Brian Belo to sue TOWIE!
Friday 15 April 2011
Big Brother star Brian Belo is suing the bosses of TOWIE amid claims that the show was HIS idea – or is he just Jel over the success of his hometown?
The Sun reported that the Big Brother winner is suing his ex-manager and the production team of The Only Way Is Essex for £100,000 for the money he ‘should’ have earnt from the show.
The reality show wasn’t expecting the ratings to be as high as they have been; The guilty pleasure received a whopping 1.3million viewings from its audience on Wednesday!
Before we saw the fabulous show on our screens, the 2007 pilot version, originally titled Totally Essex featured Amy Childs, Mark Wright, Sam Faiers and Kirk Norcross along with Brian Belo himself.
When the producers became more involved in the show, Brian was dropped but claimed he created the show himself, writing on his blog ‘I worked on the idea for two years, I wrote the treatment, got the cast together and pitched to the production companies. I’m very proud of its success. I want people to know where it came from’.
He also uploaded the comical original trailer of Totally Essex, which has received 43,000 YouTube hits.
The Big Brother 8 winner admitted he wanted to be on TV shortly after he left the Big Brother house. Being from Essex and loving the typical Essex lifestyle this idea was perfectly suited. The Sun say he spent two years working on an idea for an Essex version of The Hills. His manager then pitched the idea to Lime Productions, who loved the idea and snapped it up quick.
Brian has now split from his former manager Adam Muddle who has also been named in the lawsuit. A pal said to the Sun, ‘Brian is very sad it ended this way as Mark, Sam, Amy and Adam were his friends.’
A friend told New! magazine he thought he would be on the production credits at least after being dropped from starring in the show. Brian hasn’t mentioned anything up till now because he couldn’t go on reading about the show and seeing the stars on telly.
Brian hasn’t commented for legal reasons.
Lime productions say ‘We have not received any formal complaint from Brian Belo’.
ITV is yet to respond to the claims, which will be tested in court.
By Shona Penberthy