The truth about TOWIE: Interview with Linzi Peel

A couple of weeks ago the lovely Linzi Peel of TOWIE fame visited our college class and we were lucky enough to interview her about everything from her favourite fake tan to what she really thinks about Jess Wright!

After appearing in the first series of the hit ITV show as part of the girl band LOLA after reportedly being fired for being 'too fat' she's launched herself in an array of different careers listing herself as a Radio, Presenter and Actress and is also the face of Trinitia tanning!

Did The Only Way is Essex put you off appearing on reality TV again?

Going on the only way is Essex, it was a reality show and if I’m honest if I was going on it just as myself, Linzi Peel I don’t think I would have done it, but because I was in a band at the time it is so hard, for any of you that know the music industry its really hard to launch a girl band. So the opportunity came along and we thought why not go for it.

How was it being in the band LOLA?

It was amazing; we got to do some amazing things. We got to open T4 stars of 2010 at Earls Court in front of 10,000 people.

How real was the show?

The show, it wasn’t scripted however we were put in situations that would intentionally cause drama so yes it is real but it is also set up?

Was it a lie that the band LOLA got a record contract with Universal?

It wasn’t the band that lied, it was really the show that did it...

What happened to LOLA?

Well for those of you that don’t know, i was actually kicked out of my own band. Unfortunately one day just after The Only Way is Essex when the first series had finished I got called into an office by a management company which i had found for myself and the girls and they basically told me that I was no longer needed in LOLA. It came completely out of the blue because if I’m honest I actually held the band together and I would admit that I was absolutely gutted it was like my dream had been taken away from me. But to be fair it’s the best thing that could have happened to me.

Is music something that you have always been interested in?

Since the age of 16 I have always been in girl bands, I have been with various management companies that just haven’t helped at all to get me anywhere and eventually I thought if you want to do something then just do it yourself, and I’ve been working with a record label for quite a long time now I have been doing a lot of song writing for them and I just said I want to give it once last go and I want to put together a girl band and do it my way. I put an advert on Star Now which is where I found Jess and Lauren and eventually we got Amber and we were together for 6 months doing what any other girl band would be doing, gigging and just trying to make it basically.

Jessica Wright has gone solo, how do you feel about that?

Do you know what - good luck to her really

Do you feel a bit bitter towards her because of it?

Unfortunately Jess and I don’t talk anymore, i have seen jess out and she has ignored me, I haven’t made much effort with her either. I’m not going to hold any grudges because as I just said, good luck to her. It will be interesting to see what happens for her, because of the industry I don’t know if everybody will take her seriously.

Did the fame go to your head being in The Only Way is Essex and LOLA?

With the industry it’s so hard you basically just get caught up in a bubble everyone wants to be your friend, even if they don’t like you they pretend to like you. You’re constantly getting things thrown at you for free people wanting you to wear their range of clothes, I think for anyone it’s hard not to let it go to your head. I think you just need to make sure that you keep your friends and family and it’s important that they keep you grounded. I must admit that a lot of the cast from The Only Way is Essex have changed since being on the show but unfortunately it’s just what happens.

Do you think they have changed for the better or worse? 

Well I’ve known Kirk for years so I can say this and he won’t mind, he has changed alot so has Amy and so has Arg. I’m not saying that they are bad people but it is because they have surrounded themselves in people that allow them to change.

You seem quite well put together how did Julian Bennett manage to become your manager?

Unfortunately this is where Lola started going wrong when Julian Bennett was brought on board. I don’t know if you watched ‘Queer eye for the straight guy’ but Julian doesn’t actually have anything to do with the music industry he is known as a stylist and ITV2 brought Julian in to be a stylist however he took it upon himself to say, infront of the cameras that he was now our manager and obviously we don’t get any say in how it’s edited. So he literally went from being our stylist to now our manager. I was annoyed that day because I didn’t like the fact we were being told what to do by someone that had no clue about the music industry and that’s when problems started to happen. There was a scene where Julian said we had a single coming out next week and for anyone in the music industry knows that you can’t have a single out in a weeks time, there has to be preparation and it takes at least two months I’d say to have something like that behind you.

Would you say he cared more about the girlbands career or yours?

Oh his, definitely

Did you actually release a single?

We released ‘Claustrophic’ which was whilst working with universal records however because Julian Bennett decided to say on national television that our single was out, it was like right our single is out whereas if it was done properly we probably would’ve released a second single and you could see the whole process, but unfortunately he ruined it for us.

Was Jess really keen to get rid of her brother?

I suppose, I think the problem that Jess had was that she was always known as ‘Mark Wrights sister’ and Jess wanted to be ‘Jessica Wright’.

How does Watford compare to Essex?

I prefer Essex! Well I prefer the night life in Essex shall we say, I think with Watford, I think if you go out so much it gets boring doesn’t it. Essex is a lot bigger, there’s a lot more places to go. A couple of weeks ago I actually had my launch party for my column on styledmagazine at Area nightclub, it was really good actually to have it here as everyone I wanted to be there came!

On your column for Styledmagazine.co.uk is says that you did the 10k walk for the project waterfall..?

I was invited and it was really challenging actually. You say to people 10k and they think ‘really?’ but when you carry 10 litres of water on your back it was really really hard. I don’t know if you’ve seen the video but it’s on YouTube somewhere I got quite emotional because I suppose we take it for granted really.

Is that something you want to do more of?

Yeah, don’t laugh but I’m actually taking part in a charity football match on the 8^th July in Ipswich which is for a little boy with a brain tumour so raising money for him. I’ve also got a skydive coming up in August, I’m really not looking forward to that! So yeah I really do want to get more involved in charity work!

You mentioned that you are now presenting a radio show could you tell us a bit more about it?

After TOWIE finished I took a year out to sort of find what I wanted to do, I’ve always loved radio presenting it’s something I’ve always wanted to get into so I looked around and an agency asked people and started working for Saint FM and did the Monday & Tuesday breakfast show it was fantastic, I absolutely love working in radio it’s such a buzz. I actually left Saint FM because I’m trying to get a bigger and better show basically but I don’t want to rush into anything yet!

You can follow Linzi on Twitter @Linzi_Peel and read her column on Styledmagazine.co.uk!

xxx