Reality TV star Joey Essex entered the Love Island villa as the show’s first celebrity contestant.
The 33-year-old, who rose to fame in The only way is essexhe said he participates in the program because he is “extremely single at the moment” and hopes to leave the island “hand in hand with the love of my life”.
O TVI the dating series returned on Monday, introducing more contestants to the villa in Mallorca, Spain, with host Maya Jama making an entrance in a white dress.
Jama told the contestants: “Well it’s good to see you’re all settled in, as you know you’re on Love Island you should always expect the unexpected.
“Then please welcome Joey.”
The TV personality said he was “the king of Essex” who wanted to find his “queen”.
ITV says he is the show’s “first celebrity contestant”.
Essex opted to sign up to take part in the show before ITV bosses worked hard to keep his involvement secret, according to The Sun.
Speaking exclusively to the newspaper before flying to the villa, Essex said: “I feel like Joey Bond, ‘the name is Essex, Joey Essex’. It felt like a military operation, not even the trip itself, but the process of getting through the application process and up to this point… I’m extremely single right now, so I’m praying I get out of the villa hand in hand with the love of my life, That’s my main goal and all I care about.”
Following her appearances on The Only Way Is Essex between 2011 and 2013, Essex appeared on similar shows including I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, Celebrity MasterChef, Celebs Go Dating and Dancing on ice.
Ahead of Essex’s appearance on Love Island, Jama told the other contestants: “First impressions count. Boys and girls, now I want you to rate yourselves in order of who you think looks most like boyfriend and girlfriend material, until who gave off less relationship vibes.”
Jama then revealed that the ranking would mean who they were paired with.
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The couples included Mimii Ngulube, 24, a mental health nurse from Portsmouth, and Munveer Jabbal, 30, a recruitment manager from Surbiton; and Nicole Samuel, 24, an accounts manager from Aberdare, and Sean Stone, 24, a salesman from Hertford.
Other partners were Samantha Kenny, 26, a make-up artist from Liverpool, and Sam Taylor, 23, a hairdresser from Chesterfield; Harriett Blackmore, 24, dancer and personal shopper from Brighton, and Ciaran Davies, 21, surveyor from Pencoed, South Wales; and Jess White, 25, a retail manager from Stockport, and semi-professional footballer Ronnie Vint, 27, from London.
Ayo Odukoya, 25, a model from Canning Town, and Patsy Field, 29, an office administrator from Orpington, also joined.
Patsy, who was born with Erb’s palsy – paralysis of the arm caused by damage to the upper group of the main nerves of the arm resulting from a difficult birth – revealed that she shares a bed with her mother.
She explained that her mother had no place in her house for her to stay except in the same room.
Elsewhere in the episode, Ciaran admitted to “being with” a woman over 40 when he was 18.
Love Island continues at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX on Tuesday.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
