The Curse of TOWIE: As Jake Hall dies in ‘tragic accident’ at 35, how the charmed lives of the Essex Elite became marred with tragedy, crime and addiction since hitting screens

The Only Way Is Essex hit screens 16 years ago, leading to droves of fans loving insight into the lives of the home county’s glamorous elite. 

Following the lives of stars including Mark Wright, Lauren Goodger, James Argent and Sam Faiers, TOWIE featured friendship fall-outs, philandering, romantic dramas and the birth of many catchphrases and iconic pop culture moments. 

However, the drama off-screen has grown ever more intense over the years as many of the stars of the show have faced horrors, including untimely deaths, addiction battles, criminal activity and business failures. 

On Wednesday, star of the show Jake Hall, who shot to fame in 2015 and starred on TOWIE from series 14 to 18, passed away aged just 35 when he ‘smashed his head through a glass door’ at a rented property in Majorca.

His death came a decade after he was stabbed in a nightclub – in one of many assaults befallen on the stars, including Sam and her sister Billie Faiers in 2011 and after Ferne McCann‘s boyfriend Arthur Collins committed an acid attack in 2017.

As well as violence, addiction has taken hold of a number of the cast, such as James, known as ‘Arg’, who has been open about his addiction to alcohol and cocaine, while Kirk Norcross is now five years sober from the same substances.

Many have considered the ITV show to have ‘cursed’ the cast members, thanks to a host of other tragedies and dramas erupting after its 2010 inauguration 

TRAGIC DEATHS 

On Wednesday, Jake had passed away after police found him lying in a pool of blood with fatal head injuries seemingly caused by shards of glass. 

Spanish detectives are focusing on the theory that he hit his head on the door in a tragic accident. A source claimed that witnesses had informed investigators they had been ‘partying all night and decided to carry on the party back at his rented place’.

He is survived by his daughter River, eight, whom he shares with Ladies of London and Real Housewives of Cheshire star Misse Beqiri.

Misse’s representatives said: ‘At this time, Misse’s focus is on supporting and protecting their child as they come to terms with this devastating loss. The family are asking for privacy, compassion and respect while they grieve privately.’

Shortly before Jake’s death, former TOWIE star Jordan Wright was found dead after drowning in a drainage canal in Thalang District, Phuket on March 14.

His body was repatriated to his native Essex and a post-mortem examination was carried out at Basildon Hospital. An inquest into his death was opened earlier last month and has been adjourned until September 14.

Jordan, who starred in eight episodes of MTV’s Ex On The Beach in 2017 and 17 episodes of TOWIE the following year, was also seen acting erratically in haunting footage shortly before his death.

CCTV showed him looking over his shoulder as he sprinted back to his hotel on the island of Phuket shortly before midnight on March 12. 

Police said the circumstances leading up to Wright’s death are ‘unclear’ and it is possible ‘other people were involved’.

In January 2021, TOWIE star and businessman Mick Norcross died by suicide via hanging at 57. He made his TOWIE debut in 2011 during the show’s second season. His son Kirk, then 32, was part of the original cast.

Kirk discovered his father dead at his home, leading to a relapse in the CBB star’s cocaine addiction. The businessman was suffering money woes and had taken out a £3.6m bank loan and a bridging loan secured against his main residence.

Last year, Ricky Rayment announced the tragic news that his sister has passed away. His sister, make up artist Lisa Kempley died on July 25 at age the of 56, with the family holding her funeral service. He wrote: ‘RIP my beautiful sister. You got the send off you deserved. Love you forever.’

A statement to Lisa’s business page, posted last month said: ‘We are saddened to announce that our lovely Lisa passed away on Friday 25th July. 

‘We know she was truly loved by friends and clients alike and therefore want to extend an open invitation to attend her funeral service.’

ADDICTION 

Since being thrust into the spotlight, James ‘Arg’ Argent was left fighting drug and alcohol addictions as well as severe problems with his weight and mental health. 

He has spoken openly about his battles with drink and drug addiction since finding fame on TOWIE and in 2014 he was suspended from the show after he failed a routine drugs test.

The TV star then spent three months in a facility in Thailand over the festive season in 2016 in order to get the ‘ongoing support’ he needed.

But in 2019, following a split with then girlfriend and fellow TOWIE cast member Gemma Collins, Argent relapsed and was hospitalised twice after overdosing on drugs at his home.

At the height of his addiction to cocaine, Argent previously recalled how he suffered with psychosis which left him convinced the walls in his house were caving in.

