With 2021firmly behind us, it’s time we looked back at some of the more important moments of the year — namely, who actually found love on Love Island.
After taking a hiatus in summer 2020 due to the pandemic, the group of bikini-clad twenty-somethings were back in sunny Mallorca last year (following a two-week quarantine, of course) and graced our screens most nights of the week for two months between June and August.
While some couples had a strong start that soon crashed and burned (we’re looking at you, Liberty Poole and Jake Cornish) others have made their love last long after they left the villa.
With three couples still going strong, could this be the most successful season of Love Island yet? Read on to see who’s still together and which of the top four couples very recently split up.
Millie Court and Liam Reardon
Status: Living together
Court and Reardon were this year’s winners of Love Island and took home the £50,000 prize at the end of the season. Neither of the two were part of the original Love Island cast for 2021, but both were brought on later as “bombshells”.
Despite Reardon’s mishap with Lillie Haynes in Casa Amor, the pair remained a tight unit throughout most of the show — Reardon had to grovel for a few episodes to win Court back — and have stayed strong in the four months since the show stopped airing. Since filming wrapped up, the pair have been dubbed a modern-day Gavin and Stacey, as Reardon lives in Wales and Court hails from Essex.
At the beginning of November, the pair moved in together and have spent Christmas in Wales, with Reardon posting a picture of the two in the Brecon Beacons on Thursday 23 December with the caption: “Feels good to be home and doing what I love doing, even better having my girl there with me!”
Kaz Kamwi and Tyler Cruickshank
Status: Split up
Fan favourite Kaz Kamwi found her other half when “bombshell” Tyler Cruickshank entered the villa early on in the season. Yet, when he came back from Casa Amour with Clarisse Juliette and Kamwi recoupled with Matthew MacNabb, it seemed all was over for the pair.
Yet, over the next few episodes the pair sorted out their differences and ended up back together, coming in at fourth place in the season finale.
They attended a number of red carpet events together, but the duo ultimately split up in December after four months of dating. They took to Instagram to confirm the breakup, saying: “We are extremely sad to announce that we have decided to end our romantic relationship. We have had a fantastic journey and we will always have a special bond between us.
“We will continue to be very much in one another’s lives and support each other in every way. We are so grateful that we have shared this Love Island experience with each other, and we will continue to support each other’s careers. Life since the villa has been amazing, but it’s taking time to adjust to a new normal in the public eye. This part of the journey hasn’t been easy for us but we’re learning. Thank you to every single person who has supported us, we appreciate you more than you will ever know.”
Faye Winter and Teddy Soares
Status: Living together
Despite their ups and downs in the villa — with one argument between the pair sparking 25,000 complaints to Ofcom — Winter and Soares, who placed third, moved in together at the start of November.
Winter has even started a separate Instagram account to document the progress of their home and @faye_home has already amassed an impressive 213,000 followers on the social media platform.
After the launch, Winter posted a picture of herself, Soares and their two pups to Instagram with the caption: “Thank you all for the love on @faye__home just a reminder, home isn’t a place it’s who you share it with.” Soares replied with: “You have my heart.” Cute, guys.
Chloe Burrows and Toby Aromolaran
Status: Living together
Undoubtedly the most quotable couple from this season — we’re still channeling Burrows’ “That’s a violation” and “No way” — Burrows and Aromolaran have gone from strength to strength since leaving the villa in second place.
Still making us laugh on their social media pages the pair, who have given themselves the couple name of “Chloby”, moved in together mid-November with both of them sharing an Instagram post with the caption: “Cheers to us finally moving in.”
Burrows has even started her own YouTube channel, which has already amassed 121,000 subscribers, and regularly posts videos of her and Aromolaran answering questions, appearing alongside other Love Island castmates and making weekly vlogs too.
Mary Bedford and Aaron Simpson
Status: Split up
Bedford and Simpson split up just days after leaving the Love Island villa, with Bedford placing Simpson firmly in the friendzone on Love Island: Aftersun.
Bedford later said that “personal issues” got in the way of her focusing on their romance while Simpson said that while on the show it looked as if Bedford liked him more than he liked her, coming out of the villa showed “it was probably the other way around”.
According to their social media, both appear to have remained single since parting ways.
Lucinda Strafford and Aaron Francis
Status: Split up
Strafford and Francis’ romance came to an end almost as soon as they left the Mallorcan villa, with Strafford saying she “didn’t find love” in the villa just days after leaving the show.
“Unfortunately, both of us didn’t find actual love in the villa,” she told TheDaily Mail. “We’re great friends, I know that I can come to him for anything. The aim of the game is to find love and I did really want to… I made amazing friends in there.”
Francis was later seen on a dinner date with Sharon Gaffka, who he was briefly paired with during the series and Strafford has since launched a collection for fashion brand, I Saw it First. Both appear to be single.
Hugo Hammond and Amy Day
Status: Split up
Hammond’s time on Love Island was up and down, to say the least. As part of the original cast, he was initially paired up with Sharon and then Chloe and then Sharon again before we thought he’d found the one when he met Day in Casa Amor.
Their love quickly fizzled out however when, as they were leaving the villa following being dumped from the show, Hammond made remarks about his journey on the show being “tragic”.
Things really went down between the PE teacher and the actor in an ensuing episode of Love Island: Aftersun when Day slammed Hammond for his “patronising” behaviour. She said: “It’s the Hugo show, that’s all it is. I think we need to clear up a few things because I feel like I had my time wasted a little bit, staying with you.
“I thought there was something there. We leave the villa, and you just flipped and friend-zoned me. You’ve come across quite fake now.” Hammond said he “completely disagreed”. Both appear to be single.
