Love Island fans accuse Joey Essex of ‘ruining’ show after ‘vile’ behaviour

Love Island fans have taken aim at Joey Essex over concerns he is risking ‘ruining’ the entire series.

The reality star, 33, is best known for starring on The Only Way is Essex, going on to appear on Celebrity Ex on the Beach, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and Dancing on Ice.

He is now appearing on the latest season of Love Island, which is being filmed in Mallorca.

When his casting on the show was revealed, reactions were mixed, with some saying they were not happy to see him in the villa.

More than a month on, support for his appearance on the show has waned even more, with viewers now saying he is wrecking it.

Throughout his time on the series, viewers have slammed his behaviour, ranging from calling his behaviour towards ex-girlfriend Grace ‘vile’ and that it was ‘infuriating’ seeing the way he spoke to the various women.

‘Nah the fact I loved Joey Essex until Love Island. It’s not one bit entertaining the way he is behaving. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but he’s ruining the series,’ user Katie posted on X.

‘I’ll be real. I genuinely don’t care that Joey Essex is in the villa. I think he’s ruining the changing the vibe,’ Kay shared.

‘What’s with the excessive screen time for Joey? I didn’t even know who Joey Essex was before this season and now I’ve seen this man more than I’ve seen my family. GET RID OF HIM,’ solanaascb added.

Another, Jane, went so far as to say Joey’s appearance on the show was ‘ruining his career one episode at a time’.

Earlier this week, some went so far as to say they wanted to complain to Ofcom over what they were watching.

Tagging ITV and Ofcom in their post, user johndpmc wrote on X: ‘I think it’s time Joey Essex is removed from Love Island unless promoting narcissistic and gaslighting men is what you do!!!’

Many others said his rap on Sunday night’s show had left them shaken and embarrassed too.

‘Can people in the UK report Joey to Ofcom for that horrid rap,’ Ayo wrote.

On a Reddit post titled ‘Joey ruined this season’, the poster did not hold back either.

‘The guy is just so unlikeable. He’s rude, arrogant, conceited, aggressive, fake, immature and quite honestly boring. I constantly fast forward whenever he’s shown because he literally does anything as a beg for screen time,’ they wrote.

‘He’s stirred so much boring unnecessary drama at every turn, both between himself but also other islanders. It just feels like he has brought in bad vibes to this whole season,’ they added.

Others agreed, with one commenting he was ‘the ultimate reason this season has been the worst season of Love Island UK thus far’.

Earlier this week Joey also got a telling-off in person by Jessy’s mum who called out his behaviour towards Grace.

She said: ‘One little thing from me… if you’ve had some kind of relationship with somebody in the past just show them a bit of respect afterwards.

‘I think Grace needs a little bit of that from you. Joey, that’s just my feelings is that you need to give her a little bit of kindness. That’s all, that’s all.’