Jodie Wells' love life with James 'Diags' Bennewith has had fans of TOWIE completely hooked, and that's without the drama of a love triangle with his former flame Elma Pazar. Now Jodie has opened up about her big move to Essex with her young son Bear. The adorable toddler just made his debut on the series as viewers watched Diags hand over a key to his house to Jodie in touching scenes which closed the previous season.
As one of the latest faces to grace the show, initially starting as an extra, Jodie shared her eagerness for a peaceful corner in Essex. This move aims to support Diags transition from party animal to family man, while she also hints at wanting extra bedrooms, potentially signalling plans to expand their brood. Everyone's favourite cast member, 33 year old Diags, also dished the dirt on the message he sent to Elma that stirred up major controversy amongst their fellow cast members and the audience, culminating in explosive repercussions. Despite Jodie and Elma's efforts to mend their rocky history, Diags now confesses: "There couldn't have been a worse person to send that message to," reports OK!
Hi, Jodie! James acted pretty poorly sending that text to Elma at the start of the series telling her he missed her. How are you feeling about that?
He’s just an idiot – he has a drink and he just thinks all of his jokes are funny, and they’re not. I don’t think there was anything behind it. I just think he was just trying to be funny. But it’s a joke at my expense.
How are you both doing since that?
Yeah, we’re OK now me and him. And me and Elma are good. Off screen and on screen we have had conversations, we went on a night out. We’re at a really good place and it’s going well. Hopefully it will stay like this.
You looked a bit shocked when Diags gave you a key to his flat in the last series?
I did not expect that, because we were joking around saying I hadn’t had a key to his flat. So I didn’t realise he was actually going to ask me to move in. I am going to move in, but it just takes time. I’ve got a little boy. Everything needs to be right.
It’s a big move for you, isn’t it? From Bristol to Essex?
Yeah, it is a big move. It isn’t like 20 minutes down the road. But I do want it. I do want to take time and make sure it is right.
Sophie Kasaei made the big move to Essex from Newcastle to live with her boyfriend Jordan Brook. Has she been a good support for you?
Yeah, I love Sophie so much. She’s like my little mum. She’s the best.
What will you look for most in a house?
I definitely want a garden. Because I have got a little boy, it would be nice if he can just go out there and play. Maybe it’s three bedrooms, if we have other children. Just so once we have a house, we don’t have to move again. We need to make sure that it is the right place.
You’ve got your family in Bristol. How are they feeling about it? Are they nervous?
They’re fine. They want me to be happy. I mean, it’s not like it is ages away. I am still going to be able to go and see them, and he [Bear] will still be seeing his dad the same amount of time that he sees him now. I’m not just going to take him away from his dad...we have spoken about it and everything’s all good.
Do you know Essex well? Do you have any ideas where you’ll house hunt?
I like where James lives now. I would like somewhere a little bit more quiet. A bit more countryside. Somewhere you feel like it would be quite a nice place to bring up a child and I feel like it could be good for James as well. It’s bringing him away slightly from the party lifestyle, and to think about more of a family lifestyle.
It will be quite a change for him, won’t it? But he seems like he’s super sweet about you and the situation and just wanted to make it right...
Yeah, I love him, he’s lush.
Sophie’s looking out for you, so which other friendship groups are you part of?
Ella [Wise], Dani [Imbert] and Roman [Hackett] is like my bestest friend in the world. I love him so much, he is the best. I’m friends with everyone else, I actually am. I speak to Joe [Blackman]. I spoke to Harry [Derbidge]. I’ve spoken to Amy [Childs]. Obviously, we both have children. We speak about that. I’m just in a really good place.
DIAGS:
Hi, Diags! You sent a drunken text to Elma telling her that you missed her – can you please explain why?
I made a silly, silly mistake. I made a joke that wasn’t very funny – it was drunken. I’d been drinking tequila, thinking I was being funny because they [Jodie and Elma] had just made up. I thought it would be hilarious but looking back on it – it was not funny in the slightest. And it’s caused me a lot of s**t. It seems to be OK at the moment. They’ve actually become friends.
I want her to be as comfy as possible – that needs to be the case. They probably will get on, if it wasn’t for me. I nearly sabotaged the whole situation again. But we have all been out together and we are all getting on.
What have you done to make it up to Elma and Jodie?
I apologised to both of them – they gave me a bit of s**t for it. I have to accept that, I said sorry for making it weird and awkward again. At least I have been honest, there couldn’t have been a worse person to send that message to. Jodie said, “Why did you do that knowing how insecure I was about the whole situation?” She’s been quite understanding. I bought her a pair of sunglasses that she was looking at – it took a big chunk out of my pay but that was worth it. I took her for a nice dinner, just me and her. I’ll maybe take her into the town
