It’s fair to say that Love Island fans have been divided over Joey Essex’s time the villa.
We were quite literally gobsmacked when the TOWIE legend strutted through those doors as the first ever celebrity bombshell and he’s definitely spiced up the series. But, on the other hand, some viewers have claimed that Joey being on the show is unfair as he’s already a fully-fledged celeb and definitely doesn’t need the £50k prize money.
Fans have also been speculating about whether Joey’s been getting any extra perks behind the scenes so, when dumped Islanders Munveer Jabbal and Patsy Field came down to Closer HQ for a chinwag, we had to ask them about what Joey’s really like in the villa.
While discussing the down days in the villa, which usually take place on a Saturday and are the Islanders’ only day off from filming, Patsy suggested that Joey got “preferential treatment”.
“Joey ordered like half the menu,” Munveer explained, when lifting the lid on the McDonald’s takeaways the Islanders get on their down days.
“He had nine nuggets, two cheeseburgers, a Big Mac, McCrispy, milkshake and then something else he had. He tucked it all away.”
We have questions. Firstly, where does Joey put it all? Secondly, surely there’s a limit to how much the Islanders are allowed to spend on their Maccy D’s?
“I don’t know. There might have been a limit with us, but there wasn’t a limit for Joey,” Patsy laughed, in response to the latter.
She continued, “It did kind of seem like he had his own rules to follow, but he was in there just as another normal Islander.
“But who knows what that bloke’s getting paid for it, do you know what I mean? He got a little bit of preferential treatment, but he is a celeb isn’t he? So, maybe that’s why.”
Ooh, the tea is PIPING HOT.
Taking a bit more of a diplomatic approach, Munveer simply added, “It’s hard to say really.”
WATCH Love Island's Patsy Field reveals what Joey Essex BANNED the Islanders from doing in the villa
Nathan Katnoria is heat and Closer online’s senior digital writer. He became obsessed with Love Island when Malin Andersson came back to confront Terry Walsh in series two and hasn’t looked back since. When he’s not interviewing former Islanders, Nathan is scrolling through their Instagram feeds for relationship updates and piping hot tea.