He has a reputation as a loveable dimwit and has claimed not to be able to tell the time.

But reality TV star Joey Essex says he once harboured hopes of attending university, despite never excelling at school.

Joey is set to appear at intu Bromley’s Student Night on Thursday (October 1), where – from 6pm to 9pm – students can pick up discounts, freebies and be entertained by DJs.

He said: “I was a good student. I wasn’t the cleverest person but that’s only academically I suppose. I wasn’t good in maths and science and things like that but I always tried my hardest.

“I got a C in art, so that’s a pass but that’s it really. Everything else I didn’t pass.

“My ambition was to go to sixth form or university but I couldn’t get past that first step.”

The 25-year-old has nevertheless gone on to achieve great success after first appearing on The Only Way Is Essex in 2011, and now has his own fashion label and fragrance.

But Essex – who won Channel 4’s ‘The Jump’ earlier this year – admits his rise to fame was not something he had planned.

He said: “I didn’t know this was going to happen. This was random for me. I didn’t expect it at all.”

And Essex credits his relentless optimism and willingness to give anything a try with helping him achieve success.

He added: “My advice to people is to keep strong, never give up and always do what you want to do. That’s what I’ve done.

“Every single thing I’ve wanted to do I’ve just done whether I was good at it or not. I always give something a go to see if I enjoyed it and whether it suited me.

“I find a lot of people nowadays will say they want to do something but they won’t do it for whatever reason. For me, I give everything a go.”

Since leaving TOWIE in 2013 Essex has travelled to Brazil and Africa and interviewed politicians ahead of the General Election as part of ITV2’s ‘Educating Joey Essex’ and says the most important thing he learned was not to take his quality of life for granted.

He said: “The main thing I learned was to appreciate life a lot more because we’re quite lucky with what we’ve got.

“Some people out there in other countries have hardly got anything and you sort of realise how lucky we are.”

But Essex says the experience still hasn’t convinced him to learn to tell the time.

He said: “I just don’t really look at my watch.

“Yeah, I can’t tell the time but I just look at my phone. I don’t need to work on it anymore. What’s the point?”


 

 

 

JOEY ESSEX'S SCHOOL REPORT

Best subject:  “I really tried hard in drama, but something went wrong, the coursework got cancelled and I got a really bad grade which I was gutted about. I was predicting a B+.”

Worst subject: “My weak subjects were things that I had to think and write in like science and maths.”

Highlights: “Just my friends really, and growing up. Coming into this world.”

Lowlights: “There was a few times I got told off for doing stupid stuff but I thought it was a good thing because you need to get told off, otherwise you’ll just always be doing what you want.”

 

Joey Essex will be appearing at intu Bromley’s student night on Thursday October 1 from 6pm to 9pm. Pre-register at splash.myunidays.com/intu