Wright Familys Unpopularity in Essex Exposed!

Once the toast of Essex, this was a family who seemed to model themselves on The Sopranos rather than a family of reality stars.

The Wrights first shot to fame when daughter Jess and her younger brother Mark joined hit reality show The Only Way Is Essex as original cast members – and the stardom quickly seeped through the family. The pair’s beloved grandmother, , became a fan favourite thanks to her cameos on the show and, soon enough, mum Carol and dad Mark Sr were making frequent appearances.

In other words, they were bona fide Essex royalty. As they swaggered along Brentwood High Street, the beating heart of TOWIE, fans would stop for photos and autographs.

But no longer. A major slip-up has left their carefully built showbiz careers and reputations on the line.

After quitting in 2016, mother-of-one Jess has tried her hand at becoming an influencer and now hosts a podcast, Wright At Home, with her mother Carol and younger sister Natalya.

It was supposed to be a place for harmless family chatter. Instead, it has triggered the very backlash now threatening to unravel their polished image.

Jess started a conversation on the latest episode of the podcast by saying: ‘I can’t stand how it’s acceptable to walk around a beach in a thong.’

To this, Natalya chimed in: ‘And do you know what’s worse? These girls that do wear them, fair enough if you’re going to wear them, at least if you’re going to bend over and put your towel on your bed, put like a sarong on.’

Jess agreed, saying: ‘It’s so gross.’ Carol claimed that her husband Mark Sr finds revealing bikinis ‘unsexy’.

What might once have passed as banal reality TV talk quickly took on a life of its own online.

The clip went viral immediately, with fans labelling the comments ‘degrading’ and ‘disgusting’. 

Internet sleuths were quickly on the case, digging up photographs of Jess and Natalya wearing thong bikini bottoms themselves – accusing them of being ‘hypocrites’.

Jess, Natalya and Carol were forced to delete the offending clips and issued a grovelling apology, saying: 'In response to comments we made on our podcast. We've listened, we hear you and we want to say sorry...

'Our judgment was wrong and we take full accountability and will do better moving forward. Love Jess, Natalya and Carol'.

However, those who know Jess personally are finding the furore rather amusing. Because they’re delighted that – in their view – the Wright family’s true colours are finally being exposed.

A source told the Daily Mail that those in Jess’s Essex circle think ‘the whole thing is hilarious’ and are glad the Wrights have finally ‘had their comeuppance’.

‘It’s about time people realised what Jess and Carol were like,’ said the insider.

‘[The Wrights] are mean and nasty. They think they are better than everyone else but now they have been found out and it’s hilarious; they have their comeuppance.

‘People are growing tired of the fakeness, which is now becoming very, very apparent. Few are shedding tears for Jess or Carol. They think they are very special, just like Mark.’

And, insiders say, the latest row has merely reopened old wounds that have followed the Wright clan since their reality TV heyday.

Just as the podcast backlash began to swirl, another awkward revelation quickly followed, this time involving the Wright family patriarch.

It came to light that Mark Sr had been caught liking racy snaps on Instagram belonging to an OnlyFans star, Chelsea Ferguson.

The glamour model, who was previously linked to Harry Styles, added her voice to the pile-on by revealing that in August 2024, ‘Big Mark’, 69, who has been married to Carol for 42 years, liked a photo in which she was wearing an underwear set with a suspender belt and, in August 2023, liked a snap of her in a bikini.

In a social media video she teased: ‘I don’t know if Big Mark Wright got the memo on this one, guys, because he loves my scantily clad photos’.

And the backlash extended to Carol, too, who was accused of aiming ‘subtle digs’ at her daughter-in-law Michelle Keegan.

Friends claim her comments were a thinly veiled dig at Michelle, 38, her son Mark’s wife, who manages her own Orfila Bee swimwear range and typically fills her Instagram platform with bikini content.

A source told The Sun: ‘To put it bluntly, Carol is the textbook mother-in-law from hell. She is completely obsessed with her sons and is your stereotypical possessive boy mum.

‘The tension between Carol and Michelle is very subtle. Carol thinks she’s having a subtle dig, but Michelle sees straight through her, and everything is noted.’

But to those familiar with the Wrights’ history on reality television, this kind of drama is nothing new.

During Jess and Carol’s time on The Only Way Is Essex, the mother and daughter duo were branded ‘mean girls’.

After physical fights, explosive arguments and negative comments about other women, viewers claimed they were ‘some of the worst TOWIE cast members ever’.

A source told the Daily Mail: ‘If the Wrights’ storylines were on TOWIE now, it wouldn’t fly and they’d be cancelled anyway. It’s disgusting how they treated Lauren.’

The insider was referring to Lauren Goodger, who dated Mark Jr during the early seasons of TOWIE. The pair famously had a rocky relationship. Viewers noted that Carol and Jess were cold towards Lauren during filming and failed to welcome her into the Wright clan.

Lauren split from Mark in 2012, and later publicly blamed his family for their break-up.

Though more than a decade has now passed, this week it was confirmed that Lauren hasn’t forgotten any of it.

When ex-TOWIE star and influencer Dani Imbert posted a mocking TikTok video wearing a thong bikini, with audio of Jess, Carol and younger sister Natalya slamming the garment, Lauren commented ‘LOVE this’.

For Jess in particular, the latest controversy is the last thing she needs as someone who has struggled to get her career off the ground since being a TOWIE star.

Jess – who friends say ‘hates any criticism’ – has tried in vain to launch a singing career. She signed a three-single deal in 2012 and jetted off to Marbella to film a music video for her song Dance All Night, but it only made it to number 36 in the UK singles chart.