Love Island’s Joey Essex squares up to rival contestant in explosive row after he accused him of pursuing Grace Jackson
LOVE Island had its own fight night as Joey Essex squared up to a rival pursuing his girl.
The Towie lad, 33, erupted after gorgeous Grace Jackson, 25, revealed Omar Nyame had relentlessly kept up some flirty banter.
After Joey branded him “a snake”, tempers flared and their fellow islanders had to full them apart.
PE teacher Omar, 25, was then forced to sleep in the villa’s Beach Hut – leaving Joey and Grace in the main bedroom.
A source said: “Joey cares about Grace and was livid when he heard Omar was flirting with her behind his back.
“It all came to a head on Thursday night.
“Joey pulled Omar aside to talk it out and explain how he and Grace were getting serious so Omar needed to back off.
“It escalated from there and they were like a pair of rutting deer – physically squaring up to each other, in each others faces and arguing.
“The other lads pulled them apart and Omar then cooled down by sleeping separately overnight.”
Joey has rekindled his romance with model Grace, who he dated briefly last year after meeting in Ibiza.
It means their relationship has moved fast, with producers forced to leave some raunchy scenes out in the edit – but Joey’s explosion may feature in tonight’s episode.
It comes after The Sun told yesterday how host Maya Jama was left all dressed up with nowhere to go on Thursday after bosses cancelled filming due to all the villa drama.
A source added: “Maya had flown from Paris Fashion Week and was meant to come into the villa to oversee a dumping but there was so much going on with the Islanders execs decided to let it roll and leave the eviction til Friday night.”
Love Island is enjoying a ratings boom, with an average of 3million viewers per episode – with reality star Joey thought to be the big draw.