He was booted from the Love Island villa following a public vote on Tuesday night, cutting his romance with Lucie Donlan short prematurely.
And Joe Garratt was spotted jetting out of Palma de Mallorca Airport in Spain on Wednesday morning, putting on a brave face despite accusations from viewers that he had exhibited signs of 'gaslighting' the 21-year-old surfer and model on the ITV2 show.
The 22-year-old star was spotted flashing a cheery grin as he posed for a selfie with fans en route back to the UK.
The excited onlooker shared: 'Literally sitting in the bus to the airport and said to Eilidh ‘here there is a chance Joe and Elma will be at the airport. Walked in and look whos here ��♥️ #LoveIsland @josephgarratt1'.
According to The Sun, Joe told excited fans he was hopeful his relationship with Lucie would work in the real world.
The sandwich delivery man was described as 'lovely' and appeared downcast at being sent home.
His outing comes after Love Island host Caroline Flack sided withJoe's friends and family after they blamed his early exit on 'unfair editing'.
Joe's relatives and friends expressed their concerns the footage had been 'unfairly' edited by producers to portray him in a negative light, claims which Caroline appeared to throw her support behind by 'liking' the Instagram post.
Supportive: As Joe Garratt's friends expressed their concerns the footage had been 'unfairly' edited to portray him in a certain light, Love Island host Caroline Flack appeared to throw her support behind the claims
300 complaints were submitted to Ofcom this week regarding his 'controlling' behaviour after he told partner Lucie he wished she would change, warned her not to speak to boxer Tommy Fury alone and asked her to spend more time with the other girls, despite her repeatedly saying she wasn't a 'girly girl'.
Uploading a picture of Joe and Lucie to Instagram, Joe's loved ones reflected: 'After that nailbiting vote, Joe has unfortunately left the Love Island villa.
'We want to thank all of Joe’s followers for their endless support. We also want to wish the remaining islanders the best of luck in the rest of the programme, especially @lucierosedonlan who Joe genuinely cares for and enjoyed his time with.
'Speaking on behalf of Joe’s best friends, we acknowledge Joe will come out to some warranted criticism. However, we deem the majority of it to be unfair and non representative of Joe’s true character.
Unfortunate: Joe Garratt's fledgling romance with Lucie Donlan ground to a halt when he was dumped from the Love Island villa
