Ex Love Islander insists Joey Essex is NOT in the villa for romance and says ‘it’s all about publicity for him’

A FORMER Love Island star has slammed Joey Essex for entering the villa.

Frankie Foster was on Season 4 of the show for ten days before he was dumped from the island.

Joey joined the show as the first-ever celebrity bombshell, sending shockwaves through TV audiences.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Frankie said: "This stint is a cry for more publicity for him, I think.

"He’s not in there for love, he’s in there for the media attention and will stay as long as the public allows," he added.

"While I don’t believe he will win, I have a strong feeling that fans will back him, and I can see him making the final."

The premiere episode scooped 2.2 million viewers, the highest ratings in two years.

When he was asked what she thought was behind this spike, she said: "To put it bluntly, I think people are just bored."

"The Euros haven’t started yet, summer isn’t quite here, and the weather has been awful, so people probably just don’t have much better to do."

This comes after Katie Price questioned Joey's intentions for going on the show.

Speaking on her  podcast she said: "I don't think it was a good move for him.

Her sister Sophie wanted to know if he had a fee for going in and if the others had.

"Of course he has!" Katie claimed.

Sophie also speculated over whether he would take the £50,000 prize money if he won or if he would split it.

While Katie didn't comment, she said: "But it's weird how none of the girls went for him and yet they all said they fancied him.

"I was pretty shocked he was on it. I think he's got quite a high status to be going on that show, he's quite established himself," she added.

"Even if he did the celebrity Love Island I think he'd be too big for the celebrity Love Island, let alone that one."

Despite her feelings towards him going on the show, Katie sang Joey's praises.

"I like Joey I did SAS with him and I really really like him," she said.

Joey, 33, has said that he wanted to go on the show to meet a 'normal girl'.

Fans have since speculated that he's being paid a lot of money for his time as the first ever celebrity bombshell on the hit ITV programme.

His arrival meant he had to steal one of the girls from the OG boys.

After thinking long and hard, the Towie legend decided to couple up with Samantha Kenny.

As she was in a couple with Sam Taylor, it meant the tattooed hunk's time in the villa was over.