Towie’s Yazmin Oukhellou seriously hurt & boyfriend Jake McLean killed after car plunged off cliff in Turkey
A HORRIFYING crash involving two Towie stars left Yazmin Oukhellou seriously hurt and her boyfriend Jake McLean dead. Their car careered off a cliff in Bodrum, Turkey. Jake, 33, dated Towie’s Lauren Goodger before Yazmin, 28. News of the tragedy sent shockwaves through the reality show’s cast — who were frantically calling pals for further […]
A HORRIFYING crash involving two Towie stars left Yazmin Oukhellou seriously hurt and her boyfriend Jake McLean dead.
Their car careered off a cliff in Bodrum, Turkey.
Jake, 33, dated Towie’s Lauren Goodger before Yazmin, 28.
News of the tragedy sent shockwaves through the reality show’s cast — who were frantically calling pals for further news as details began to filter through.
The couple had been on holiday in the country where Jake was understood to have been involved in a business deal.
Jake was driving when the accident happened in the tourist resort of Bodrum.
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Sources said on-off girlfriend Yazmin had suffered “extremely serious” damage to her arm.
A show source said: “We’re crossing our fingers and praying she makes a full recovery quickly.”
They added: “It’s beyond shocking, just devastating for everyone connected to the show.
“Jake and Yaz are both very well known in our circles, and while he wasn’t a saint this is just unbelievably tragic. Everyone is stunned.”
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Another cast member said: “Nobody is quite sure what they were doing out there — we thought they’d split up — but apparently he was involved in some sort of business deal.
“But whatever’s gone on this is just heart-breaking. It sounds very, very serious — perhaps life-changing.”
Locals told how emergency crews had dashed to the scene but were unable to save Jake. Yazmin was quickly rushed to hospital.
Jake was a controversial figure who had been jailed for three-and-a-half years for his part in a masked raid on a property before finding fame.
Yazmin had relocated to Dubai with him during the Covid pandemic but remains a major figure on Towie.
Jake appeared in the show with then-girlfriend Lauren, 35, while the pair dated from around 2012 to 2016.
Yazmin previously dated show co-star James Lock, 35, with the pair’s romance ending acrimoniously when he was found to have cheated with a Love Island contestant, Ellie Jones.
Yazmin then sparked up her romance with Jake and moved abroad with him. But she returned to Essex after a separation and had recently been filming with her co-stars for a special based in the Dominican Republic — which is yet to air.
Lauren previously spoke of Jake’s chequered past — and how he appeared to have turned his life around. In 2013 she told how she had met him via Twitter and become aware of his criminal convictions, but was willing to overlook them.
She said: “Jake told me about his past. I could see how much he regretted his actions. I try to take people as I find them.”
But sources close to Yazmin say her relationship with Jake was “pretty toxic at times” — sparking a series of rows, break-ups and controversies which saw them repeatedly call time on their romance.
As one put it: “They seemed to have one of those connections which was very intense.
“They would be completely infatuated with each other or rowing like cat and dog — but rarely in between.”
Yazmin’s other former love interests include Blue singer Simon Webbe and fellow reality star Ricci Guarnaccio.
Her ITV fame has also propelled her into several business ventures, including a swimwear range, skincare products and a fitness app Live Like Yaz. She has also launched her own property firm.
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Her brother Adam has featured on reality TV, including MTV’s Ex on the Beach.
Bodrum — dubbed the “Turkish Monte Carlo” — is in a region in the south-west of the country which hosts around 1.5 million British holidaymakers a year.
MUM HOSPITAL DASH
By Rachel Dale
YAZMIN Oukhellou’s heartbroken mum Lisa is believed to be flying to Bodrum today to be by her daughter’s bedside.
A family source said: “Lisa is in absolute bits. She can’t speak to anyone. She is just so focused on getting out to Turkey to be by her little girl’s bedside in hospital.
“She is booked on the first flight she could get. She will go directly to the hospital from the airport.
“It is any mum’s worst nightmare and we are all just praying that Yazmin makes it through and is able to recover from her injuries.
“All the family are pulling together and doing everything in their power to help right now.”