Joey Essex shocked the nation when he strutted into the Love Island villa, and it turns out the TOWIE star even kept his sister in the dark.
The reality star decided to play it coy before his big entrance, leaving his sister Frankie Essex to connect the dots when he suddenly went off the grid. The doting mum, who is mum to twin tots Luella and Logan, revealed to The Sun that she had no idea her brother was jetting off to the villa.
She told the outlet: “I didn’t have a clue, but I did guess it because I just couldn’t get hold of him. I just couldn’t fathom it out. I was thinking this is so weird. And it was only because his agent said, ‘I’ll ring you tomorrow’ that suddenly I just thought ‘he must be going on Love Island’.
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“But then as the episode was going on I just thought, ‘No, it can’t be’, and then I forgot about it.” The TV favourite surprised viewers during the opening episode of the 11th series on Monday (June 3) as the first surprise celebrity of the year.
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
His sister Frankie has insisted that her brother has joined the show for the right reasons. She dished: “Joey is proper single at the moment. But he’s seen me with the babies, and they just love him, they sit on his lap, and he just looks at them and goes, ‘They’re unreal. I just feel like it’s his time now to settle down’.”
Desperate for a bit of romance, Joey himself admitted he’s on the hunt for true love. The influencer described how show bosses conducted a “military operation” to ensure his unexpected arrival remained under wraps.
He told the press: “I feel like Joey Bond, ‘The name’s Essex, Joey Essex.’ It felt like a military operation, not even the journey itself but the process of even getting through the application process and to this point.”
(Image: BBC/Objective Media)
In detail, he shared: “I got on the plane to Ibiza, I made sure I still wore my mask when I went out for dinner, and then we got the boat over to Majorca to a villa hidden in the mountains in the middle of nowhere.”
Opening up on his personal life, he admitted: “I’m extremely single right now, so I’m praying that I’m going to walk out of the villa hand in hand with the love of my life, that’s my main aim and all I care about.”
He expects the villa experience will change his dating game for good. He went on: “It’s difficult for me to meet girls on the outside as they judge me based on a persona so I think this experience will allow for people to see the real me.
(Image: ITV)
“I just want someone to like me for me and now from what they see on TV. This is exactly why I’m going into the villa because you’re disconnected from the rest of the world and can focus on what actually matters on a far deeper level.”
Before coming on the show, he had a history of high-profile relationships. He was once engaged to Sam Faiers, 33, on ‘TOWIE’, but left the show shortly after they broke up.
He has also been romantically linked to ‘The Hills’ regular Stephanie Pratt, 38, and his most recent romance was with his ‘Dancing on Ice’ skating partner Vanessa Bauer, 28, in 2023. Just a day after Vanessa confirmed their relationship, MailOnline reported that they had decided to part ways.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
