LOVE Island's Joey Essex 'gave away' that he's not actually unintelligent and it's all an act during last night's episode, fans have insisted.
Tuesday's instalment saw the former Towie star, 33, get to know the girls after arriving in the villa as the first bombshell.
Joey ended up kissing THREE of the girls during a game of dares - Harriett, Nicole and Samantha Kenny.
The following day Joey and Harriett got to know each other on the bean bags, and the beauty wanted to know why he picked her for a smooch.
Joey said: "It was an in the moment thing. I felt like I did gravitate towards, I can't believe I'm using that word. I don't even really know what it means."
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Harriett asked: "Gravitate? Yeah it like pulls you in a little bit."
Joey then mispronounced the word, and after she corrected him, he added: "I gravitated towards you, I was gravitated towards Nicole and Samantha. So yeah, I just sort of went for it."
Many took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to point out Joey's blunder.
One said: "I know Joey is not about to do the ‘dim’ act at his big age of 33. You know exactly what gravitate means my friend #Loveisland."
Another added: "He caught himself slipping....realised gravitate sounded too smart, had to back track. Stay on brand Joey."
"Joey using gravitate correctly several times and then pretending he doesn’t know what it means," a third chimed in.
A fourth tweeted: "Joey Essex forgetting his persona for a minute having an articulate conversation with Harriet, after the third use of the word ‘gravitate’ he remembered his persona & followed up with “I don’t even know what that word means! What is it again? Gravity? Gravitite?""
Joey shot to fame on Towie in 2011 and when he left in 2013 he landed a place on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.
During his stint in the jungle, campmate Amy Willerton taught him to tell the time after admitting he didn't know how to.
Which then led on to him bagging his own show Educating Joey Essex, which aired between 2014 and 2016.
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The programme followed Joey travel the world and get taught new things while on his journey.
Meanwhile other fans are convinced Joey is being paid for his time in the villa.
Taking to social media, one said: "I wonder how much they paid Joey Essex to be on here?"
A second wrote: "I just had a thought?? Is Joey Essex being paid a fee for this??? And if he wins, will he get the prize money as well as an appearance fee?
"They must’ve paid Joey big money for this."
However, an insider has revealed Joey is being paid exactly the same as his fellow islanders - £375 a week.
They explained to MailOnline: “Joey is being treated like any other Love Island contestant, he’s playing by the same rules and won’t be given any preferential treatment.
“He hasn’t been paid an appearance fee or any money at all for signing up to the show, not a penny.
“On Love Island, it is all about the exposure and for Joey, it means more than that too… He’s looking for someone to settle down with, so it’s not about the money he can make on the other side.”
