WITH a glistening tan covering his rippled abs and a white linen shirt billowing in the Majorcan breeze, Joey Essex strode into Love Island looking every inch the TV pin-up. “What you saying, boys! Girls — looking tidy. Nice ,” the Towie original greeted the Islanders, sending them into meltdown.
Although Love Island viewers may have been taken aback to see a celebrity on the show, they shouldn’t have been surprised it was Joey. After all, at just 33 he has appeared on 12 of telly’s biggest reality shows and built an £8million fortune while doing it. And his Midas touch when it comes to illuminating these light entertain-ment shows is something ITV bosses will be more than aware of — in fact they are depending on it.
Since the heady days of 2019, when that year’s Love Island launched to 3.3million viewers, the show has seen its audience slump to as low as 1.5million for last summer’s opener.
But last night Joey already seemed to have worked his magic on the dating show, with early figures suggesting 2.2million watched live across ITV1, ITV2 and ITVX, with many more expected to catch up, now that word of his arrival is out. Saving the show may seem a heavy task to place on his oh-so-broad shoulders, but I’ve seen first-hand how the king of reality TV is more than capable of wearing the crown.
I first met Joey in Marbella — or Marbs, as it was called on The Only Way Is Essex — while covering a series launch of the ITV2 show. Among the more guarded cast me.
