LOVE Island fans have decided Joey Essex is a “red flag” after hearing three familiar words coming out of his mouth.
The former Towie star has landed himself in hot water with his love interest Grace Jackson after going on a date with new bombshell Jessy Potts.
During his date, Joey made it crystal clear that he doesn’t believe he and Grace are “closed off” and he told Jessy that they could be “trouble” together.
Jessy told Grace what he had said once she had made her entrance in the villa – and she was fuming.
But as she pulled her man aside and took him to task, Joey made viewers gasp with three words.
He told Grace that “nothing had changed” between them, as she desperately tried to make him see that he has done a U-turn.
Eagle-eyed viewers spotted that Joey used the exact same three words to Samantha Kenny before he binned her off for Grace.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, one angry fan said: “Joey told Sam that nothing has changed too.. He is actually unhinged.”
Another added: “Joey pulling out the ‘nothings changed’ line once again, history repeating itself.”
A third angry viewer wrote: “‘Nothing has changed’ Joey is a piece of s***”
And someone else raged: “Joey literally using the same line he used on Samantha to Grace, ‘Nothing’s changed, my feelings not changed with you, I owe it to myself to explore connection’ Such a neek man.”
Joey wheeled out his favourite line after he and Grace had a private chat following his date with Jessy.
He told Grace: “Nothing has changed, nothing’s changed.
“I don’t know whether it’s a friendship thing or not, she’s a really nice girl. I can’t deny that. But I still have feelings for you.
“My feelings have not changed at all towards you.
“I still care about you, I still want to get to know you more. We haven’t really got deep, proper deep with each other.”
Grace, however, did not fall for it and warned Joey that she has no intention of being part of “some s****y little triangle”.
She also pulled Joey up for his argument with now-dumped islander Omar Nyame. Joey squared up to Omar after he made several flirty comments to her.
“I am so shocked, I have no words for you. I don’t know what to say to you right now,” she blasted.
“I am so disappointed in you, Joey. I actually don’t know what to say.”
Repeating it again, Joey told Grace: “Nothing has changed. I literally had a chat with a girl.”
But Grace replied: “Everything’s changed. Everything’s changed now.”
Love Island has been hit with thousands of complaints over the years - here are the most moaned about moments
Dani’s tears: in 2018, Ofcom received 2,644 complaints when Dani Dyer was left in floods of tears over Jack Fincham during the Casa Amor. Viewers felt the show had been manipulated to make it appear Jack was going to cheat, when in fact he wasn’t. And poor Dani didn’t learn the truth for days.
Maura fury: Although she later won over the public, Maura Higgins got off to a bad start in 2019. After arriving as a bombshell, she made a beeline for Tommy Fury – who was coupled up with Molly-Mae Hague – and tried to kiss him while straddling him on a daybed. 709 people accused her actions as ‘sexual harassment’.
Faye explodes: The 2021 series of Love Island remains the most complained series about yet. 4,330 complaints were made to Ofcom after Faye Winter received a postcard from Casa Amor, which appeared to show her fella Teddy Soares kissing a bombshell. But a whopping 24,763 complaints flooded in when Faye came face-to-face with Teddy again. Faye’s shocking outburst even sparked a reaction from male domestic abuse charity, ManKind Inititive, who branded her ‘unacceptable’.
Bish bash: The following year, the fallout from Movie Night sparked 3,617 Ofcom complaints. Fans of the show were horrified by Luca Bish’s harsh reaction when Gemma Owen was shown speaking to bombshell Billy Brown.
Muggy Mitch: Almost 1,000 Ofcom complaints flooded in last year in the final week of Love Island. Viewers were unimpressed with Mitchel Taylor’s treatment of Abi Moores and felt he was ‘targeting’ her. Fans even urged Love Island bosses to check on Abi’s ‘mental health and welfare’.
Joey was the first bombshell to enter the villa after the new series got underway and he quickly coupled up with Scouse beauty Samantha.
However, the arrival of his former flame Grace – who he briefly dated following a holiday romance in 2023 – saw him immediately back off.
Joey then had a steamy sleepover in Casa Amor with Grace and he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
Grace then chose to couple up with Joey, which led to single and tearful Samantha being dumped from the island.
Following her departure, make-up artist Samantha described herself as a “placeholder” while appearing on Love Island spin-off show Aftersun.
She said: “I had a chat with him one day where he literally said you never know who might come through the door.
“And I was like ‘oh, OK.’ And that’s when I was like, my toes curled and I tensed up.”
