TOWIE heartthrob James Lock has blown open his latest TV venture, Celebrity Ex on the Beach, telling how the show, which sees eight famous faces looking for love in the sunshine, is scripted and stage managed for the cameras.

The 37- year-old recently starred on the beach side show with his ex girlfriend, Yazmin Oukhellu, where they filmed episodes in Gran Canaria.

Lockie appeared on the another series of Celebrity Ex on the Beach earlier this year,Credit: MTV
But now James or Lockie as he is known, has told how TV bosses deliberately drum up the drama, to boost the show’s entertainment value, keeping the viewers tuned in.

He said: “‘Being flown to Gran Canaria and cooped up in a villa for two weeks with my ex? That’s hardly reality, is it? I’ve never even set foot in Gran Canaria. The only reason we’re both there is because of the show’s producers. It’s all scripted, isn’t it?”

Speaking on the Stripping off with Matt Haycox podcast, James said that reality shows are like soap operas and are carefully planned to provide entertainment.

He said: ‘You’re told to engage, because the end result is filmed for entertainment, for the pleasure of the viewer’ he emphasized.

The TV personality who runs his own fitness app- LockieFitness- also confessed that seeing his image on screen over the years, has made him insecure about his appearance.

He said: “This is a very vain industry, the better you look, the more money you make. If wasn’t in shape, I wouldn’t be doing a fitness app, I wouldn’t be doing fitness endorsements.

I’m a walking advert for my own business. If I am not in shape, no one is going to buy my app, so the body dysmorphia kicks in, because I am not competing with reality stars, I am competing with fitness models and I am not a fitness model.”

After appearing on The Only Way is Essex back in 2013, James’s good looks and charm won over the viewers and he found himself at the centre of some explosive storylines.

Much of the drama in the first series centered around his tumultuous relationship with his long term girlfriend Danielle Armstrong. The pair eventually split in 2015, after Lockie confessed to infidelity.

He then got together with Yazmin in 2016, but split three years later after she accused him of being repeatedly unfaithful.

Lockie’s last high profile romance was with Love Island star Megan Barton Hanson with whom he appeared on Celebrity Ex on the Beach for the first time in 2022.

Lock who also revealed he’s passionate about film and is trying his best to break into the acting world, has appeared in a host of other reality shows over the years. Including,  Evil Monkeys (2018), Your Face Or Mine (2018), MTV Cribs (2019) and Celebs Go Dating (2020) and Celebrity Ex on the Beach (2022).

Speaking to The Sun, a TV spokesperson denied his comments, they said: “The show is not scripted. He is right in that exes are put in a villa together but what unfolds is unscripted.”

Despite breaking up, James and Yazmin recently appeared together on Celebrity Ex on the beach

The one where Yazmin reveals she might be pregnant, but is the best news all round?Credit: ITV