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Geordie Shore: Ten Years On The Toon Is On MTV Tonight

Kimberley Bond

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Geordie Shore: Ten Years On The Toon Is On MTV Tonight

Featured Image Credit: MTV

Why aye, can you believe Geordie Shore has been on our screens for 10 years? God, that makes us feel old.

Now, some of our original Geordie favourites are returning to Newcastle to celebrate a decade of MTV's best-loved reality series.

We sat down with the cast to reminisce on their rollercoaster journey and the highs an lows of reality fame...

Geordie Shore was released in 2011 (Credit: PA Images)
Geordie Shore was released in 2011 (Credit: PA Images)
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Back in 2011, the world was introduced to eight Geordie lads and lasses (Holly Hagan, Gary Beadle, Charlotte Crosby, Jay Gardener, Vicky Pattison, Greg Lake, Sophie Kasaei and James Tindale) who were ready to tear up the toon after being put into a house-share in an upmarket part of Newcastle.

Hoping to replicate the success of the original Jersey Shore back in the States, Geordie Shore took the partying, drinking and sh*ging up a notch, making the OG crew worldwide celebrities.

The cast, who were in their teens and early twenties at the time, were absolutely stunned at their newfound fame.

"It was a big shock," Geordie Shore original James Tindale, 30, tells Tyla. "It took everyone by surprise. People watched it and couldn't believe what they were seeing.

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James Tindale was one of the original members (Credit: PA Images)
James Tindale was one of the original members (Credit: PA Images)

"But as they got to know the cast, they liked us and got to follow our journey."

Of course, Geordie Shore wasn't an instant hit. Initially, the raunchy series, which was blasé about showing full sex and one night stands a-plenty, was derided by Newcastle natives.

Things reached a new low when the show was discussed in parliament by MP for Newcastle Central, Chi Onwurah.

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"I'm going to be raising questions in Parliament because I think there should be a limit on how much alcohol a broadcaster can pour down the throats of young people to provoke sensational acts," she said at the time.

"By putting those young people in this situation, it's encouraging them to lose all their dignity.

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"I think it's totally unrepresentative of Newcastle. It's exploiting those young people and exploiting out city. It's bordering on pornographic."

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However, Nathan Henry, who joined the show in 2015, has hit back at the show's former criticism.

"We have one of the most diverse cast on reality TV," the 29-year-old tells Tyla. "We have people of all colours and sexual orientations. Not slating it, but Love Island doesn't have that. That's about heterosexual couples, and the world is more than that.

"We show all different types of relationships. Yeah, when Geordie Shore started, it was all going out and sh*gging, but now the show has changed. At the heart of it are the cast, with their core family values.

Nathan and Chloe joined the show at the same time (Credit: Instagram - nathangshore)
Nathan and Chloe joined the show at the same time (Credit: Instagram - nathangshore)
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"I'm actually really proud to be a cast member of Geordie Shore. Some people go to Newcastle hoping to bump into one of us. So in a way we have driven tourism to the city. Not many places can say a show has helped the economy!"

Indeed, partly thanks to the antics of the Geordie Shore cast and crew, bookings in the Newcastle area have tripled since the show began, with the city now boasting several bar crawls featuring the gang's favourite haunts.

Of course, Geordie Shore wasn't always just fun and games, getting sloshed on camera and having regrettable encounters in nightclubs. Chloe Ferry, who joined the show in 2015 at just 18 years old, found herself facing an onslaught of trolling and criticism from fans - which had a hugely detrimental impact on her mental health.

"You don't realise how much abuse you get," she says. "People used to tell me I was too thick to do stuff and I believed it. I used to think I was a failure.

Chloe Ferry was trolled when she started on Geordie Shore (Credit: PA Images)
Chloe Ferry was trolled when she started on Geordie Shore (Credit: PA Images)

"You have to have such thick skin. I had so many comments about being fat or being a disgrace that sometimes I now just want to curl up in a ball."

Chloe, now 25, has previously opened up about suffering from depression and body dysmorphic disorder since her time on the programme, and has since spent over £50,000 in cosmetic procedures.

"I think my depression started because I got so much hate online," she continues. "I don't think people realise how hard it is being in the public eye and constantly being judged.

"What baffles me is how it is still going on. I'm just sick of everyone having an opinion on me."

Chloe adds that Geordie Shore's upcoming 23rd series will be her last, with lockdown seeing her reassess her priorities.

"I just feel like I'm a completely different person now to the person I was when I first started," she says.

"I want to start steering away from telly and concentrate more on my salon. I might even throw my phone in the bin."

Chloe has been bullied for her appearance (Credit: MTV)
Chloe has been bullied for her appearance (Credit: MTV)

That's not to say the whole Geordie Shore experience hasn't been entirely enjoyable for Chloe and the others, with the cast all reminiscing about the life-changing experience the series has been for them.

And Chloe has no regrets about signing up to the series.

"You can't live in the past," she says. "If I wasn't on this show I would probably be on the dole.

"We all do embarrassing stuff in life. But who cares? I don't care, me. You've got to live in the moment in this show."

James agrees he's been presenting with opportunities he wouldn't have had otherwise.

"When we first went to Australia it was mental," he says. "Every airport we flew into there would be 100 people waiting for us with banners and presents. It felt like we were in One Direction.

Nathan Henry is thrilled by the opportunities he's had (Credit: PA Images)
Nathan Henry is thrilled by the opportunities he's had (Credit: PA Images)

"My chiropractor is from South Africa and he told me we're idolised out there. We never expected people in other countries to watch it."

"I actually thought I was going to get dropped after my first series," Nathan laughed. "But then Geordie Shore just really took off, and I was like, what the f*** is our lives? This is so, so mad.

"Even now, some of the opportunities we have still don't feel real. We flew first class to Australia. I go places and people know who I am. It's weird."

And while it's been 10 years since our eight young Geordies first appeared on our screens, and has seen cast revamps, shake-ups and rows, the series shows absolutely no signs of slowing down any time soon - with Nathan already having hopes for future castmembers.

"I want a full, multicultural and completely diverse cast in the future," he says. "I'd love to see a transgender cast member.

"Too many shows portray white, heterosexual couples. The world is colourful and very gay."

Geordie Shore: Ten Years On The Toon premieres 25th May at 10pm on MTV

Topics: Celebrity News, TV News, TV & Film, TV Entertainment

Kimberley Bond
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