EastEnders Joel's reason for befriending Tommy 'revealed' in AI twist

Joel Marshall wasted no time in getting to know the teens on after his arrival this week, including Tommy Moon.

Just a day in and he was already creating secret handshakes with the son of Kat Slater and Alfie Moon. Viewers were glad to see Tommy had a friend after being lonely recently, turning to an AI chatbot for support.

He was mocked by other teens for speaking to a robot rather than a human, so news of his new friend Joel was praised. But by the end of the week, Alfie seemed concerned about how quickly Tommy and Joel had bonded.

Of course Alfie was still furious over Joel's stepmother Vicki Fowler cheating on his brother Spencer Moon, and then lying that he was the adulterer. He found out she'd moved on with Joel's dad Ross Marshall who had been a good friend of Spencer's.

So to see Tommy befriending Ross' son Joel certainly hit a nerve, and after months of trouble with Tommy he was clearly worried about it. But does Alfie have a right to be concerned about Joel's intentions with his friendship with Tommy?

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Some viewers certainly thought so, predicting there's something on the cards. After all, the episode revealed Joel was the one in serious debt, not Ross or Vicki.

The couple had been trying to get money out of Sharon Watts and Ian Beale, with Sharon demanding to know why. It soon emerged that neither Ross or Vicki are the one who owes money, but Joel, aged 15, is the one in trouble.

The news left fans trying to figure out how a teenager had been left in such debt that his dad was travelling across the to raise the funds to pay it off. But a theory also came about linked to Joel and Tommy.

Fans wondered if there was significance to their sudden close bond just days after Joel's arrival, and many started to question if it was linked to Tommy's recent AI friend plot. A new theory is that the AI tool wasn't actually AI and was in fact a person, as many had predicted at the time.

One new theory is that Joel could be that fake AI chatbot and could have been the one speaking to Tommy all along, whether Tommy knows this or not. So might he have a reason for getting to know Tommy so quickly, and could it be linked to his debt trouble?

One theory read: "I can't help but shake the idea Joel is Tommy's 'AI bot friend' after some people thought it was actually a human after all." Another fan said: "I wonder if Joel could be Tommy's AI friend?"

A third post read: "Tommy needs to be careful around Joel I don't trust him," confused by the sudden friendship, as another said: "I hope that Joel is alright, it’s nice that Tommy has a friend."

A further comment said: "Tommy and Joel's abrupt friendship thing was a bit for me, could he be Tommy's 'AI friend' and could he drag him into drama further down the line linked to however he got in debt?"

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on , , , , , and .