Sam made an emotional farewell in the series finale of TOWIE where she said to pals Jess, Arg and sister Billie that she was taking some time out from the ‘Essex scene’ to concentrate on her health and her relationship with Joey Essex.
We asked Sam what she had planned for the rest of the year and she revealed that she she’ll be doing a lot of travelling.
'A mixture of things... a lot of travelling and beauty work,’ she says, referring to her current fake tan endeavours. ‘A number of things, I’m really excited.’
Sam looks set to follow in boyfriend Joey’s footsteps with a spot of globetrotting.
‘I’ve got a few holidays booked: Ibiza and Vegas. I’m looking forward to travelling,’ she said.
Though Sam is back together with Essex boy Joey, she tells us she likes prefers ‘men to be men’ rather than competing with her in the beauty and fake tan stakes.
‘I like men to be men. If they do use fake tan it should be tanned lightly. If they do it it’s gotta be done properly. Personally I like a man to be a man. You don’t want them to smell of fake tan.’
So we’re guessing that this throws poor Made In Chelsea's Ollie Locke out the running for Sam’s heart for good!
But this doesn’t mean that Sam and her Celebrity Big Brother bestie can’t still bond over their interests.
‘He loved faked tan!’ she said. ‘He has got the most natural dark skin regardless, he doesn’t need to fake tan, him of all people.’
Though Sam is a bit of a fake tan pro now, she certainly had her fair share of disasters back in the day.
‘When I was younger we used to buy the 99p wipes and wipe all over our faces,’ she says, laughing. ‘It’s part of growing up. Never would I have thought to exfoliate or moisturise the dry areas. We didn’t even wash off the dark areas because we wanted to be as dark as possible.’
Some of her past beauty faux pas even include some embarrassing dating incidents. Sam recalls moments such as ‘when you kiss some one and you get make up on their collar.’
‘I’ve worn instant tan and left marks on a white leather chair in a bar!’ she reveals.
Sam admits that she used to use sun beds as a teenager, but does her best to avoid them now and take good care of her skin.
‘They are terrible,’ she says. ‘The worst thing to do is have a sun bed.’
Sam hopes that she can influence people to give up having dangerous sun bed sessions.
‘A lot of young girls do look up to us… We can encourage them to use fake tan rather than a sun bed.’
Sam is now looking forward to arrival of her niece in the summer following the revelation of sister Billie’s pregnancy earlier this year.
As the Essex girls grow up, they aren’t immune to their sisterly argument. ‘Well, when we were teenagers the only fights we had were over clothes,’ she explains, and it would seem that old habits die-hard.
‘The other day she got a pair of new YSL shoes and I asked to borrow them. She took a picture of the heels and said ‘that’s what they look like so don’t scratch them!’’
Following news of her Crohns diagnonsis earlier this year, Sam looked in great shape as we chatted to her.
She told us that she is still on a mainly liquid diet but is slowly starting to eat regular, everyday food again. ‘
I’m introducing it,’ she says, ‘nothing too full on.’
Sam is brand ambassador for Fake Bake and will be travelling around schools up and down the UK to promote safe tanning and to high light the dangers of sun beds.
Check out Sam's emotional exit from TOWIE below: