Experts say TOWIE icons have fuelled the trend for cut-price cosmetic surgery abroad

Reality TV shows such as The Only Way Is Essex have fuelled the trend for getting cosmetic surgery abroad, experts claim.

TOWIE’s star-studded cast, hugely influential among younger crowds, are famed for their pearly white teeth and curvy figures.

Some such as Lauren Goodger, Dani Imbert and Yazmin Oukhellou have undergone BBLs or lipo and publicly shared their results with their thousands of impressionable fans. 

But apparent ‘celeb endorsements’ of cosmetic surgery can trivialise the serious risk and ongoing costs of these procedures, according to Danielle Hamm, director of Nuffield Council on Bioethics.

‘Insecurity about appearance and low self-esteem are being fuelled and nourished by the cosmetic procedures industry, celeb culture, media and peer pressure,’ she said.

Dawn Knight, a campaigner against poor practise cosmetic surgery, said shows like TOWIE were ‘without a doubt’ helping drive Brits to go under the knife overseas.

‘All these young people aspire to be a similar TV celebrity,’ she said.

TOWIE star Lauren Goodger finally admitted to having Brazilian butt lift after previously denying having the procedure. Here the Towie star is pictured after the BBL (left) and before (right)

But she warned, that a reality TV star’s ‘five-star’ treatment could be radically different than the affordable ops marketed to many ordinary Brits.

She added that starstruck Brits looking to imitate a celeb’s look could be signing up for more than they bargained for as radical ops like BBLs only lasted a ‘finite number of years’ before needing another expensive procedure to maintain. 

Ms Hamm added: ‘Social media in particular can bombard people with images of the “ideal” body or celebrity endorsements for cosmetic procedures. 

‘Cosmetic procedures have serious risks and celebrity endorsements can have the effect of trivialising these procedures and underplaying those risks.’

She added that young women in particular are vulnerable to this trend as they are the biggest target audience for plastic surgery clinics in Turkey and beyond. 

Broadcaster ITVBE says its shows, such as TOWIE, ‘often feel aspirational’ for their audience. 

Here, MailOnline details some of the TOWIE cast who have gone to Turkey for BBLs, pearly white veneers and nose jobs…

Lauren Goodger

Lauren Goodger admitted earlier this year that she had undergone a BBL in Turkey.

The 36-year-old, who appeared on TOWIE from series one to six, previously denied having the procedure to plump up her behind.

In revealing she had actually undergone the op, Lauren confessed it was ‘the worst experience’ of her life.

The reality TV star, who has also featured on Big Brother and Celebs Go Dating, had been ‘unhappy for a while’ with her new look and plans to tone down her appearance to be more ‘natural’.

She also had a boob job in 2013 at a clinic in Harley Street in London, giving her a 34E chest.

Lauren, who has nearly 1million followers on Instagram, told OK! magazine in April: ‘For a couple of years now I’ve been thinking, “Why did I ever get my boobs done?”‘. 

‘I haven’t been happy for a while, but when I fell pregnant with Larose, my boobs became even bigger and I hated the way I looked.

‘I look back at old pictures before the boob job and I had lovely boobs. I just wish I could go back to natural Lauren.’

Megan McKenna 

Megan McKenna, who rose to fame on Ex On The Beach before joining TOWIE in 2016, says getting a Hollywood smile in Turkey brought her confidence back. 

Revealing her shiny veneers in a post on Instagram in 2020, the 30-year-old thanked the Dental Centre Turkey saying ‘you have honestly made me so happy’. 

‘Thank you for your amazing hospitality and for creating the look I wanted! I highly recommend using this service,’ she added.

‘Thankyou for bringing my confidence back with my smile.’

Megan, who has 2.5million followers on Instagram, left TOWIE in 2017 to pursue her music career. 

Ex-TOWIE star Megan McKenna, 30, showed her veneers off in an Instagram post in 2020

She quit TOWIE in in 2017 to pursue her music career, here she is pictured performing at the C2C Country To Country 2023 Festival in London in March

Bobby Norris

Bobby Norris, 36, flew to Turkey in 2017 to get a nose job after struggling to breathe normally through one side of his nose.

In an Instagram post to his 785,000 followers, he revealed his new nose and told fans he was ‘so happy’ with the results. 

Thanking his surgeon he said: ‘As somebody who has struggled to breath through one side of my nose for so many years, the difference is already unbelievable.

‘Even though I’m still a bit swollen and bruised… I can’t thank the amazing team enough for everything.’

Bobby made appearances on TOWIE between 2012 and 2021 but has also appeared on other reality shows like Celebs Go Dating, Celebrity Ghost Hunt, and Celebs on the Farm.

Bobby Norris previously told MailOnline that he hated everything about his slim frame and has now conquered his fear of gyms and started to bulk up. In 2017 he flew to Turkey to get a nose job

Dani Imbert 

Dani Imbert jetted off to Turkey to get a BBL at the end of last year after growing tired of her ‘pancake’ body.

She was just one of thousands of women seeking to get a more pronounced posterior, like that sported by Kim Kardashian, by injecting fat from elsewhere in the body into the buttocks to give them a larger, curvier form.

