Real reason Love Island's Jessy Potts and Joey Essex split revealed

11 February 2026, 17:05 | Updated: 11 February 2026, 17:08

Why Love Island's Jessy Potts and Joey Essex split revealed. Picture: ITV / Getty

By Abbie Reynolds

The 'real' reason Love Island's Jessy Potts and Joey Essex split has been revealed after Jessy's All stars entrance.

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Love Island All Stars' bombshell Jessy Potts dated Joey Essex after they met on series 11 in 2024. The pair connected on the show and left the villa as an item.

When they returned to the outside world they revealed they'd gone exclusive in an adorable Instagram captioned: "In our exclusive era." However, just two months later it was announced that things had ended.

The split was announced via the tabloids with nothing being revealed about why they actually broke up. Joey said at the time: "Unfortunately, we have decided to call an end to the relationship but I hope we can continue to be friends."

There was speculation about why they split but now, not only has has Jessy opened up about what caused their break up, but an insider has spilled on one of their biggest arguments.

Read more: Love Island's Toni Laites breaks silence on Harrison Solomon being in All Stars

Joey Essex and Jessy Potts after Love Island. Picture: Instagram

A tabloid source has alleged that part of the reason they called it quits was due to Joey abandoning Jessy during a night out so that he could go to a strip club.

They claimed: "Joey and Jessy were out with other Islanders and they’d been to a showbiz party, then continued the party at Sheesh. Then all of a sudden Joey disappeared and Jessy couldn’t get hold of him.

"She was calling and Whatsapping him. Her stuff was all at his house as they were meant to be returning there after the night out."

"It turns out he had gone with his mates to Stringfellows. Everything was ok as Jessy had other friends there but obviously it’s not ideal," they added.

Jessy has reportedly declined to comment on the matter while Joey's rep is yet to respond.

Joey Essex and Jessy Potts were dumped from the villa together. Picture: ITV

Speaking about what happened with Joey to Zac Woodworth on Love Island All Stars, Jessy said: "It only lasted about a couple of months afterwards. It was just we're definitely different people so when you leave here, it's like, 'Oh, s---!"

She added: "He'd done TV before so he already had a lot of people who had opinions about him anyway. And it just wasn't, it wasn't for me."

Joey was the first-ever celebrity to appear on Love Island, when he arrived as a bombshell on day one of series 11. After briefly getting to know Samantha Kenny, Grace Jackson entered the villa and turned his head.

Grace and Joey had history outside of the villa and things picked up where they left off on the show. However, when Jessy arrived as a bombshell Joey's head was turned again and they stayed coupled up until they dumped right before the final.