Love Island fans were left furious last night and threatened to stop watching the show after host Maya Jama revealed that former The Only Way is Essex star Joey Essex was entering the villa.
Fans have been waiting months for the hottest summer show to finally return to screens and for the drama to unfold as over the next eight weeks, a new crop of singletons begin new relationships.
Over the last few years, the show has seen many bombshells enter the villa and split up newly-formed and presumably strong couples, but recently, Jama has been introducing bombshells on the first day.
During Monday's episode, viewers witnessed Jess and Ronnie, Patsy and Ayo, Mimii and Munveer, Nicole and Sean, Samantha and Sam, and Harriett and Ciaran break off into their pairings.
After getting to know one another during the day, the islanders got glammed up and gathered around the fire pit to continue their bonding, but their fun was soon compromised as Jama made her entrance.
Standing in front of them, she revealed: "Well it's good to see you're all settled in. As you know you are in Love Island, you must always expect the unexpected. So please welcome Joey."
The self-proclaimed "king of Essex" made his dramatic entrance to the villa before revealing he was looking for his "queen".
The girls were excited to get to know Essex - who has been on many reality shows such as Celebs Go Dating, Ex on the Beach, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, and Dancing on Ice - but viewers at home were infuriated with the casting decision.
One fumed on X: "[I can't lie] Joey Essex might ruin it. Have we not begged them to bring extra normal people in and they’ve gone and brought a ‘household’ name #loveIsland."
Someone else agreed: "I’m sorry but they have truly ruined love island by getting influencers in remember when it used to be normal ass people with normal jobs and didn’t have loads of followers and weren’t in it for the money or the fame #loveIsland."
Love Island fans were furious that Joey had been brought into the villa
ITV
"Having Joey Essex on there now is so dead where are the original people? Where is the public? WE DON’T WANT CELEBRITIES," another exclaimed before a fourth penned: "I think this show has finally lost the plot."
Annoyed with the decision, one fan said: "So 3 series of Celebs Go Dating - A stint on I'm A Celeb and appearing on DOI wasn't enough for Joey. WOW! Didn't see this coming at all. The show really must be struggling for ratings by pulling this off."
"So is Love Island gonna morph into celebrities go dating I mean come on. Pretty sure he doesn't need the 50K. Worst decision ever," a sixth asked.
However, not everyone was against Essex being in the villa, as one optimistic viewer wrote: "I see a lot of complaints but the UK public can't lie Joey Essex is great TV. Might be a bit early but this might be the juiciest series yet." (sic)
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Joey first found fame on The Only Way is Essex back in 2011
ITV
Before entering the villa, Essex revealed how he had to get a boat from Ibiza to Majorca to keep his entrance from being leaked online and told The Sun: "I got on the plane to Ibiza.
"I made sure I wore my mask when I went out for dinner and then we got the boat over to Majorca to a villa hidden in the mountains in the middle of nowhere.
"I’m extremely single right now, so I’m praying that I’m going to walk out of the villa hand in hand with the love of my life.
"That’s my main aim and all I care about It’s difficult for me to meet girls as they judge me based on a persona so I think this experience will allow people to see the real me.”