Mark Wright: I'm staying in the UK

Mark Wright may have left The Only Way Is Essex, but he has insisted he'll never turn his back on his home county.

The reality TV star has swapped his old haunts in the UK for Los Angeles to make his new show Mark Wright's Hollywood Nights, but although he is loving life across the pond, he said he doesn't see himself moving there full-time.

"I've got a lot of commitments back home and I love working there so at the moment I couldn't see myself living here," he said. "And I would never turn my back on Essex."

Mark still keeps up with TOWIE.

He said: "I love everything it's done for me, I'm still a great fan of the show and always will be, but my time to leave the show came and I'm doing my own thing now."

On his return to the UK, the 25-year-old will be hosting a new prime-time ITV1 show called My Man Can and will be returning to present Take Me Out spin-off The Gossip.

Mark confessed he sometimes has to pinch himself when he thinks about the fact that he's gone from being a complete unknown to fronting a Saturday night show.

"It's completely surreal and I'm absolutely overwhelmed and so grateful it's happened to me," he said.

:: Mark Wright's Hollywood Nights continues on ITV2 on Sundays.