They won the hearts of viewers during their eight week stint on Love Island while finding each other and Davide Sanclimenti and Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu received a warm welcome as they arrived at Manchester Piccadilly train station. After appearing on Capital FM in London the loved-up pair got the train to Davide's home city to spend a few days together.
Sharing from their train journey on Instagram Davide said into the camera: "We are going back to Manchester to have a few days for us, with the Queen." And Ekin-Su posted a photo of her man sleeping with the words 'why is he so cute?'
On arrival in Manchester the show favourites posed for photos with delighted fans and they shared a loving kiss after falling for each on the he ITV2 dating contest. Turkish actress Ekin-Su, 27, looked stunning in zesty orange mini dress and business owner Davide, also 27, from Rome, looked smart for the summer in khaki shirt and matching shorts.
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Sharing an update after arriving at Davide's pad, which was decorated with a Welcome Home banner, Ekin-Su said: "I've literally just got to his place. Loving the view."
And she added as Davide beamed: "I can't wait to explore Manchester city. I do love it up here. Northerners are the best." At the weekend self-proclaimed 'Italian snack' Davide partied in Manchester with his equally chiselled pals while Ekin-Su was catching up with loved-ones in Essex.
He teased fans by sharing a message from a supporter calling for the handsome couple to have their own TV show after winning the eighth series. "Petition for Ekin-Su and Davide to have their own TV show where they travel around Italy, eating food, arguing and laughing together," the online plea read.
Sharing a montage of photos of the glam couple together after arriving back in the UK, the villa cook Davide described their first date by writing '*chef kiss.' While he was missing his 'queen', Ekin-Su was also pining for her other half 200 miles away.
She said in a video clip: "I'm back in Essex and it's freezing in the UK. It's nice seeing my family, the neighbours and my close friends tomorrow. I'm missing my man but I know I'm seeing him soon."
After the final Love Island bosses revealed how fans voted in the final with Davide and Ekin-Su scooping a whopping 63.69 per cent of the public vote. The couple got off to a rocky start in the villa but found their way back to each other.
After a romantic date in a vineyard they became firm favourites with fans and were affectionately dubbed 'mum and dad.' After making romantic declarations at a summer ball the couple were left speechless with delight as they were declared the winners. In second place was Gemma Owen and Luca Bish with 14.47 per cent of the vote.
Indiyah Polack and Dami Hope claimed third place with 11.77 per cent and Tasha Ghouri and Andrew Le Page were fourth with 10.07 per cent. The public were able to vote across Sunday and Monday for their favourite couple.
A total of 3.4 million viewers watched the Love Island final on ITV2 and ITV Hub, the biggest finale since 2019, up 100,000 viewers year on year. Thanking fans for their support, Ekin-Su and Davide's official Instagram said: "To the next chapter. We cannot wait to see what the outside world brings for them both."
Their coupling received the thumbs-up from their families during the show's Meet the Parents episode. Davide's mum Nadia said about his romance with actress Ekin-Su: "But I can see she is being sincere. The way she looks at you, she is head over heels.”
And Ekin-Su’s brother told Davide: “I’ve never seen my sister look at a guy the way she looks at you. Clearly there’s something she sees in you. She’s my sister, she deserves the best, she really does, I’m not just saying that. I hope you’re willing to give her the best.”
Davide asked Ekin-Su to go 'exclusive' with him on the show by presenting her with a homemade tiramisu. He told her by the mini firepit: "I wanted to bring you here because this is the place where we had our first kiss."
Gesturing to fellow Islander Dami Hope, who carried over the tiramisu, Davide then told Ekin-Su: "I prepared something nice, an Italian tiramisu." Looking shocked Ekin-Su she asked him about the delicious treat: "Did you seriously make this?"
On Monday fans were left unimpressed from a comment by panellist Nadia Sawalha as they appeared together on the ITV chat show Loose Women. While Love Island fans were eager to see the pair in their first big post-villa interviews, many were left flocking to social media to complain as they were left "uncomfortable."
As Ekin-Su admitted their win still “hasn’t sunk in”, Nadia chipped in to say she thought this year's series was “the best Love Island in years” as her and husband were hooked. But things turned a bit awkward when she turned to the winning couple and added: “What I loved was, it taught me a lesson because I really judged both of you. When you first came on I didn't like either of you.
"I judged you (Davide) because you were good looking and muscly and a bit full of yourself so I thought, 'I don't like him'. And I ended up liking you both the most. So I love that when I'm proved wrong." The pair nodded and smiled as the interview carried on.
But viewers took to Twitter to respond to Nadia's comments. One said: "Very uncomfortable when that woman on the panel kept saying she didn’t like Ekin Su like okay you didn’t like her keep it to yourself no need to tell her that more than once.”
Asked by fellow panellist Gloria Hunniford if they were living together at the moment they revealed plans to cohabit. Davide said: "Not now exactly, we don’t share the same house, but we are always together." And Ekin-Su added: "We’re planning to, probably September, October time."
Davide, who owns a shisha business in Manchester, also opened up on his instant attraction to Ekin-Su. He said: "I said, I want a girl that when I see her, I say 'wow'. So I felt straight away there was something." Ekin-Su added: "It was the instant spark moment. I came through and sat on the fire pit, I literally glanced at Davide and felt this spark and I was like, ‘Ok, I can just act cool now.’"
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