I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! Australia premiered its 2022 season last night, debuting names like Poh Ling Yeow, Beau Ryan, Nathan Buckley, and Emily Seebohm. However, we’ve had a bevy of clues in the lead-up to the show, and one of those boasted an international reality TV star would be joining the cast.
It was revealed in the promotions for episode two that Joey Essex would be the name filling the bill, which left many Australian fans a little bit stumped.
In a video posted to their Instagram, I’m a Celebrity teased Joey’s entry, but were met with a bunch of comments wondering who he was.
Joey Essex made a name for himself on The Only Way is Essex, known colloquially as TOWIE, a British reality show which showed “real people in modified situations, saying unstructured lines but in a structured way”.
Joey was a main cast member from series three to series 10, and once he left, he seemed to take reality TV on as a career.
His two years on TOWIE lead to appearances on Splash!, The Jump, Celebs Go Dating, and the UK version of I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, where he came in fourth.
He was also a very memorable contestant, with his issues telling the time on an analogue clock providing comedy gold.
Joey’s also done Celebrity MasterChef, Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (the British version of SAS Australia), and Celebrity Ex On the Beach. His reality TV notoriety also led to two individual specials tailored around him – Educating Joey Essex and Joey Essex: Grief and Me.
So when we say “celebrity”, it’s more that Joey is famous for being famous, and going on TV, like a lot.
As for Joey’s personal life, he dated his fellow TOWIE cast member Sam Faiers, but they split up on-screen in 2013.
In the years since, he’s dated mostly within the reality TV scene, having been linked to Lorena Medina, whom he met on Ex on the Beach, Love Island UK’s Ellie Brown, and Made in Chelsea’s Stephanie Pratt. It’s also rumoured he shared a wild night out with Rita Ora one time.
Joey is also familiar with loss and grief, having lost his mother at 10 years old, an aspect of his life he delved into on Joey Essex: Grief and Me. He is also an ambassador for Child Bereavement UK, and we imagine his chosen I’m a Celebrity charity will be something quite similar.
While many are scratching their heads at Joey’s Australian arrival, others do seem pretty excited to see him on their screens.
“I can’t bloody wait for his belter one liners and hilarious banter!! This is gonna be REEM!!” one fan commented, referencing Joey’s invented term ‘reem’, which means ‘nice’.
“That’s how to get us watching! Joey freakin Essex,” another fan added.
Tonight, it looks like Joey will be wrangling some snakes after getting to know his fellow campmates on I’m a Celebrity… Bring it on!
You can catch I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! on Channel 10 at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night, and then Sunday-Wednesday evenings from the 9th of January.
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