Junaid Ahmed is one of the most visible queer Muslims on British television — and he’s doing it on one of the UK’s most-watched reality shows.

As The Only Way is Essex returns to ITV2 and ITVX on Sunday nights at 9pm, Junaid sits down with Graeme Smith to talk identity, faith, fame and the reality behind the reality TV.

In this candid conversation, Junaid reflects on:

• Coming out as a British-Pakistani Muslim
• Navigating fame, faith and family
• The pressures of visibility in both the LGBTQ+ and Muslim communities
• Life behind the scenes of TOWIE
• Mental health, resilience, and staying true to yourself
• 
  

Junaid speaks with honesty and clarity about what it means to take up space as a queer person of faith — and why authentic representation on mainstream TV still matters.

Watch TOWIE every Sunday at 9pm on ITV2 or stream anytime on ITVX.

🎙️ Outcast World is the award-nominated LGBTQ+ interview podcast hosted by Graeme Smith. New episodes weekly.

Keywords: Junaid Ahmed, TOWIE, Queer Muslim, LGBTQ+ Podcast, British Pakistani, ITV2, ITVX, Reality TV, Representation, Mental Health, Graeme Smith, Outcast World

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On this week's Outcast World, Graeme Smith is asking the big question: should we finally ditch the dating apps? Author and broadcaster Daniel Harding joins the show to talk about the impact of his best-selling book Letters To My Younger Queer Self, and his new project hitting the streets to find out how queer people really feel about swiping, hookups, and love in 2025.

Then, it’s music time with UK Eurovision girlband Remember Monday, back with their summer anthem Happier and a Desperate Housewives-inspired music video.

And stick around for a teaser of next week’s exclusive with one of the breakout stars of I Kissed a Boy, opening up about HIV, mental health, and going public on national TV.

NOMINATED BEST INTERVIEW PODCAST AT THE 2025 BRITISH PODCAST AWARDS - THIS IS OUTCAST WORLD

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Outcast World goes live from Manchester Pride 2025 with Graeme Smith and Nick Charles right at the heart of the action hosting a podcast and radio show from the site on the afternoon of Graeme's stag doo in the city!

As well as speaking to some modern Manchester queer icons and old school pop legends, we're essentially hosting the entire podcast outside on the street whilst getting ready to go "out out". For one of the last Big Pride's of the season we're headed back up North.

Singer and Manchester broadcaster Jsky opens up about being refused entry to Village venues as a queer person of colour — for reasons still unknown — and reflects on the power of finally performing on the Pride stage in his home city.

We also sit down with trans masculine legend and Kerrang! Radio host Paris Munro, who calls out companies for paying lip service to trans rights and questions the growing commercialisation of Pride, with festival-goers often forced to pay for multiple tickets.

Graeme and Nick share their own emotional stories of queer awakenings in Manchester before revisiting the 90s classic Queer as Folk, the Russell T Davies series that put Canal Street on the map.

And yes — we catch up with B*Witched on the phone from their dressing room (how 90s) Keavy from the band gets into the essential stuff like whether they ever imagined double denim would be their legacy. She also has an important take on Pride and its impertinence in the current climate

It’s Pride, politics, and pop all wrapped up in one very Manchester episode. 🌈

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“This feeling I was nurturing… was punishable by death.”

This week on Outcast World, Graeme speaks with writer and doctor Majid Parsa, author of The Ayatollah’s Gaze — a compelling story about growing up queer in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

We explore forbidden desire, the underground queer scene in Tehran — full of joy, glamour, and danger — and what it means to party knowing your social gathering at home with friends could be raided at any moment.

Majid opens up about gender performance, state surveillance, religious expectation, and the power of queer intimacy in places where even the word “gay” is unspeakable.

A conversation about shame, courage, exile — and the quiet ways queer Iranians keep finding each other.

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This week we’re going full cultural yin and yang.

First, Harry Eric Derbidge (The Only Way Is Essex, ITV2 & ITVX) spills on the brand-new TOWIE season kicking off this Sunday at 9pm – expect sun, sea, and classic Essex drama.

Then, we swap spray tans for sculptural blooms with Hamish Allan Powell, the Instagram-famous florist making waves in high-end floral design. This conversation comes from The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast – for all things ART, QUEER.CULTURE.

From reality TV to floral fantasy – two very different worlds, one episode.

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Kuan-wen Huang is a queer, Taiwanese comedian, writer, and actor based in London. He’s appeared on Comedy Central, BBC, and Channel 4, and has become a standout voice on London’s comedy circuit. Now, he’s bringing his brand-new one-man show Andrews Are The Worst to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In this episode of Outcast World, Graeme Smith sits down with Kuan-wen to talk about heartbreak, hookup disasters, Fringe burnout, and the suspicious pattern that every villain in his life seems to be called Andrew.

They dive into Kuan-wen’s experience growing up gay in Taiwan, how his mum reacted when he came out, his time doing mandatory military service — and his fears for Taiwan’s future in its increasingly tense standoff with China.

He also reflects on why he’s sworn off Grindr during the Fringe!

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The Church of England just met to decide the future of LGBTQ+ people in the Church — again. Still no equal marriage. Still no full acceptance. Still a fight.

This week, Graeme speaks to Phillip Baldwin — a gay man, HIV-positive, and one of the few openly queer members of the Church’s General Synod. From inside the Church’s governing body, Phillip takes us behind the scenes of a system still struggling to recognise LGBTQ+ lives with dignity.

It’s a raw conversation about faith, identity, and what it means to stay in the room when the institution you serve refuses to fully welcome you.

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What happens when you gather some of the most fabulous, fearless minds in queer media around a breakfast table?

OUTCAST WORLD takes you inside the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Breakfast Club — with legendary Attitude Editor-in-Chief Cliff Joannou front and centre.

Cliff is a defining voice in queer journalism — shaping the stories, covers and controversies that have marked a generation. In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, we talk about:

🌈 The power and pressure of queer media

🗞️ How Attitude stays relevant in a digital world

💬 Coming out journeys, culture wars & cancel culture

✨ And what the next wave of queer storytelling might look like

Originally recorded for The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast — the global queer art and culture show hosted by Graeme Smith — this episode is a delicious crossover of queerness, curiosity and croissants.

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In this episode, Graeme Smith is joined by Stu Oakley and Lotte Jeffs — co-authors of Do Ask, Do Tell, the bold, funny, and radically honest new book that lays queer life, love and culture bare.

Stu is a film publicist who’s worked on Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Jurassic World. Lotte is a genderqueer journalist, novelist, children’s author, and former ELLE editor. Together, they’re also the co-hosts of the award-winning podcast Some Families — the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ parenting show.

In Do Ask, Do Tell, they take on everything from sexuality and gender to body image, mental health, HIV stigma, open relationships, queer parenting and faith. And yes — they explain what a darkroom actually is.

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Bob Vylan at Glastonbury sent the outrage machine into overdrive.

We’ve scoped 24 hours of GB News to bring you every pearl-clutching reaction from the self-declared defenders of free speech.

But here’s the twist: our guest, sex educator and writer Topher Taylor, actually knows someone from Bob Vylan personally — and brings rare, real-life insight into the kind of person behind the noise.

THIS EPISODE CONTAINS AUDIO OF RECENT NEWS EVENTS THAT SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND UPSETTING.

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