Former TOWIE star Joey Essex recently starred on Celebs Go Dating: The Mansion - alongside Wayne Lineker, Chloe Ferry, Karim Zeroual, Sophie Hermann, Kimberley Hart-Simpson, Tom Zanetti and Curtis Pritchard.
However, after a cryptic post that love guru Paul C Brunson put on his Instagram saying, "For the first time I got into an off camera verbal altercation with a celeb", it has now been reported that the off-screen row was with Joey.
It has been reported that the argument over "cultural appropriation" happened after Joey allegedly made "racially insensitive" comments. However, these scenes were not shown to viewers.
It seems that the dispute started after Joey used the phrase "fo she", meaning 'for sure', as a response to the American matchmaker.
Paul took Joey aside to explain to him why his comment could be seen as offensive to some people, but it reportedly created tension between the two stars.
CHECK OUT: Celebs Go Dating's most outrageous moments
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1 of 35The fall of Stephen Bear
After a few episodes of Stephen Bear acting as Stephen Bear-ish as it's possible to act, Nadia and Eden decided they'd had enough and chucked him out the agency. Good riddance.
2 of 35Stephen Bear asks for threesome
Speaking of Stephen Bear, remember when he asked those twins for a threesome? Good lord.
3 of 35Stephen Bear
Now we think about it, everything Stephen Bear did was outrageous. Poor blue lips...
4 of 35Joey Essex's burpy date
Some poor old girl who managed to score a date with Joey Essex ended up burping on his face throughout the entire thing. What a nightmare.
5 of 35Jonathan Cheban dates Kimmy K lookalike
This just couldn't have been more classic, could it? Things (obviously) didn't work out, and Kim Kardashian lookalike Chanelle Sadie Paul ended up having an alleged sordid affair with dating agent Eden Blackman. But that's a whole other story...
6 of 35Gemma Collins stands up poor old Laurence :(
Gemma Collins successfully managed to anger the entire nation after failing to turn up to the Eurostar for her Parisian date with Laurence.
7 of 35Joey Essex dates a cougar...
She wanted to dress him as a pony, for some reason.
8 of 35... and Calum Best dates a cougar
He looks like he had a wonderful time.
9 of 35Frankie Cocozza and Charlotte Dawson break the rules and date each other
They were the first celebrity couple to hook up with each other on the show. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. And Frankie is now happily married to someone else.
10 of 35Their double date ends in awks
Both Frankie and Charlotte's dates ended up walking out of the double date set up by the agents after they couldn't stop gushing about the other.
11 of 35And then MARRIED EACH OTHER
Yes, this is a real thing that actually happened and the snubbed dates, Kieran Patel and Katie Champ are still together.
12 of 35Charlotte Dawson bum massage
Charlotte Dawson made an impression (of sorts) on one oh her first dates by giving a bum massage in a busy pub. Not sure where that lotion came from.
13 of 35Calum Best stands his date up
Calum got in hot water with the dating agents after failing to show up to one of his dates.
14 of 35Gemma Collins storms out of date after he called her 'a diva'
She got up an left like a diva after he called her, er, 'a diva'. Well, she did show up about an hour late...
15 of 35Charlotte Crosby spits milk during her date
Playing hot sauce roulette on a first date was never going to end well...
16 of 35Jorgie Porter's date wants to see her on the loo
After telling her that he'd Googled her before the date, Jorgie's date casually mentioned he'd like to watch her on the toilet. Wow.
17 of 35Courtney Stodden's date gets x-rated
Courtney Stodden shocked viewers after getting her date to rub sun cream on her chest.
18 of 35Charlotte Crosby dates a massive sexist
When Charlotte told Jeavon (who also dated Love Island's Malin Andersson) that she'd slept with 20 men, he said: "that is bad, for a lad it's not that bad." Despite the fact he claimed to have slept with 50.
19 of 35Joey Essex and Stephanie Pratt find love with each other
They broke the rules, but was it worth it? Erm. Probably not, no. Because it lasted about two minutes.
20 of 35Ferne McCann refuses to split the bill
After ordering a frankly humungous amount of food, Ferne didn't offer to help pay the bill at the end of the date. She later burst into tears in the dating agency after the guy gave her a bad review for not doing so.
21 of 35Tom Read WIlson admits he doesn't know who Kim Kardashian is
But... how?
