Love Island's Joey Essex has one special rule all islanders must follow

Ever since strutting into the Love Island villa earlier this month as this year's first celebrity bombshell, Joey Essex has undoubtedly been the star of the show.

Not only have the TOWIE star's romantic antics had viewers' heads spinning in recent days - having done an absolute 180 on former partner Samantha Kenny by ditching her for ex-girlfriend and latest newbie Grace Jackson - but his comedic timing has seemingly secured his position as the 2024 class clown.

And apparently, his new on-screen pals agree with our assertion, with recently-dumped islander Patsy Field revealing that Joey enforced a new rib-tickling rule upon the gang last week, which subsequently left them in stitches.

Joey has become a fan-favourite. (ITV)

If you've been out of the loop with the recent goings on in the plush Spanish love-shack, allow us to fill you in.

When funny-man Joey first entered the villa during the debut episode earlier this month - sending shockwaves through the nation - the 34-year-old's eye was immediately drawn to Liverpool-born MUA Samantha.

And after Joey stole her away from Sheffield hairdresser, Sam Taylor - leading to Sam becoming the Love Island villa's first evicted islander - it looked as though it could have been a match made in heaven for the loved-up duo.

Last week, Jo-antha enjoyed a rather snazzy-looking rooftop date in the centre of Mallorca, sharing a French Martini and tequila soda on the rocks before locking lips.

Within a matter of hours, however, ITV producers unleashed an unexpected plot twist upon the villa by bringing in three new islanders in the form of Hertfordshire-based HR coordinator Tiffany Leighton, 25, Whitley Bay quantity surveyor Wil Anderson, 23, and Manchester-based marketing agent Grace Jackson, 25.

Joey was previously coupled up with Samantha. (ITV)

And it quickly became apparent that Joey and newbie Grace shared a connection that dated back a loooong time, being that they were each other's Danny and Sandy last summer, having met on holiday in Ibiza.

After being sent to separate villa to rehash the ending of their relationship, it became clear that the duo still had feelings for one another, resulting in Grace selecting Joey at the last recoupling, leaving Samantha single and seeing her dumped from the villa.

As we say though, it isn't just Joey's controversial relationship history in the villa that has set viewers' tongues wagging, it's his iconic light-heartedness towards his co-stars.

And according to dumped islander Patsy, just before she was given the boot, Joey installed a hilarious rule in the ITV2 love-shack, which he begged his cast-mates to follow.

Speaking to Closer, she recalled: "Everyone was quoting TOWIE. All of the girls were quoting TOWIE.

Joey has since moved on with ex-girlfriend Grace. (ITV)

"Joey put us on a 'TOWIE' quote ban at one point and said, 'We’re going to need to drop it now'."

"But we couldn’t help it, and we said, 'We’re not actually quoting TOWIE, we’re just quoting The GC [Gemma Collins]'.

"She is a living legend, so can you blame us really?"

We literally can't, hun.