LOVE Island star Grace Jackson has told how she had a holiday romance with Joey Essex before they both appeared in the villa.

The pair alluded to their history during their time on the show – sparking fix claims amongst viewers who were convinced they had both planned to do it at the same time.

But stunning Grace, 25, has revealed what really happened between the pair, confirming they hadn’t actually spoken in over a year.

She explained: “We met when we were abroad and it was like holiday romance, really. And we just clicked instantly.”

Towie star Joey and Grace continued seeing each other once they got home, with Grace telling us: “So I think it was like a two month period. But it was very intense. We were together a lot. We spent a lot of time together.

“And then it kind of just naturally fizzled out with me being in Manchester and him being in London and work commitments and whatnot.”

She went on: “We just kind of had a bit of a frosty phone call, which shouldn’t have gone the way it did. And then we just didn’t speak since.”

Rubbishing speculation that they then planned to reunite on the show, Grace said it was a “massive shock.”

“I didn’t know Joey was in the villa. It was crazy. Honest to God, I was so shocked,” she said.

“We absolutely didn’t know that either of us were in there. And I wouldn’t wait until Love Island anyway to go and do that. I would have just done it on the outside.

“I wouldn’t have needed to wait that long to have a conversation with him or to speak to him. It would have been silly.”

The pair ended up rekindling their romance, which again Grace says she really wasn’t expecting.

She explained: “I kind of went in thinking like, right, we’re going to be living together now. We’re going to be in each other’s company every single day.

“We need to have a conversation, just whether that’s clearing the air and moving on and being civil or as friends or if there is something still there.”

Explaining their very strong connection, Grace continued: “I think when you have that connection with someone, and it was really strong with him. We were really close on the outside.

“So I think because we’d kind of left things for quite a while and they were a little bit frosty, I think that initial conversation needed to be had.

“But once it was had, we kind of did just fall back into old habits and just in how close we were and everything and like how we were on the outside.”

However their rekindled romance was short lived as Joey ended up falling for Jessy Potts after she picked him for a date.

Things turned very sour between Grace and Joey – with the pair barely on speaking terms by the time Grace got the boot alongside Reuben this week.