What will Joey Essex do next after narrowly missing Love Island final?

Joey Essex's Love Island journey has come to end, with the TOWIE star eliminated from the dating show before the final.

The The Only Way Is Essex star's latest reality show signing has not proved his greatest success. At 33 - Essex celebrated his 34th birthday a day after leaving the villa - he was a good 10 years older than most of the contestants. Many viewers complained he was too old and accused him of game-playing and being a plant by ITV bosses.

Since Essex and partner Jessy Potts were voted off the show there have been reports that he is lining up a club tour of the UK, where he will be paid to make personal appearances at venues round the country and pose for selfies with fans.

A spokesperson for Essex told Yahoo UK: "I can confirm that Joey has been inundated with work offers including but not limited to the club tour that has been reported. We cannot confirm everything at this stage but he is excited with how busy his diary is looking and will be able to make further announcements in due course."

Thirteen years after he got his big break in ITV2 scripted reality show TOWIE, is there any way for Essex to go next?

Chart bid

Essex was just 21 when he entered the spotlight as a high-profile member of the TOWIE cast. He joined the show in series two in 2011 and instantly won a legion of fans for his memorable one liners. Essex coined the catchphrase 'Reem', meaning good or attractive, and in 2011 he recorded a single titled Reem, with rest of the TOWIE cast. After using Love Island to showcase his rapping, perhaps Essex is planning another chart bid.

Rumble in the jungle

Several Love Island stars have left the show and gone on to be signed up to take part in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out If Here! But Essex has already had his stint in the jungle reality show, back in 2013. And he did the Australian version in 2022.

Own show

After widening his audience on I'm A Celebrity, Essex landed his very own ITV2 show Educating Joey Essex in 2014. Narrated by Phillip Schofield, the documentary series saw Essex travelling around the world learning things. The two series included a General Election special and a GCSE special which saw him retake General Studies in 2016, 10 years after leaving school. Could a third series be in the pipeline?

Action man

Joey Essex has already learned to dive in ITV reality show Splash! in 2013, won dangerous Channel 4 skiing show The Jump in 2015 and fought furiously to prove himself in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins in 2020, before voluntarily withdrawing. A survival show could be the next step.

Cooking up a storm

Essex took part in Celebrity MasterChef in 2019. There he confused viewers and judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace with his original recipe "Stirotto." He tried to explain: "It's a stir fry/risotto… never done a risotto before I want to make it quite sticky, so when it mixes in the stir fry it sort of sticks together a little bit… is that really a thing or have I just made that up?"

After he served up the vegetables stir fried in boiled risotto rice and scrambled egg, Torode told him "It's probably not going to take off, Joey," and he was sent home. Don't worry Joey, there's always Cooking With The Stars.

Looking for love

As well as taking part in Love Island, Essex has also taken part on Celebs Go Dating and Celebrity Ex On The Beach. Fans will be waiting to see if Essex and Potts remain a couple. Or if it's time to take a call from Celebrity First Dates.

Dancing shoes?

Essex was runner-up in the last series of Dancing On Ice. He's proves he's got moves and rhythm and is dedicated to training. If the line-up for Strictly Come Dancing isn't completely locked in yet, maybe we'll see Essex vying for the glitterball?

Property ladder

Essex has reportedly made some money over the years by investing in property. If rumours are to be believed his latest work project is property related. He has reportedly been signed up to appear in the new series of Netflix real estate show Selling Sunset.

Essex's cousin, fellow TOWIE star Chloe Sims is based in Los Angeles and he would reportedly feature in an episode of the Netflix show touring Hollywood homes looking for a base to buy in the US.

Read more: Joey Essex

• Joey Essex signs on to Netflix’s Selling Sunset (BANG Showbiz, 1 min read)

• Joey Essex 'to earn £250,000 with club tour' after shock Love Island exit ahead of final(Evening Standard, 3 min read)

• Love Island's Joey Essex hits back at critics over Jessy romance (Digital Spy, 2 min read)