Love Island 2024 confirms Joey Essex as first celebrity Islander

Love Island Spoilers follow.

Love Island has revealed its first bombshell for the 2024 series: former star of The Only Way is Essex, Joey Essex, is making a surprise entry into the villa.

ITV’s reality show returned for its 11th season on Monday (June 3), with host Maya Jama welcoming 12 singles looking for love into the villa.

After the first pairings were confirmed, the host gathered the islanders around the fire pit and told them to “expect the unexpected.”

And she kept her word, because Joey was introduced as the “first celebrity contestant.”

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Joey described himself as the “King of Essex” who wants to find his “Queen”.

The show’s social media channels also shared the news, with a post on X/Twitter Read: “The only way is…Essex. The #LoveIsland villa just got a little ‘reem’ because Joey Essex has arrived to find his future wife.”

Fans of the show commented on the surprise with a font: “Wtf. Had to check again if it was really him.” Another fan also expressed his surprise. Write: “No way! I was speechless.”

The first episode saw a format change from previous years, where the decision about the pairings was no longer in the hands of the viewers. This time, the pairings were decided by the islanders themselves, although they didn’t know it at the time.

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The group was divided into teams of girls and boys, with each side having to rank the people they thought were the ideal candidates for a relationship. After the exercise, Maya announced that the order of ranking would determine who they would be paired with.

After the task, the couples were announced: Mimii & Munveer, Nicole & Sean, Jess & Ronnie, Patsy & Ayo, Samantha & Sam and Harriett & Ciaran.

Love Island will be broadcast on ITV2 and streamed on ITVX.

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