Joey Essex has insisted his Love Island romance with Jessy Potts is “real” despite being voted the “least compatible” couple.
The 34-year-old reality star caused a stir when he entered the villa as the first celebrity contestant.
And despite being labelled the “pantomime villain”, the TV personality, well known for his bachelor antics, now claims to have settled down with his “exclusive girlfriend” Jessy, 25.
In an interview with OK! MagazineJoey claims the couple has already started thinking about their future even though they haven’t said the “L” word to each other yet.
He told the publication: “We have already talked about the children.”
Joey Essex, 34, has insisted his Love Island romance with Jessy Potts, 25, is “real” after leaving the villa and revealed he wants to have eight children with his new girlfriend.
Despite being labelled the ‘pantomime villain’, the TV personality, well known for his bachelor antics, now claims to have settled down with his ‘exclusive girlfriend’ Jessy.
“We both want a big family, but we’re having some discussions at the moment. She wants four, I want eight.
“Imagine how wonderful that would be. I’m ready. I would do it tomorrow. Maybe even tonight!”
But while the couple are ready to start a family of their own, others are less convinced – especially after the pair were booted from the island after being voted the “least compatible” couple by their fellow islanders.
Joey was criticized by viewers and accused of playing games during his participation in the reality show.
The TV personality defended her actions by claiming contestants were “encouraged” to stir up trouble during an appearance on Thursday’s edition of This Morning.
He said: ‘Everyone is encouraged to stir the pot, the difference with me is that I don’t hesitate… I know what the producers want!
“Some people didn’t want to go out and bother people and I respect that, but the difference is with me and with 13 years of experience, I know what to do and that’s what I did.”
Joey admitted he played the “pantomime villain” and added: “I have no regrets, you know how it is, I played the pantomime villain. I did what I had to do, I wanted to have fun and find love and I found Jessy.”
Making their romance official on Instagram, they shared a joint post and wrote: ‘it was exclusive’
In an interview with OK! magazine, Joey claims that the couple have already started thinking about their future despite not saying the “L” word yet and are ignoring the criticism.
The couple were axed just a day before the series finale after being voted the “least compatible” couple by their fellow islanders.
After being asked if they had said the word “love” to each other yet, Jessy said, “We don’t want to rush things.”
Despite the criticism, Joey said he wanted people to focus on him and his new love as a couple and ignore all the noise surrounding them, insisting he was “genuine” during his time in the villa.
He added that neither of them had played a match and that neither could see any warning signs despite “testing each other”.
She said: ‘We took our time, we had fun and we enjoyed each other’s company. We didn’t rush into decisions because the next bomb was going to drop or because it was Casa Amor, we did things our way. We played the game properly. We weren’t there to win. We just wanted to be together.’
Model and influencer Jessy told the magazine that she is not affected by the skepticism surrounding Joey’s actions and that she has the full support of her friends and family.
She revealed that her family trust her to look beyond the headlines and choose someone nice, adding that they already really like the Essex-born reality star.
She added that even Joey’s distracted look didn’t faze her and explained that he is a veteran celebrity and that she completely trusts him not to fall victim to other girls’ intentions.
And the couple put on a show of love on Thursday on their first date outside the Love Island villa.
Despite the criticism, Joey said he wanted people to focus on him and Jessy as a couple and ignore all the noise around them, insisting he was “genuine” during his time in the villa.
The media personality cut a casual figure as she wore a white jacket with a matching T-shirt and blue jeans.
Jessy looked radiant throughout the day in a black midi dress with short sleeves and a plunging neckline that highlighted her incredible figure.
The garment featured a polka dot print while the beauty also wore a pair of white sneakers and styled her blonde locks into a ponytail.
The reality star’s revelations about settling down come after she hinted her time on TV may be over.
She has said that she might take a step back from the spotlight now that she has participated in every reality show there is.
She said: ‘I’m taking a big break from reality TV, I’ve done every show possible.’
She added: “I wouldn’t want to be on Strictly. It wasn’t hard to see the headlines, not everyone is going to love you all the time. I’m a strong-willed person and very resilient.”