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I’m a Celeb star Joey Essex has been smitten with Amy Willerton since they first met in summer... BEFORE they went into the jungle.

Joey, 32 , tipped to win the hit ITV1 show, was bowled over when he met the beauty at a showbiz party three months ago.

He saw her again later – and there is *another connection because Amy, 21, has dated a friend of his cousin Chloe Sims.

But I’m A Celeb bosses have kept their prior involvement a secret from viewers, who are now on tenterhooks as to whether romance will blossom or not.

Towie star Chloe, 32, said: “I know that Joey has met Amy before and he *really liked her. They’ve met a couple of times.

"I have met her too and so has Joey’s sister Frankie and we all like her.

“Joey thought she was lovely and I’d like it if they got together. She seems like a laid-back girl – really, really nice. I love how they’ve become mates in the jungle.

"It’s like they’re two really good friends.”

Joey signed for I’m A Celeb in July and Amy was recruited some time later. When they first arrived in the outback they didn’t let on that they had already met.

But as early as the first challenge the *reality TV star was clearly trying to gravitate *towards her.

A show source said: “Everyone wants Joey and Amy to get together.

“They want it to be this big jungle *romance, like Katie Price and Peter Andre.

“Maybe they will, maybe they won’t, but what the viewers don’t know is that they were already very familiar with each other and both very fond of one another.

“It’s the big story of the show this year and the viewers and production staff hope there will be a happy ending.”

Producers had Joey’s ex Sam Faiers, 22, on standby to make a surprise entrance to the show, she was on the verge of leaving her Dubai holiday to fly to Australia 10 days ago.

But once producers thought there was a big chance of Joey and Amy ending up as an item, they decided not to send her in.

Sam spoke out on ITV’s This Morning on Friday, admitting that she still loves Joey and blames their split on having relationship which is so much in the public eye.

She said: “When I look back now, we genuinely did and do still love each other. I think we could have done things differently.

“If we weren’t on Towie would it have survived? Yeah for sure. We always said that if it wasn’t for the pressure of being on TV we’d probably still be together now.”

Beauty: Joey Essex has had his eye on Amy for a while

Since arriving in the jungle Joey has grown a new fanbase among I’m A Celeb’s much *bigger audience and has become renowned for his naive ways.

In the first few days he showed he struggled to tell the time and he said *“confrontate” instead of “confront”.

Joey’s mum Tina took her life when he was nine and Chloe became a strong female *presence in his boyhood. According to her there are many more “Joey-isms.”

She said: “Joey wears his socks inside out because he says they’re smoother on your feet and there are no bumps.

"He also buys his shoes a size too small because he doesn’t like them to crease when he walks. And he has his own language with his mates.

"He has silly words like “abbbba*aaa*llooooolaling” meaning *disgusting. It’s really funny.”


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