Spanish thrill for Mark Wright

The Original star of TOWIE Mark Wright – he featured in the first three series of the reality show – has always felt at home in Spain – and now he might realise why.

The 31-year-old Essex native loves to visit Marbella on holiday – his cousin Elliott owns Olivia’s restaurant just up the coast – and has now found out one of his ancestors was Spanish.

While filming popular genealogy show Who Do You think You Are? It was revealed that his nine times great grandfather was a swordsman in Andalucia.

But while that was a thrilling discovery the information that his forbear was persecuted for his Jewish faith was not so welcome.

Speaking to The Sun he said: “That’s hard to take when it’s someone in your bloodline, tortured for years and burned at the stake. Knowing my family went through that – I can relate to it even more.”