Love Island’s only Scots winner Paige Turley is ready to give up her crown, joking: “We’ve kind of milked it enough.” The West Lothian star won the first winter spin-off in 2020 with Finley Tapp.
The couple are still together and, because of Covid restrictions, there hasn’t been another winter version since they took the £50,000 prize. Speaking via Zoom from their Manchester home, Paige, 25, laughed and said: “We are quite willing to hand over the crowns now. We’ve kind of milked it enough. I can’t believe it’s been three years. It feels like it’s gone by in flash but is also a lifetime ago.”
Back in 2020, Laura Whitmore took over hosting duties for the first time and now Maya Jama will present the second winter Love Island. Paige remembers how she felt before she flew in for Love Island. Three years ago, she was working at Forty Clothing in Glasgow while dreaming of being a singer.
She said: “I didn’t realise how naive you were going into the villa and how much it was going to change our lives.” Finn added: “You really don’t know what to expect or what you are preparing for. It was nerve-wracking. I thought Laura did a brilliant job when we were on the show and I think Maya is going to do just as good a job.”
Although the majority of Love Island couples haven’t lasted, Paige and Finn are still going strong. She said: “Lockdown gave us the stability of home life and helped build the foundations of our relationship. Your relationship is accelerated in the villa and then we come out you’re in this whirlwind of a world.
“You don’t really know each other when you leave the villa. You don’t know their friends or family. When I took Finn to Fauldhouse, my home town, he was ‘wow’.”
The pair moved in together to a flat in Manchester in 2020 but think they will move to Scotland eventually. Paige said: “A big pull for Finn is the golf courses and fry-ups. When we first met he wasn’t wanting to move to Scotland but now he is.”
Finn, 23, from Milton Keynes, said: “I’ve fallen in love with Scotland. We will definitely end up there.” Paige said: “Every time we go up the road at the weekend my mum will do a fry-up for us. That’s the only time I see Finn spring out of bed.”
Marriage is on the cards – but not yet. Finn said: “I don’t know what Paige thinks about this but I’d say definitely. But at the minute we are living life and enjoying our time.”
Paige said: “Before the villa I liked travelling so this year we are going to focus on seeing a bit of the world. This year we want to see different parts of the world and experience life. After that, you never know. In time he can ask my dad.”
First up will be a skiing festival holiday in March with friends. Paige said: “I’ve never been on a skiing holiday. Finn has so I imagine it will be amazing – or a domestic.”
It’s apparent they love the opportunities Love Island has given them and the celebrity events they get invited to but they also want normality.
Paige said: “We are very grateful to the show. Every day is a pinch-me moment but you just can’t get too caught up in it all. The other stuff is amazing but we are still young and want the normal life as well as these opportunities.”
The 10 new islanders will be enjoying a new villa in the Ludus Magnus estate in Franschhoek – which is just outside of Cape Town. They include TikTok farmer Will Young and former KSI ring girl Olivia Hawkins.
After the show’s first deaf contestant, Tasha Ghouri, last year, the show’s first partially sighted entry, Ron Hall, will be there this year.
Paige said: “It was so important for people to see Tasha and feel, ‘There’s someone like me on TV.’ The same for Ron. It shows the series is coming round to inclusiveness.”
As winners, the couple’s advice to the new islanders ahead of Monday’s opening show is to be themselves and appreciate every moment in the villa. Finn said: “If you’re in a genuine relationship show your emotions – bicker and cry as viewers love to experience everything with you and respect you’ve opened up.
“You forget it’s Love Island and think you’re on holiday so by week four or five you are wanting to get out. But as soon as you do you realise how amazing it was. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Paige added: “It’s truly liberating. You don’t have a phone. You don’t know the time. You have zero responsibility – they feed you and clean up after you. You’re never going to get that again in life.”
Since leaving the villa, Paige has gone back to her first love – music. She took part in BGT in 2012, aged 14, and since Love Island has released her own music including a cover of Movin’ Too Fast. On Friday she’s back in the studio and will self-release her own original music this year.
She said: “It’s daunting but I didn’t want to release anything I wasn’t happy with just because I had this platform of Love Island. It’s not easy doing it yourself but I feel more prepared to do it now.”
● Love Island returns to our screens on ITV2 at 9pm on Monday.
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