The Only Way is Prison...Inside TOWIE star's criminal underworld links

Audiences have over time fallen in love with The Only Way Is Essex for its larger than life characters and over the top exchanges. 

For over a decade they have been tuning into the hit ITV reality show for the latest relationship woes or fashion fads besotting some of Brentwood's most affluent residents.

And while some scenes may seem exaggerated at best, the drama going on beneath the surface is much more unbelievable, yet undoubtedly more real. 

Because amidst the fashion and glamour, there exists a sinister criminal underworld that has encompassed some of the show's biggest stars. 

From acid attacks and drug busts, here MailOnline looks at a host of dodgy dealings and shady characters that have embroiled the cast of Britain's most beloved reality show.

Ferne McCann

Arthur Collins, the ex-boyfriend of Ferne McCann, hurled acid over revellers on the dance floor at Mangle E8 in Dalston, east London, after a 'gangland war' spiralled out of control in 2017.

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. 

Collins, the father of Ms McCann's baby daughter Sunday, 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.'

Michael Hassini 

Michael Hassini was jailed 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 Hassini 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.

When his case was heard at Snaresbrook Crown Court in December 2021, prosecutor Sean Sullivan told the court Hassini's cocaine was between 85 per cent and 98 per cent pure. 

Hassini 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.  

Lauren Goodger

Lauren Goodger was one of the original cast of TOWIE in 2010, starring alongside then-boyfriend Mark Wright.

She dated Joey Morrison, who was sentenced to 16 years behind bars in 2010 after he dressed like a postman to burgle properties in Enfield, north London.

Morrison was arrested in 2009, after police found £60,000 worth of cocaine and a £90,000 Land Rover.

Morrison was found guilty along with Marvin Russell Jenkins, 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. 

Stephen had also spent time behind bars in 2012, when he was jailed following a burglary in which a live-in gardener at an Essex cannabis factory died after falling through a roof.