James Argent has sparked romance rumours with Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, just months after he revealed he had 'really struggled' with being single on Valentine's Day.
The reality star, 36, launched to fame on The Only Way Is Essex where the pitfalls of his romance with childhood sweetheart Lydia Bright and on-off girlfriend Gemma Collins were well documented.
In 2012, Gemma coined the phrase: 'You ain't ever going to get this candy' but the couple went on to have an eight year on-off relationship before splitting for good in 2020.
As speculation swirls the television personality could be romancing Love Island star Ekin, 29, after her split from Davide Sanclimenti, MailOnline takes a look at Arg's turbulent love life...
James Argent has sparked romance rumours with Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, just months after he revealed he had 'really struggled' with being single on Valentine's Day
As speculation swirls the television personality could be romancing Love Island star Ekin, 29, after her split from Davide Sanclimenti, MailOnline takes a look at Arg's turbulent love life...
James and Ekin-Su have grown close after enjoying cosy dates round each other's Essex houses following her dramatic elimination from Celebrity Big Brother in March.
Sources say while the couple are not official, friends are excited to see where their relationship could go after James, 36, supported Ekin, 29, when she struggled to cope with harsh trolls amid the reality show backlash.
It is Ekin's first dalliance since her split from Love Island boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti, 29, in January and former TOWIE star James hasn't been with anyone since parting ways from Stella Turian, 19, last November.
An insider told MailOnline: 'James lives close to Ekin, they are practically neighbours – so when she needed a friend after Celebrity Big Brother, he was there for her.
'Their friendship developed into something stronger and they started to spend more time together, even passionately kissing.
Ekin-Su won Love Island in 2022 alongside ex-boyfriend Davide, who she was in an on/off relationship with until they finally parted ways in January
'It's still early days and they both appreciate they need to take it slow, having come out of high-profile relationships in the past six months… but there's no denying the feelings and chemistry between them.'
Ekin was the fourth housemate to be voted out of Celebrity Big Brother after enduring a turbulent few weeks on the series, which she starred on alongside the likes of Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne.
But her treatment post-elimination was worse after she became embroiled in a bullying row on spin-off show Late & Live, and was wrongly accused by Lorraine Kelly of pulling out of an appearance on her morning show at the last minute, which the Scottish TV host later apologised for.
She decided not to attend the Celebrity Big Brother final, with both her management and the ITV1 team keen to protect the star, who had been feeling 'vulnerable' and exposed to hateful trolls.
As she kept a low profile following the end of CBB, she grew close to James, and together they bonded over their mutual ups and downs of being well-known figures in the industry.
James, who has found new success with The Arg Band, is looking better than ever after having 'life changing' gastric band surgery in 2021 and prioritising his health and wellbeing.
After attending a rehab facility, losing over 14 stone and eradicating drugs and alcohol, the former TOWIE star has transformed his life and is now more than three years sober.
MailOnline has contacted Arg and Ekin's representatives for comment.
James raised eyebrows when he started dating Stella Turian, 19, due to their 16-year age gap. They had a year long romance but the couple split in November
They had a year long romance where they travelled to Marbella together with Arg's Band and shared loved-up selfies on Instagram
James raised eyebrows when he started dating Stella Turian, 19, due to their 16-year age gap.
They had a year long romance where they travelled to Marbella together with Arg's Band and shared loved-up selfies on Instagram.
But the couple split in November, with a heartbroken Arg admitting he found Valentine's Day this year a 'struggle'.
James told the My Dirty Laundry podcast he had to stay off social media because it got him down so much.
Having tackled his demons, staying sober for two years and losing 15 stone in weight, James said: 'I'm in a really good place. Everything in my life is perfect, apart from my love life. It would be nice if that would change.
'But, I couldn't help it. There was times where I'd just have a little glance and all you would see was couples. Everyone's madly in love. Everyone's happy.
'Everyone's out on dates. There's flowers, there's balloons, there's chocolates, there's date nights or trips or happily married couples - and yeah, it did start to affect me a little bit.'
But James has said that rather than wallow in misery, he tried to go out to make himself feel better, but a trip to the shops didnt' help the situation at all.
He said: 'I thought, I'm gonna get out the house and a food shop and I went to my local supermarket and what made things a million times worse, every single aisle that I looked at was a Valentine's Day dine-in meal for two...
'It was starters, main, dessert and a drink for 20 quid. And I was like, "oh no", it just absolutely, it just got to me.
'But I went to bed that night, had a good night's sleep and then the next day I was fine. I was happy again, I was fine.'
