Joe and his new fiancée, Mercedes McQueen, became trapped on the ferris wheel on last night's episode after his scorned ex, Joanne Cardsley, decided to manually stop the ride.
But drama erupted on tonight's episode as a result of Cameron Campbell setting fire to the neighbouring maze.
The flames from the attraction caused an explosion in the ferris wheel's mechanics – something Joanne wasn't expecting to happen.
And in heartbreaking scenes, as Joe reached out to climb onto the rescue cherry picker the halted ride's generator exploded and the character was forced to jump for his own safety.
Fortunately, Joe was able to cling on to the side of the cherry picker after his dramatic stunt.
However, just when viewers thought the Chester legend was safe, he lost his grip and fell to the ground below.
Later on in the episode, Joe was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The storyline comes after Joe actor, Ayden Callaghan, handed in his notice to the hit Channel 4 soap after three years just last week.
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The Roscoe family moved to Chester in 2013, and now only one member, Freddie Roscoe, looks set to remain in the village following recent exits.
Speaking about his time on Hollyoaks and the dramatic climax, Ayden said: "I enjoyed my time at Hollyoaks greatly from the early days of the Roscoe family’s arrival and winning ‘Best Soap’ at the end of our first year, to filming the Halloween 21st anniversary stunt, which was fantastic.
"I’ll miss working with all of the Roscoes including Gillian Taylforth who played our mum.
"My favourite moments, without doubt, are the days laughing with the Roscoes on set, the demolition stunt when Grace trapped Joe in the council flats, the Fraser Black storylines and the New Year episodes when Freddie and Lindsey’s affair was revealed.
"Thank you to Bryan, the writing team and all those at Hollyoaks for three and a half years I won’t forget, and of course to the fans for their tears, laughter and ongoing support."
It's safe to say that fans were NOT expecting the character's death and took to Twitter to share their shock.
One person: "My heart is shattered, how can they do that to Joe #hollyoaks #HollyoaksNoExit."
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A second: "Joe just died right after him and Mercedes were finally getting their happy ending #hollyoaks."
A third: "#Hollyoaks why joe?? him and Mercedes was finally getting back on track."
A fourth: "The only reason I watched #hollyoaks was because of Mercedes and Joe, why did he have to go and die for."
A fifth: "Joe can't be dead, nope. #Hollyoaks."
A sixth: "JOE ISN'T DEAD HE CAN'T BE ITS JUST A PRANK GOOD ONE HOLLYOAKS #hollyoaks."
However, this wasn't the only death to rock Hollyoaks and it was also revealed on tonight's episode that serial killer, Nico Blake, had died in the shocking maze fire.
Persephone Swales-Dawson, who played Nico, confirmed her exit from the soap in a heartfelt tweet last night.
She wrote to her fans saying: "RIP Nico Blake.
"I always loved ya."
Hollyoaks continues on weekdays at 6:30pm on Channel 4 and 7pm on E4.