Inside Love Island’s Joey Essex and Grace Jackson’s ‘intense romance’

Bombshell Grace Jackson left ex-fling Joey Essex completely stunned when she walked into the Love Island villa last week.

Joey, who is coupled up with Liverpudlian makeup artist Samantha Kenny, has already shared multiple steamy kisses with Grace during their night away together. 

The former couple endured a short-lived holiday romance last year in Ibiza but ended in a abrupt bitter split. 

Just days into her Love Island experience, Grace dubbed their secret fling ‘intense’ and revealed their ‘months long romance ended quite frosty’.

And as the duo pick up where they left off, MailOnline takes a look inside their previous romance.

How did they meet?

While the couple still haven’t divulged the ins and outs of their secret romance, Joey and Grace revealed they met in Ibiza on holiday last year.

Grace admitted she and Joey continued their holiday fling for months after the trip ended, spending nearly every day together.

Joey and Grace, who kept each other off their social media, carried on dating despite her living in Manchester while Joey was in Essex.

During Friday’s episode, Grace told Nicole Samuel said: ‘So, we met last year in Ibiza and it’s actually funny because he’s not my type at all. We had a bit of a holiday romance. It carried on when we were back home.

‘It was quite intense. We were seeing each other for a few months. It kind of ended a little bit frosty to be honest and we’ve not really spoken since.’

Why did they split?

During Sunday night’s episode, Joey – who lives in Essex – revealed he cut off their romance because of their long-distance.

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When Grace – who lives in Manchester – asked Joey what he’s looking for in a relationship, Joey shared why their fling stopped.

He said: ‘I’m looking for something serious. I don’t really step into something unless I know for a fact that’s going to work. 

‘With me and you, I just felt like the long distance was the only thing in the way. Apart from the long distance, I felt like we would have gone further.

‘Depending on what happens with me and you, we can make things work. You weren’t prepared to move to Essex and I weren’t prepared to move to Manchester.’

Grace said: ‘I actually do want to move to London and I’m planning to. Like regardless of that situation anyways. So that would work better.’

How long were they dating? 

Grace revealed her and Joey were dating for ‘months’ after their Ibiza fling during the summer.

However it now seems that the pair dated for longer than expected as last October both Joey and Grace wore matching Halloween outfits.

Taking to Instagram at the time, reality star Joey posed for photos as he dressed up as The Joker while Grace looked amazing as Harley Quinn.

The pair both posed for photos as the comic book duo in a car park, suggesting they were together for the spooky holiday despite not actually sharing a photo together.

It seems the duo have both missed their ‘intense romance’ as producers had to edit the bedroom scenes – after they already shared a kiss in the pool earlier in the day.

A source said: ‘It’s been a long time since we’ve seen chemistry like this on Love Island. We always wanted to bring sex back to the villa but didn’t expect this kind of tension so soon.

‘There was genuinely so much footage of Joey and Grace at it in Casa Amor, bosses were spoilt for choice and some scenes had to be left out of the edit.

‘Because they knew each other before, their entire relationship is on fast forward and it’s steamy stuff. Joey can’t keep his hands off her.’