But Dani’s surgery wasn’t without complications, as the 25-year-old revealed she was at ‘death’s door’ following the procedure. 

Talking to OK! magazine following her operation, she described how she was left ‘crying everyday’ and ‘swollen for weeks’.

Dani, who joined the TOWIE cast in 2021, said: ‘I didn’t realise how long the recovery was. You can’t sit down after having it done.

‘I was lying on my front or kneeling for eight weeks and couldn’t even put on my shoes or socks for six weeks.’

But Dani, who has almost 80,000 Instagram followers, also confessed to loving her new look, saying that she just ‘wanted a bit more meat on my bottom half’.

The Only Way is Essex stars, Dani Imbert, 24 and Junaid Ahmed, 28 looked worse for wear on their way home in London after celebrating the launch of the show’s 2023 season in March.

Junaid revealed that he’s spent over £10,000 on veneers, Botox and fillers  before he joined the ITVBe show

Junaid Ahmed 

Junaid Ahmed is, by his own admission, no stranger to cosmetic surgery.

In December, the 28-year-old underwent a rhinoplasty, a nose job, surgery on his chin and his hairline — all in Turkey.  

The reality TV star shared his £10,000 cosmetic surgery results in a birthday snap on Instagram to his 67,000 followers in December last year.

Junaid, who joined TOWIE in 2022 and has appeared on other reality TV shows like Lovestruck High, captioned the post: ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME… New nose, new chin, new hairline.’ 

But he insists it is not vanity that has led him to get these surgeries. 

He told the Secure The Insecure showbiz podcast that his nose ‘needed to be fixed’ because of a vicious attack he endured at the hands of bullies as a teenager, adding they ‘broke my nose in three different places’.

Yazmin Oukhellou 

Yazmin Oukhellou’s secret Turkish BBL and liposuction was revealed by MailOnline in January 2021.

Cosmetic surgeon Dr Kerium Unal, who is based in Turkey, shared a video of Yazmin in a bikini in December 2020, captioning the post: ‘High Definition Lipo and BBL for my lovely patient showing off her results 3 weeks post surgery.’

The post also had hashtags that hinted she may have had more than lipo and a BBL, with others including tummy tuck and nose job.

Yazmin, who joined the Only Way is Essex in 2015, replied to the post with three love heart emojis. 

The 29-year-old promotes ‘fitness’ by owning a wellness retreat.  

Another comment in the post also revealed Yazmin, who has 810,000 followers on Instagram, spent £3,000 on the surgery. 

But this wasn’t the first time the TOWIE star went under the knife, she has previously spoken about having two boob jobs and a nose job. 

Yazmin Oukhellou, 28, secretly had a Brazilian bum lift and liposuction in November 2020 with a Turkish surgeon – despite promoting ‘fitness’ by owning a wellness retreat 

Amber Turner 

Previously known for her extra large pout, The Only Way is Essex star Amber Turner, 29, has also visited Turkey to get veneers and a breast enhancement.

The Essex beauty, who joined the reality TV show in 2017, had a ‘secret boob job’ in Turkey, boosting her cleavage from a B cup to a D cup, sources reported.

Amber had felt ‘insecure and uncomfortable’ for years as a B cup, she revealed to The Sun in 2018.

The reality star also flew to Turkey to get veneers just a few months after her boob enhancement, starting 2018 with a fresh set of gnashers. 

TOWIE’s Amber Turner pictured in Thailand in March earlier this year

Amber told OK! in June this year that her teeth were not as straight as she wanted them to be before getting veneers. 

She said: ‘For me, I had really sensitive teeth, and I couldn’t get them as white as I wanted them.

‘Whereas, people could usually bleach them, I couldn’t really. I thought it would be the only thing I could do. The bottom of my teeth were slightly wonky, so I thought straighten them up.’

Amber, who has 850,000 followers on Instagram, was seen flaunting her bikini body in Thailand earlier this year where a new series of TOWIE began filming.

Lime Pictures, the company behind TOWIE was contacted for comment by MailOnline.  

All the known Brit fatalities in Turkey from surgery

At least 24 Brits have died as a result of medical tourism trips to Turkey since January 2019, according to the Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Here, MailOnline highlights some of the victims.

Leah Cambridge

Leah Cambridge, 29, suffered a blood clot during a £6,500 Brazilian butt lift surgery in Turkey. 

Leah Cambridge, 29, died after having the ‘Brazilian butt lift’ procedure in Turkey 

The mother-of-three, from Leeds, died just one day after travelling to an Elite Aftercare clinic in Turkey in August 2018. 

The trainee beautician, described as being ‘paranoid about her body’, paid in cash for the procedure after being inspired by pictures on Instagram. 

The procedure involved having fat extracted from the waist and injected into the buttocks.

But she suffered a fatal complication when fat was accidentally injected into a vein causing her to have three heart attacks on the operating table.

Ms Cambridge’s partner Scott Franks told Wakefield Coroner’s Court that the surgeon who carried out the procedure told him he had ‘injected the fat too far into the muscle and it entered her veins’. 

