If you're one of those Love Island fans who goes around saying that the series goes south after Movie Night every year you should be eating your words right now – because Love Island 2024 producers have not been playing this series.
From the Snog, Marry, Pie challenge, to A Couple of Sorts, to the absolutely savage remarks made by certain family members on friends and family day – oh, and the fact that producers have FINALLY dumped the baby challenge once and for all – the last two weeks have been a slay.
The icing on the cake, of course, was inviting several scorned OG Islanders back to the villa to decide which couples should make it to the final, and which one couple should be sent packing.
It was giving vengeance and we were transfixed from start to finish. Seriously, bravo.
One Islander who clearly came for revenge (and honestly, who could blame her) was OG Samantha Kenny.
A quick recap: Samantha entered the villa on day one and turned the head of the villa's first bombshell on day two – a bombshell who just so happened to be TOWIE's Joey Essex. They coupled up and spent two weeks getting to know each other and even went on a cute date out of the villa together. Then, of course, Joey's ex Grace Jackson entered the villa and Joey cut ties with Samantha and re-coupled with Grace, leaving Samantha single and dumped - a move that many fans were left irate with, including Samantha's mum.
Remember that?
Fast forward almost a couple of months and Samantha and her fellow dumped Islanders are sent back into then villa to pick the least compatible couple and boot them out ahead of the final.
Naturally, Samantha came for Joey and Jessy Potts, calling Joey out for underplaying their relationship after he referred to him and Samantha as a "friendship couple" in a defensive moment around the fire pit. Awks.
Samantha and a plethora of other ex Islanders chose to dump Joey and Jessy, and naturally Joey had a few things to say about his Love Island journey ended.
When producers asked whether he had any regrets shortly after his dumping, Joey admitted that he should've "drawn a line under" under his relationship with Samantha "earlier on."
The former TOWIE star said, "With Samantha, perhaps it would have been better if we’d drawn a line under it earlier on and just focused on having a friendship."
He also spoke out about how things ended with Grace, after he had his head turned by Jessy, saying, "With Grace, I don’t feel like there were any hard feelings but as I’ve said it was difficult living with an ex while getting to know someone else. Generally though the two of us were always cool."
Reactions to Joey and Jessy's dumping have been mixed. Many think it was Joey's time to go, while others criticised the ex-Islanders for coming for Joey, rather than making their decision solely based on Jessy and Joey's compatibility as a couple (as was the brief tbf).
One fan commented on Instagram, "I feel like Joey still thinks he can do no wrong and doesn’t take any criticism on board! It’s so infuriating to watch" while another argued, "The voting was all aimed at joey, nothing about their compatibility. Completely unfair of a vote."
WATCH: POV: when your partner’s ex turns up to the villa 😂
Ben Pulsford is a digital writer for Bauer Media, writing for both Closer online and heatworld. When he's not getting paid to gossip about TOWIE, Love Island and The Real Housewives of Cheshire, he's storming the London LGBTQ+ scene as drag queen, Beary Poppins. Both Ben and Beary are awaiting an invite to join The Real Housewives of Cheshire for series 18. The budget's not there, but the drama is 💅