Joey Essex enters Love Island villa as ‘first celebrity contestant’

Reality TV star Joey Essex has entered the Love Island villa in a surprise twist.

The ITV dating series returned on Monday, introducing more contestants to the villa, with host Maya Jama making an entrance in a white frock.

Jama told the contestants: “Well it’s good to see you’re all settled in, as you know you are in Love Island, you must always expect the unexpected.

“So please welcome Joey.”

The TV star said he was “the king of Essex” who wanted to find his “queen”.

ITV says Essex represents the show’s “first celebrity contestant”.

The 33-year-old TV personality rose to fame on The Only Way Is Essex (Towie) before appearing 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.

Earlier, Jama told the residents: “First impressions count. Boys and girls, I now want you to rate each other in order of who you think has come across the most like boyfriend and girlfriend material, right down to who has given the least relationship vibes.”

Jama then revealed the rankings would mean who they were paired with.

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 hair stylist from Chesterfield; Harriett Blackmore, 24, a dancer and personal shopper from Brighton, and Ciaran Davies, 21, a 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, were also joined together.

Patsy, who was born with Erb’s palsy – a paralysis of the arm caused by injury to the upper group of the arm’s main nerves resulting from a difficult birth – revealed that she shares her bed with her mother.

She explained that her mother did not have a place in her home for her to stay except for in the same room.

Elsewhere in the episode, Ciaran admitted to “being with” a woman over the age of 40 when he was 18.

Love Island continues at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX on Tuesday.