Mr Franks said when he flew out to Turkey after his partner died, Dr Ali Uckan, the surgeon who treated Leah, had told him: ‘It’s a guessing game, you can’t see where you are going into.’ 

Ms Cambridge father, Craig, took his own life in 2021 with an inquest held in July last year hearing how he was never able to get past the loss of his daughter. 

Diarra Akua Eunice Brown

Diarra Brown, 28, died after having liposuction in Turkey

Diarra Akua Eunice Brown, died aged 28, two days after getting liposuction at a clinic in the suburb of Bahcelievler in Istanbul, in October 2021. 

She reportedly underwent the operation to have fat removed from her hips. 

While the procedure initially appeared to be a success, Ms Brown ‘suddenly’ fell ill while having her dressings changed.

She died just hours later. 

Social media posts from family and friends described her as a ‘beautiful soul’ and a ‘close friend’.

‘This must be a dream,’ one post said. ‘Still can’t come to terms with this yet.’

‘I miss you angel. I’m devastated you were taken away way before your time,’ said another.

Shannon Bowe

Shannon Bowe, 28 died after undergoing gastric band surgery in Turkey

Shannon Bowe, from Denny, near Falkirk, died while undergoing gastric band surgery in Turkey in April 2023. 

The 28-year-old passed away during the procedure which involves placing a band around the stomach.

Where exactly Ms Bowe had the procedure in Turkey and the complication that led to her death have not been revealed.

In the aftermath of her death, Ms Bowe’s boyfriend Ross Stirling wrote on social media: ‘Sleep tight my angel, love you forever and always.’

Gastric band surgery involves a doctor placing a gastric band around the top of the stomach, creating a small pouch.

When the patient eats, this small pouch fills up more quickly than their stomach normally would, making them feel fuller with less food.

By encouraging them to eat less, the procedure can help patients lose weight.  

Melissa Kerr

Melissa Kerr, 31, of Gorleston, Norfolk, died after having a BBL in Turkey

Melissa Kerr, 31, died while undergoing a Brazilian butt lift in Turkey in 2019, just before her wedding.

Ms Kerr traveled to Istanbul’s Medicana Haznedar Hospital in November that year for gluteal augmentation, which can cost up to £3,150. 

The psychological wellbeing practitioner, from Gorleston, Norfolk, died from a blocked artery in her lung as a result of undergoing the surgery.  

Her twin sister Natasha who set up a justgiving.com page after her death described her a ‘a pure and beautiful soul inside and out’.

She said: ‘Words cannot describe the pain and heartbreak we are going through, life without her will never be the same again.

‘We miss her deeply and nothing will fill the emptiness we are left with.’

Melissa’s partner Skye Birch said: ‘I will continue to love you with all my heart until my last breath.’ 

Ms Kerr also worked as a volunteer helping domestic violence victims and supporting people through bereavement.

Abimbola Ajoke Bamgbose 

Abimbola Ajoke Bamgbose, 38, died after liposuction in Turkey

Abimbola Ajoke Bamgbose, a 38-year-old social worker, from Dartford, Kent, died in August 2020 after undergoing liposuction surgery in Turkey. 

The mother-of-three bought an overseas package deal with Mono Cosmetic Surgery after becoming fed-up with people asking her if she was pregnant, according to her husband. 

A post-mortem examination found that Mrs Bamgbose suffered perforations to her bowel during the surgery, with the cause of death given as peritonitis with multiple organ failure. 

Peritonitis is an infection of the peritoneum, the inner lining of the tummy which covers vital internal organs like the kidneys, liver and bowel.

Her husband Moyosore Olowo told an inquest he was unaware his wife had traveled abroad for cosmetic surgery, instead believing she had simply gone on a holiday with her friends. 

It was not until Mrs Bamgbose called her husband to say she was suffering from stomach pains following the procedure that he found out what had happened. 

Mr Olowo said his wife had visited a private medical practice in the UK for surgery but added that the cost had been too high for her to have the treatment in Britain.

Carol Keenan

Carol Keenan, 54, died after having a BBL and tummy tuck in Turkey

Carol Keenan, 54, died six days after undergoing a combined Brazilian butt lift and tummy tuck in Turkey.  

The grandmother, of Glenrothes, Fife, paid £7,000 for the procedures at  a private hospital in Istanbul in 2022 after becoming anxious about the way her body looked.

Ms Keenan also accepted the offer of free abdominal muscle repair surgery shortly before she was taken into the operating theatre.

But she died before she was due to have a final check up and fly home.

Speaking to MailOnline in April, her family said they are still waiting for the results of her autopsy 11 months on from her death.

Her daughter Leonie Keenan, 32, said: ‘My mother was a fit and healthy individual. She was a very petite size 10 and she kept in shape by walking everywhere and going swimming.

‘She was a very active grandmother who loved bouncing on the trampoline with the kids-but she was not happy with her body even though everyone told her she looked great.

‘She set her heart on having surgery after seeing stories about other people and celebrities having procedures. I don’t know if it was like a mid-life crisis.’