TOWIE's Joey mugged by fake fans (From Durham Times)

TOWIE's Joey mugged by fake fans

2:08pm Wednesday 27th June 2012 in Entertainment News © Press Association 2013

The Only Way Is Essex star Joey Essex has put on a brave face after revealing how he was mugged at knife point.

The nightclub promoter told ITV's Daybreak how he was attacked in Hammersmith in broad daylight by two men who stole his Rolex watch after they asked to have their picture taken with him.

Joey said: "They tapped on my window and said, 'Joey Essex can I have a picture?' and I said, 'Yeah, two minutes.' I got out the car, had a picture. They wanted more pictures and said, 'Wait, one sec mate, I've just got to do this.' And as I turned around they both jumped me."

He added: "I think what they did was they grabbed me first and they took my watch straight away. You can hit my hand and my watch falls off anyway.

"As I got up I was sort of self defending myself, and then they got - they had a knife."

The reality TV star - whose flat in Marbella was robbed last year - put the attack down to jealousy of his fame.

He said: "People notice who we are, sometimes they see us... I don't know, it's all to do with jealousy and things like that in the end. People just react in different ways I suppose."