Speaking on the Cabin Recovery Podcast in 2023, the reality star revealed how his drug use went from being ‘recreational’ at the height of his TOWIE fame to something much darker.

He candidly detailed suffering with paranoia and psychosis in the midst of his cocaine addiction, telling how he would lock himself in his room for days on end. Argent recalled one incident where he ‘barricaded’ himself in his room and suffered with psychosis on a four-day cocaine bender.

Argent said he would take cocaine alone in his home at the height of his habit as he bravely reflected on his struggles with psychosis and the dark moments of his addiction. He fought to get sober after hitting rock bottom in 2019.

But as his body struggled to overcome his addiction to alcohol and drugs, Argent found himself also enduring an eating disorder and unhealthy relationship with food.

Argent, who weighed 27 stone at his heaviest but has since lost 14-stone, underwent gastric sleeve surgery in 2021 and later had a tummy tuck to remove the excess skin around his stomach.

Despite being on the up, last year Arg faced further dramas when he admitted to pushing his model girlfriend Nicoline Artursson in a violent row during a romantic getaway in Spain.

He shoved the Swedish beauty queen when trying to force her out of the front door of her apartment in the Costa del Sol, reported The Sun.

It caused the 32-year-old to tumble down two steps outside the home with her screams alerting neighbours who called the police. Artursson is understood to have needed hospital treatment but the extent of her injuries are currently not known.

He was handed a six-month suspended sentence and a two-year restraining order. 

NIGHTCLUB HORRORS  

In 2011, Sam and Billie fell victim to a girl gang attack inside a nightclub, leading to the former suffering two black eyes, a split nose, lumps and bruises and scratches.

After the attack, she said: ‘I really thought I was going to die. They just came at me like a herd of elephants. It’s just a blur. I was being so violently attacked by so many girls there was nothing I could do but curl up into a ball. Then I passed out.’

Billie was then beaten to the ground while her handbag was stolen. They were later lured to have the items returned before being attacked again. 

Sam said: ‘She said they would give me back Billie’s things if I met them in Repton Park. Within seconds of getting out of the cab I saw at least nine girls running towards me across the grass.

‘It was the same girls but they had changed into tracksuits and trainers — I can only assume to make sure they could run faster than me. I was smashed to the ground and just beaten. I was punched in the face and kicked in the head.’

In 2016, Jake hit headlines when he nearly ‘lost a kidney’ when he was stabbed with a glass bottle at Aqwa Mist club in Puerto Banus, Marbella.

Then-24, the late star was allegedly got caught up in a brawl at the beach club during which onlookers claimed they saw men grabbing for broken glass from champagne bottles and the shisha pipes they had been smoking on.

The attack left him in intensive care and unable to walk for some time before he made his recovery and was able to leave the Spanish hospital. 

DOOMED PARTNERS  

In 2017, Ferne’s boyfriend and the father of her daughter Sunday, Arthur sent shockwaves across the nation when he commited an horrific acid attack. 

He hurled acid over revellers on the dance floor at Mangle E8 in Dalston, east London, after a ‘gangland war’ spiralled out of control.

He threw the corrosive substance indiscriminately at innocent people in what was one of Britain’s worst acid attacks. Sixteen people suffered chemical burn injuries and three people were temporarily blinded.

After the incident, he went on the run and was not caught until several days later hiding out in a house in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire. He told his trial he did not know the bottle contained acid.

He claimed he believed it was a liquid date rape drug which he had snatched from two men after ‘overhearing them planning to spike a girl’s drink.’

He later admitted to consultant psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph that he knew the bottle contained acid. A jury convicted him of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and nine counts of actual bodily harm.

It was later revealed the thug had hired a £50,000 leading criminal barrister to help reduce his jail term.

In 2018, Collins lost a bid to reduce his 20-year jail sentence. Three judges at the Court of Appeal in London took less than ten minutes to reject Collins’ appeal, arguing that ‘the severe sentence was fully justified.’

Lauren was one of the original cast of TOWIE in 2010, starring alongside then-boyfriend Mark before going on to date Joey Morrison, who was sentenced to 16 years behind bars in 2010 after he dressed like a postman to burgle in Enfield, north London.

Morrison was arrested in 2009, after police found £60k worth of cocaine and a £90k Land Rover. Morrison was found guilty, then both 24.

Joey’s younger brother Stephen was stabbed to death on a petrol forecourt following a car chase in June, 2020.

