Joe Tate has left Emmerdale fans sickened after he dragged Priya Sharma into his sick blackmail plot with Debbie Dingle.
The scheming businessman – played by Ned Porteous – seemed to have become a nicer human earlier this week when he confessed he loved Debbie.
He even vowed to stop blackmailing her into being his girlfriend.
But just hours after telling Debbie he wouldn’t blackmail her into sex, insisting he could pay a prostitute instead, it all went a little wrong.
Not able to resist showing his true colours, Joe ended up bringing a stressed Priya Sharma into his schemes.
Desperate for a new job after being forced to leave her old one in the family business when her nearest and dearest accused her of hurting baby Eliza, Priya asked Joe for a meeting.
After she spoke about her need for a new job with David Metcalfe while in the shop, the omnipresent Graham Foster suggested she pop to Home Farm and apply for the role of executive assistant.
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It helpfully came with a reduced rent on a cottage perfect for Priya and her daughter Amber.
Unfortunately her meeting with Joe didn’t go as planned.
And despite Priya impressing him, Joe decided to invite her for lunch to “get to know her better”.
Meanwhile Joe had been meddling in Ross and Pete Barton’s lives by cancelling their rent, which saw Debbie storming into Home Farm to demand to know the truth.
But she ran straight into the middle of Joe and Priya’s business lunch, and instead of handling it like an adult, Joe cruelly insulted Priya and left her humiliated.
He told Debbie: “There’s nothing going on here. She means nothing to me. She’s not even my type.”
“Excuse me,” a furious Priya replied, while Debbie also raged at him.
She told him: “So you’ve been playing games with Ross and Pete. Messing with their lives again to get me up here. I think you’re sick.”
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Insisting his intentions were pure, and failing miserably, Joe said: “The only reason I agreed to see her was because she’s desperate.”
And with that, Priya aimed one parting shot at Joe before leaving, saying: “I’m not that desperate, you vile human being.”
Viewers were sickened by Joe’s behaviour, with one writing: “Joe’s at it again with Priya. #Emmerdale.”
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