| Season Number: | 3 |
| Bgcolour: |
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| Num Episodes: | 14 + Christmas Special |
| Network: | ITV2 |
The third series of The Only Way Is Essex, a British semi-reality television programme, began airing on 25 September 2011 on ITV2. The series concluded on 9 November 2011 and consisted of fourteen episodes. An Essexmas special aired on 20 December 2011 and is included on the Series 3 DVD. This is the first series to include Billi Mucklow, Cara Kilbey, Mario Falcone, Peri Sinclair, twins Dino and Georgio Georgiades and briefly included Mark Wright Snr, the father of Mark and Jess Wright, before he later returned in the sixth series. It is the last series to include Harry Derbidge, Kirk Norcross, Maria Fowler and Mark Wright having all appeared since the first series. The series heavily focused on the romance of Mark and Sam despite obstacles like their respective exes Lauren G and Joey, the beginning of Lucy and Mario, and Arg and Lydia facing rocky patches in their relationship.
See also: List of The Only Way Is Essex episodes.
| Series no. | Season no. | Title | Original airdate | Duration | UK viewers |
|---|
| Episode | Date | Official ITV2 rating | ITV2 weekly rank | Official ITV2+1 rating[1] | Total ITV2 viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 1 | 25 September 2011 | 1,885,000 | 1 | 217,000 | 2,102,000 |
| Episode 2 | 28 September 2011 | 1,309,000 | 3 | 165,000 | 1,474,000 |
| Episode 3 | 2 October 2011 | 1,468,000 | 2 | 163,000 | 1,631,000 |
| Episode 4 | 5 October 2011 | 1,437,000 | 3 | 209,000 | 1,646,000 |
| Episode 5 | 9 October 2011 | 1,685,000 | 2 | 184,000 | 1,869,000 |
| Episode 6 | 12 October 2011 | 1,369,000 | 3 | 207,000 | 1,576,000 |
| Episode 7 | 16 October 2011 | 1,566,000 | 2 | 120,000 | 1,686,000 |
| Episode 8 | 19 October 2011 | 1,453,000 | 3 | 223,000 | 1,676,000 |
| Episode 9 | 23 October 2011 | 1,554,000 | 2 | 195,000 | 1,749,000 |
| Episode 10 | 26 October 2011 | 1,533,000 | 3 | 147,000 | 1,680,000 |
| Episode 11 | 30 October 2011 | 1,577,000 | 2 | 162,000 | 1,739,000 |
| Episode 12 | 2 November 2011 | 1,706,000 | 2 | 194,000 | 1,910,000 |
| Episode 13 | 6 November 2011 | 1,572,000 | 3 | 276,000 | 1,853,000 |
| Episode 14 | 9 November 2011 | 1,926,000 | 2 | 284,000 | 2,210,000 |
| Essexmas | 20 December 2011 | 1,615,000 | 2 | 278,000 | 1,893,000 |
| Series average | 1,574,000 | 3 | 196,000 | 1,772,000 |