The 30-year-old was fatally wounded in Epping, Essex, and rushed to hospital where he later died. His attackers fled the scene before the authorities arrived.

Another of Lauren’s boyfriends, the late Jake McLean, who she dated from 2012 to 2016, was equally fraught with woes before his tragic death in 2022.

Jake was dating TOWIE star Yazmin Oukhellou when he lost his life after he drove his car off a cliff in Bodrum, Turkey. Yazmin was left seriously injured. 

An inquest almost a year after the death listed his medical cause of death as ‘traumatic head injuries’, while Coroner Dr Shirley Ratcliffe said: ‘The post mortem found no natural disease, as you would expect in a young man of 33. The cause of death was skull fractures and brain damage.

‘As far as I can see, he was driving under the influence nearly three times over the legal limit for driving and had cocaine in his system.’

Yazmin, who severed an artery and a nerve in the accident, said afterwards: ‘Now I’m just wondering how the hell did my partner die while I’ve survived? It’s made me look at life totally differently.’

JAIL TIME 

Mike Hassini starred on the ITVBe series between 2015 to 2018 before he was sjailed in 2021 for six years and nine months after he was caught with £70,000 worth of top quality cocaine. He was caught exchanging a block of cocaine with associate Gary Bear in Hornchurch, East London, in April 2021.

He was seen by police officers carrying a brown cardboard box into Bear’s grey Mercedes and when cops stopped the car, they found a collection of smartphone and ‘burner’ phones, plus a duct-tape-wrapped block of cocaine.

Police arrested Mike in his black Smart car, where he told them he had ‘around £36,000 pounds in cash, although he had not counted it yet’. He told cops he lived at his mother’s home address, but also had keys to his girlfriend’s parents’ property.

When the house was searched, police found three smaller blocks of high-quality cocaine, along with boric acid, a hydraulic press, metal plates, and small amounts of loose cocaine and MDMA.

Mike admitted conspiracy to supply a class A drug, possession of cocaine with intent to supply, and possession of criminal property. In September 2023 he was released from prison after serving just two years behind bars.

BAD BUSINESS 

Like many reality shows, stars attempted to monetise their overnight success with a number of businesses including clothing empires and make-up ventures. 

Sadly a number of the businesses failed before taking off. 

Most people probably know of Gemma Collins’ clothing brand, Gemma Collins Collection, reportedly racked up debts of around £42,000, according to the Mirror.

Collins was also hit with a three-year ban from owning any company in 2020 after the Insolvency Service discovered she had paid herself out of Gemma Collins Boutique Ltd’s funds despite missing VAT deadlines.

The boutique went bust and she was left owing £76,000.

A spokesperson for Gemma told MailOnline: ‘Gemma believed her accountants were taking care of all financial aspects of the business while she did everything else. She was shocked at the situation she found herself in.

‘The Insolvency Service found there was no personal benefit. Gemma had put substantial sums of her own money into the business.

‘Gemma also offered to pay the creditors in full over time but this was rejected by HMRC triggering the liquidation.’

Pete Wicks entered the world of business after his stints on TV. He set up PW Promotions just weeks after his final appearance on the long-running ITV show.

But after signing off paperwork in January, it was revealed that the star’s firm was £100,000 in the red, owing £7,477 in VAT, £66,702 in corporation tax, and £26,500 in monies to Lloyds Bank.

The business was set up in 2015 to manage his income and marks one of three businesses he owns.

He launched Unkempt in 2021 and TCDOR in November last year – both of which are dormant alongside Hermano Clothing and Pirate Pete’s Tattoo, which both opened and closed without trading at all.

Joey Essex meanwhile opted to capitalise on his new-found fame in 2013, when he opened a clothing boutique in Brentwood, Essex, called ‘Fusey’.

Things went south however when local traders accused the TV star of distancing himself from the community, claiming ‘he didn’t want to know’ when they tried to involve him. The star shut down the store and moved to online.

One said: ‘Joey just didn’t seem to want to be part of the community down here.

‘People like owners who are born and bred in Brentwood seem to get involved with the community and the other shops.’

Joey refuted the claims, saying he wasn’t closing down due to a lack of customers and was merely moving his business online.

‘I also hope the other traders in Crown Street can continue to be successful when we close as I appreciate a few were unhappy with the thousands of fans that visit my shop stating it affects their business,’ a statement read.

Companies House records show that Fusey was dissolved in 2018.