The pictures might be grainy but they are damning enough to make Zara McDermott’s life difficult.
They were taken as the former Love Islander, 29, was laughing and chatting with Joey Essex, one of her fellow celebrities in a new series of Cooking With The Stars being filmed for ITV.
As the couple said their goodbyes in the foyer of a London TV studio after the show’s wrap party, the former Only Way Is Essex star – who has a reputation for being a love rat – planted an intimate kiss on the side of Zara’s head.
Only the back of her hair can be seen in the kiss pictures but, as she turns round, it is unmistakably her.
When she exited the building, Zara – who has been dating One Direction star Louis Tomlinson for just over a year – kept her eyes down as she strode past the waiting paparazzi wearing baggy denim jeans, a white cropped T-shirt and an oversized pleather bomber jacket.
But the damage had, unfortunately, already been done.
Within seconds of the pictures being uploaded to TikTok and X, online group chats popular with ‘Directioners’ – the boy band’s most die-hard fans – were abuzz with speculation.
‘I’m hardly surprised. Once a cheater, always a cheater,’ wrote one critic, a reference to McDermott’s dalliance with a music boss when she was a contestant on Celebrity X Factor in 2019, while she was still going out with fellow reality star Sam Thompson.
Zara McDermott was seen in the foyer of a London TV studio after the wrap party for Cooking With The Stars, with Joey Essex kissing the side of her head
The pair were clearly recognisable as they turned around to exit the building and the pictures were circulated on social media
McDermott’s infidelity was revealed on Made In Chelsea a year later in a now notorious scene filmed on a park bench in west London in which a distraught Zara tearfully begs Sam, now 33, to put her behaviour behind them, screaming: ‘You can forgive me!’
It was an encounter that sent shockwaves through fans of the Channel 4 show and the clip went viral, with more than two million views on YouTube alone.
Despite this embarrassing episode, the couple went on to date for several more years.
And so when the pictures emerged of Essex’s most notorious philanderer, who is believed to be currently single, kissing Zara on the cheek after two weeks of filming together, it was no surprise that people were quick to cry ‘cheat’.
But I can reveal I have received a ‘100 per cent’ assurance from people with inside knowledge of the situation that the former Strictly Come Dancing star has remained faithful to boyfriend Louis.
‘That is a peck on the cheek at the wrap party for Cooking With The Stars and nothing more, I am sure of it,’ a source says. ‘She and Louis are properly loved up and this isn’t anything.’
Despite moving in similar reality TV circles – both Zara and Joey have appeared on Love Island, Zara in the 2018 series and Joey, 35, making a surprise celebrity appearance in 2024 – the pair have no history of a previous friendship.
Their current closeness has grown out of them being thrown together for an intensive fortnight of filming for Cooking With The Stars, alongside 2016 I’m A Celebrity winner Scarlett Moffatt, Strictly’s Karen Hauer and the Happy Mondays’ Bez.
Zara has been dating Louis Tomlinson, of One Direction, for just over a year. One source said the pair are ‘properly loved up’
Zara previously had a relationship with Made in Chelsea star Sam Thompson. The pair split in January last year
The ITV show – presented by the new co-presenter of Strictly, Emma Willis, and the comedian Tom Allen – represents a return to the screen for The Only Way Is Essex star, who has taken a break in the past couple of years to focus on his mid-level boxing career.
Joey attributed his absence from the reality TV circuit to ‘running out of things to do on TV’ after appearing in 18 shows and after a failed stint on Love Island, in which he sparked a furious audience backlash for his ‘toxic’ treatment of romantic partners.
He is not known to have been in a relationship since splitting from his Love Island girlfriend, Jessy Potts, two months after leaving the villa due to ‘incompatible lifestyles’ and ‘conflicting work schedules’.
The news that nothing untoward happened between Zara and Joey will no doubt disappoint the scores of Louis fans who have been against his relationship with Zara since the couple were first spotted enjoying a cosy dinner date at The Suffolk Hotel in Aldeburgh in March last year.
The sighting came just weeks after she announced her split from Sam, who she lived with in west London after dating for five years, leaving him ‘heartbroken’.
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But Louis and Zara are said to have been going from ‘strength to strength’, with the reality star flying out to Costa Rica over the winter break to be with the singer while he wrote his latest album.
According to my source, the latest pictures will ‘not rattle Louis in the slightest, he knows how strong what they have is’.
But in the social media discourse about the ‘Joey Essex kiss’, the response from a number of fans is along the lines of: ‘Finally, Louis is free from her.’
My source says: ‘The tough part for Zara is that everyone is waiting for her to cheat, everyone is waiting for her to put a foot wrong, and it’s really tough for her. She’s been nothing but supportive of Louis.’
Indeed, the influencer has put her own work commitments to one side over the last two months in order to join her boyfriend as he toured Europe with his third solo album, How Did I Get Here?
And he must have been grateful for her support: his latest release has not attracted glowing reviews and he failed to fill out a number of the stadiums he played.
Zara returned to the UK a couple of weeks ago to film for Cooking With The Stars and Louis followed her to prepare for BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend.
As my insider tells me: ‘Anyone who buys into this kiss is simply feeding into that nasty narrative. If Louis’s fans really loved him like they say they do, they would get on board with Zara – she’s the real deal.’
