her best. She said: ‘I took around 23 bikinis, and 30 pairs of shoes,’ and admitted she bought another pair there. Her workout regime is intense too. She adds: ‘I try to go to the gym four or five times a week. Like any girl, I get nervous to be in a bikini in front of a camera. I usually do cardio and weights, so before Marbella I did more of both.’
*TOWIE is on every Sun and Weds on ITVBe at 10pm
The post TOWIE BODY WARS! Lydia Bright, Ferne McCann, Jess Wright talk about the pressures to look good appeared first on Now magazine.