22 of 35Megan McKenna and Pete Wicks reunion
Megan and Pete had a notoriously rocky relationship on TOWIE, so putting them on the same series was a stroke of TV GENIUS.
23 of 35Kerry Katona's rude date
When Kerry Katona's date implied her children had been a "mistake", she handled it like a pro – but the nation watched from between their fingers.
24 of 35Jack Fincham and the Waitress
Jack Fincham was set up with a lovely girl called Carol by the agents, but admitted by the end he wasn't feeling it. Instead he got the barmaid's number, and ended up taking her to the final in Tenerife.
25 of 35Jack Fincham's second date
Jack Fincham abruptly ended the date he wasn't feeling by telling his date he was "tired" and had "had enough", before demanding she finish her glass of wine en route to the door.
26 of 35Jack Fincham's second date
He then got set up with an Italian called Chiara, but quickly took offense when she made a joke about one of the bartenders, calling them over and insisting she'd rather be on a date with them, instead.
27 of 35Lee Ryan gets pied
Ha! Ha, ha ha.
28 of 35Lady C's sexual innuendos
Just like narrator Rob Beckett said, the woman is an absolute SAUCE POT - just check out her traffic light analogy. Blimey.
29 of 35Malique Thompson-Dwyer's 'predatory' flirting
After getting slammed by viewers for his 'predatory' flirting at the first mixer, Malique offended one of his dates when he was forced to date two women at the same time, and made his preference for Jakeeme clear - with Danica storming off as a result. awks.
30 of 35Tom's birth affirmations
Anna Williamson is heavily pregnant in series eight and so lovable receptionist Tom devises some birth affirmations in case her waters break at work - "which could happen", points out Anna. Nuggets from Tom include "I am lactating generously" and "my vagina has retained its' elasticity".
31 of 35Amy Childs showed her deep and intellectual side...
When she asked her date, "If you were a sandwich, what would you be?"
32 of 35Malique ACTUALLY fell in love!
And then immediately fell out of it the following morning, after he "had sex all night" with his date, Jakeeme. He was - quite rightfully - told off by Anna and Paul.
33 of 35Liv Bentley walked out on her date
He was "late, stand-offish and entirely humourless" (fair), but his incessant talk of "pumping" was the final straw for Liv, who left halfway through (also fair).
34 of 35But he was totally convinced she was into him
Despite Liv doing a runner in the middle of their drinks, self-confident Otto was still convinced Liv fancied him and accused her of making "f-ck me eyes" across the table. CRINGE.
35 of 35Amy Childs' toilet 'romp' with Jamie
Does this take the biscuit for CGD's most outrageous moment? During a double date with Olivia Bentley, Amy STRADDLED her date in the restaurant before scuttling off to the toilets, returning later looking dishevelled. They claimed to have only kissed... but we weren't born yesterday, hun.
A source told The Sun, "It's fair to say that Paul didn't gel with Joey as well as the other contestants - not because of any personal animosity, but because Paul thought Joey wasn't taking the experiment seriously.
"By his own admission, Paul was finding the show difficult and was already uncomfortable prior to Joey's entrance with being constantly referred to as P-Dawg.
"At one point Joey misused some slang in front of Paul, who took him aside to explain why it could be seen as inappropriate."
They continued to say, "Joey began to panic about whether this would play a part in the show and what it could mean for him.
"He meant absolutely no offence and became agitated about the prospect of being painted as something he's not. The fraught atmosphere led to the bigger confrontation Paul referenced online.
"The pair agreed to draw a line under the incident and move on. Paul's post has really stunned a lot of the people involved."
When viewers initially saw Paul's post on Instagram, they presumed he was leaving the show, but since then Paul has said, "I wasn’t announcing my departure from the show as some have interpreted it."
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He then went on to clarify what his post meant by explaining, "My social post referred only to the end of another great Celebs Go Dating series and my departure back to the States where I was very happy to be reunited with my family who I missed terribly - I wasn’t announcing my departure from the show as some have interpreted it
"I thoroughly enjoyed my time filming Celebs Go Dating: The Mansion and since returning to the US I’ve had lots of lovely messages from fans who have enjoyed watching the show and I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of such a great team and series."
Closer Online have contacted Celebs Go Dating for comment.