TOWIE’S Mario tries to defend his behaviour

‘Texting other girls isn’t cheating’

As any fans of The Only Way Is Essex knows, no episode is without drama. But last night’s episode was full of tears and tantrums as Mario Falcone attempted to defend his behaviour after texting other girls while in a relationship with Lucy Mecklenburgh.

As he discussed his situation with a friend, Mario maintained that he hadn’t done anything wrong – using Lucy’s infidelity with Mark Wright as his defense.

He said: ‘This isn’t as bad as what she did. I don’t see texting as cheating. On a scale of one to ten, I’m on a one for what i did, and she’s on a 10.

‘From the moment that I wake up to the moment that I go to bed, what Lucy did drives me f*****g crazy. To be honest, I wanted her to find out so she could feel a smidgen of what I feel. But overall I do want her back.’

And talking to best friend Lydia Bright about the situation, Lucy said: ‘I’m just so drained, I can’t keep any food down. I’m just like a wreck. I didn’t plan what happened with me, it happened and it was a drunken mistake.’

Lydia replied: ‘I don’t think men were built with a guilt DNA streak in my brain. men do think differently, I don’t trust one of theme, I really don’t.’

The situation was then made worse when Lucy’s friend Cara arrived at her house to tell her that Mario had actually been sending her text messages.

She said: ‘I wanted to come around Lucy and tell you that I received a few messages myself from Mario. Basically, he has messages me how are you, and then I feel like he’s stepped the mark with me by saying to me, “When are we having a night in together?”

‘And I replied to him saying in your dreams, this was the other day. I just feel so sorry for you Lucy.  I think he’s doing this to you to get you back.’

Lucy said: ‘That’s just humiliating because you are my friend.  It’s like he wanted to get caught. I don’t understand.’

She added: ‘Texting hundreds of girls isn’t revenge – it’s a problem. What a d**k.’

Lydia mother Debbie Bright was also seen saying: ‘I just feel really sorry for Lucy at the moment. He doesn’t know what he’s got. If only he could just look at her and see what he’s got, he’s going to regret doing this.’

Later in the show, Lauren Pope and Lauren Goodger were seen going to visit Georgina Dorsett at work, when the pretty brunette admitted she had also had a message from Mario.

After Pope pointed out that Mario had been staring at Georgina during a recent night out, she replied: ‘To be honest, when we left faces, he messaged me just saying you looked nice. He liked me before but I was never interested in him like that. It’s really bad isn’t it.’

And Goodger added: ‘If he cheats on her, he’ll say, “Well you did that to me!” ‘

Later during Gemma Collins’ birthday party, Pope and Georgina began talking about Mario in the toilets.

However, they didn’t realise that Lucy was in the cubicle as they spoke about her estranged boyfriend.

When Pope asked her if she had spoke to Mario, Georgina replied: ‘I‘ve seen him but I’ve not spoken to him, he’s not like the best boyfriend to have.’

Asked if she had received any more messages from him, Georgina said: ‘Mario has messaged me before. He’d call me and say, “Ok, well, can we go for dinner?” And I’d say, “You have a girlfriend, are you mad?”

At that point Lucy stormed out of the toilet cubicle and shouted at Georgina: ‘You’re still texting a guy that has a girlfriend, that’s the point isn’t it?’

Lucy was then quick to approach Mario and ask him about what Georgina had claimed.

She said: ‘I thought you messaged them but apparently you’ve been calling them as well. I had to sit in the toilet cubicle and listen to her saying all this stuff.’

But Mario argued: ‘She called me once when she was drunk singing jingle bells down the phone.’

A tearful Lucy continued: ‘I was drunk and I made a stupid mistake but you’re stone cold sober and doing this. You’re messaging absolute skanks. What is your need to ask for naked pictures from these girls? You’re disgusting.

‘It hurts because I love you so much, I thought about my whole life with you and then this is what happens.‘

Mario then replied: ‘All I can say is that I’m sorry’, before giving her his new mobile phone number.