LOVE Island’s Grace Jackson has told how her relationship with Joey Essex turned sour after a series of very heated rows that left her in tears.

In her first interview after her ‘brutal’ dumping from the villa this week, the model, 25, from Manchester, recalled how her rekindled romance with the Towie hunk came crashing down after the arrival of Jessy Potts.

She has now slammed veteran reality star Joey, 33, for ‘disrespecting’ her and continually pushing her in a bid to make her upset and angry on TV.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Grace said: “It got heated from his end.

“It was very unwarranted and not needed.

“The information that he was saying didn’t have any truth behind it.”

Love Island viewers were left horrified as Joey kept picking on Grace at any chance he got.

Hundreds complained to Ofcom after watching him belittle her and claim she still fancied him.

Grace continued: “It did start to go sour between us because of what he was saying in the games and challenges.

“So that’s when it started just to go downhill. I would say he was nit-picking and trying to get a reaction.”

Stunning Grace initially entered the villa as a bombshell and says she was shocked to see Joey there after they enjoyed a holiday romance, which she now says lasted two months once they returned to the UK.

At first the pair picked up where they left off, but everything changed the night Jessy arrived and picked Joey for a date.

“I didn’t think that that would have happened with Jessy,” said Grace. “Even when he was on his date, I was saying to the girls like I’m so confident in him, I have no worry.

“I think I put a lot of trust in him just because of how close we’d gotten again. And a lot of his actions and words made me feel very reassured.

“I didn’t feel like I had anything to worry about.”

But she did have something to worry about because Joey decided he wanted to get to know Jessy, who he is still with now.

Grace recalled:  “It was really upsetting because I didn’t expect it whatsoever. I cried on the show like I got upset about it.

“And as soon as I felt that it was the ultimate disrespect from Joey when he went behind my back and was kissing Jessy – that was when I knew I wanted to take myself out of that situation.”

Grace was praised for her reaction to the situation and moved on with Blade in Casa Amor.

That later fizzled out and she coupled up with Reuben, who she was dumped from the villa with.

The pair are now planning to go on a series of dates and continue what they started.