Joey Essex

Joey Don Essex is an English television personality born on 29 July 1990. He initially rose to prominence for his appearances on the ITV reality television series The Only Way is Essex between 2011 and 2013. Following his breakthrough, he became a regular figure on British television, participating in numerous reality, competition, and dating programs.

Essex grew up in England and attended West Hatch High School in Chigwell, Essex. He departed school in 2006 after receiving GCSE grades of a U in Drama, a C in Art, and a D in Design & Technology. A decade later, he earned a D in General Studies as part of a television project. When Essex was ten years old, his mother died by suicide at thirty-seven years of age.

In 2011, Essex made his first appearance on The Only Way is Essex as a supporting cast member in its second series alongside his cousin Chloe Sims. He was promoted to a main cast member for the third series, and the cast released a music single titled "Reem" that same year. During his time on the show, Essex engaged in an on-and-off relationship with fellow cast member Sam Faiers, to whom he was engaged twice before they split permanently in October 2014. Essex officially left the reality show in November 2013.

In 2013, Essex competed in the first series of Splash! and placed fourth on the thirteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. In March 2014, he starred in the South Africa-set television documentary Educating Joey Essex, which was narrated by Phillip Schofield and subsequently expanded into a full ITV2 series running through 2016. Essex won the second series of Channel 4's winter sports show The Jump in 2015. He joined the cast of Celebs Go Dating in 2016, returning for additional series in 2017 and 2021. His later television credits include Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, Celebrity Ex on the Beach, the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, and Dancing on Ice, where he finished as runner-up in 2023. In June 2024, Essex became the first celebrity contestant to enter Love Island as a bombshell entrant.

Alongside his media career, Essex launched various commercial ventures. In March 2013, he opened a retail store called Fusey in Brentwood, which operated until 2016, and introduced the Joey Essex: D'Reem Hair hair product range. He launched the men's aftershave Fusey and women's perfume My Girl in late 2013, appeared in Batchelors Cup-a-Soup advertisements in 2016, and announced a clothing line named DAFDEA in 2017. In July 2025, he announced his upcoming professional boxing debut against influencer Numeiro at the Manchester Arena.

Essex received public recognition in 2017 when he was named fourth on the Essex Power 100 list. Outside his television work, he has served as an ambassador for the charity Child Bereavement UK since 2014 and addressed his mother's death in the 2021 documentary Joey Essex: Grief and Me. After being mugged at knifepoint in London in 2012 and experiencing a home break-in in early 2023, Essex relocated to Dubai later in 2023.