Love Island winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu has revealed she lost friends after winning ITV2’s dating show in 2022.
The reality TV star was voted first place with boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti in 2022.
Speaking with former Love Island contestant Joe Garratt on a RedditTalk podcast stream, 28-year-old Ekin-Su opened up about her experience on the show.
“I lost so many friends coming out [of the villa],” said Ekin-Su, who is currently competing in ITV’s Dancing On Ice.
Before quickly changing the subject, she added: “I don’t have any friends left because they sold stories of me.”
Garratt replied: “Oh that’s so sad, well they weren’t friends then. They sucked. That’s jealousy man, it really is.”
Ekin-Su remained positive, however, exclaiming: “But then you make new friends who understand you!”
Earlier in the podcast, the reality star warned current Love Island contestants from stealing her “move”.
“I wondered if anyone will be crawling across the terrace this year, and if they do, that’s copyright,” she joked, in reference to her viral scene in Love Island season eight where she crawled behind a wall to avoid being seen in a romantic encounter with fellow castmate Jay Younger.
“That is my move, guys, do not crawl,” she laughed. “You can do other things like fly across the villa but don’t crawl.”
Ekin-Su continued, leaving a word of caution for future Love Island contestants: “The advice I give to people applying on [the show] is to be yourself.
“Don’t get caught up in this ego where you think you’re this celebrity and so you should act a certain way and belittle people – you shouldn’t,” she said.
Opening up about how she felt after leaving the show, Ekin-Su said her mental health has improved since filming on the series wrapped.
“Therapy is really important,” she said. “You have to seek therapy. Luckily, Love Island provide that service when you leave and make sure that you can cope with the attention.”
For her first Dancing on Ice performance on Sunday (15 January), with professional partner Brendyn Hatfield, Ekin-Su gave a dance soundtracked by the Britney Spears hit “Toxic”.
Ekin-Su crawled on the ground towards the camera, in a moment that resembled her antics on the Love Island terrace last summer.
Several viewers found the moment entertaining, with one tweeting: “Obsessed with Ekin Su recreating this skating to ‘Toxic’.
Another excitedly responded: “She did the terrace crawl!”
The following week on Sunday (22 January), Ekin-Su was saved from elimination from Dancing on Ice after landing in the skate-off.
“You just have to pick yourself up and keep going,” she said of her performance.
