Joey Essex Before And After & His Transformation From TOWIE To Love Island

5 June 2024, 16:33

Fans could barely recognise Joey Essex on Love Island 2024 with his new buzzcut. From his The Only Way Is Essex days, the before and after transformation journey has been incredible.

Joey Essex has been on British TV screens for almost 15 years and naturally, he’s been through a number of looks, dapper and questionable at times.

When Maya Jama brought him onto Love Island 2024 at the start of June with a buzzcut haircut, fans barely recognised the reality star, who up until now had always rocked some sort of puffy, quiff or long sleeked back look

But when you’ve been on as many shows as Joey has managed to rack up on his resume and you’ve been in the spotlight year after year, then it’s no surprise you’ve experimented.

• Read more: How Much Is Joey Essex Paid To Be On Love Island 2024? His Fees Revealed
• Read more: Joey Essex’s Complete Dating History From Vanessa Bauer & Lorena Medina To Now

Joey walking into Love Island 2024 is a far cry from the small 20-year-old who joined the cast of The Only Way Is Essex in 2011 and here's his transformation journey.

2011

Tiny little 20-year-old Joey almost looked like a young Ken doll when he joined the cast of TOWIE in 2011.

The reality star was written into his show as he was introduced as Chloe Sims’ cousin and that was that.

Joey made 'reem' happen, and the fans couldn't get enough of him, so he was brought back in season three as part of the main cast.

Girls wanted him and guys wanted his hair and his career kicked off.

2013

In 2013 Joey took a huge risk and quit TOWIE to pursue a career in entertainment. The 'bombshell' was approached to do I'm A Celebrity and went on to get booked on almost every reality show available in the country for the next decade.

Looking back, his hair and his tan may feel like a huge fashion faux pas, but at the time, it would have been the epitome of cool for a young man. You can practically smell the Justin Bieber influence.

2014

Ah yes, the man bun, at least that's what we assume Joey attempted here in 2014.

They were all the rage at the time and you can see Joey's timeless preppy fashion influence begin to creep in here.

In 2014, Joey released his first documentary TV series called Educating Joey Essex which saw him travel the world and gain an education and understanding of cultures he'd never experienced.

2015

It seems like all that 'educating' worked, because in 2015, Joey rocked a clean cut look complete with glasses on the red carpet.

This might be his best look yet, the man could have been cast as Clark Kent looking like this.

The self tan has severely been tonned down and the hair is a doing a respectable swoosh, it's so good that Joey kept a variation of this look for a number of years, lightening and darkening his hair here and there, but it all changed in 2018.

2018

By 2018, Joey had fully established himself in the media industry in the UK and he's officially classed as a 'celebrity', booking gigs like Celebrity First Dates.

He's completely lost his baby-faced charm and started stacking on the muscle. It seems like around this time, the television star was looking for an upgrade from his floppy do and decided to go for a more rugged, chopped-off manly vibe.

It's this period where he looks most like what he's currently rocking in the villa in 2024.

2022

2022 saw Joey fly to Australia to participate in their version of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here for a cool estimated £212, 000.

It's these sort of pay checks that the TOWIE star had started bringing in that pushed his net worth to where it is today at a staggering £8 million.

2024

For most of the population, Joey's buzzcut look was a complete surprise when he showcased it entering the villa as a bombshell on Love Island.

However, fans of Joey have been enjoying the cut since January when he first posted it.

Fans in his comment section at the time wrote, "Wow the hair changes your whole face looks great."

Another raved, "Joey the short hair suits u loads!!" whilst another said,"This is the best he’s ever looked."

But those who only saw the look in June took to X (Formerly known as Twitter) to vent their thoughts, with one user writing, "Wait Joey Essex? I didn't even recognise him. Wow he looks really different now," while another tweeted "OMG I didn't even recognise Joey without his hair."

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