With the latest series of Love Island now well and truly underway, viewers at home have already been introduced to many of the contestants hoping to find love in Mallorca. Yet while in previous years, there have been some connections to former Islanders among the cast, this year the production team appears to have excelled themselves with almost half of the contestants having ties to previous stars.
Typically, the connections are usually fleeting at best, such as having been at the same party once in a blue moon or having known each other on social media. However this year’s Islanders have far closer connections to former contestants, with everything from famous exes and even a Love Island bestie among the stars in search of true love.
Here’s everything we know so far about this year’s stars and their Love Island connections.
Molly Marsh
One star that has dominated much of the villa screen time so far is blonde stunner Molly Marsh, leading many fans to even dub the show “Molly Island” in the first week as she quickly turned the heads of the men inside the villa.
Clearly at ease with the entire process, it will perhaps come as no great shock to discover that Molly has links to a huge number of former Islanders, including Molly-Mae Hague, Maura Higgins, Siannise Fudge, Jourdan Riane, Olivia Attwood, Tommy Fury and even Jack Keating! So how exactly did Molly rub shoulders with so many stars?
Long before entering the villa, Molly was a well established influencer on social media and it is through this work that she met the bulk of the Islanders. Molly-Mae, Maura, Siannise and Jourdan were all met thanks to various influencer events over the years. Molly also teamed up with Olivia Attwood to film a “quick fire question” segment to promote Olivia’s documentary series: Getting Filthy Rich, which is how she first met her.
In addition, Molly is also no stranger to having dated former Love Islanders too, after she was previously revealed to have dated Tommy Fury before he met and fell for Molly-Mae during his 2019 villa stint.Molly also has a surprising link to last year’s contestant Jack Keating, the son of Boyzone star Ronan Keating, as she was reportedly “flirty texting” with the star before his Casa Amor debut in Summer 2022.
Tyrique Hyde
Another star with a connection to a former star is footballer Tyrique Hyde, who revealed that he and 2021 finalist Toby Aromolaran are actually best mates having grown up together since childhood.
Growing up alongside each other, they were even in the same class at school and have continued to maintain a close bond throughout their youth and into adulthood.
Mitchel Taylor
Early on the 2023 series, Mitchel Taylor was rocked by a small scandal on screen after the star’s ex-girlfriend revealed that he had previously cheated on her with two other girls. Understandably she was less than impressed and has been posting some TikToks to share her side of the story since he entered the villa.
However, eagle eyed fans have noticed that while scrolling down her TikTok account there is a video that reveals the moment Mitchel met former Islander Jack Fincham while out clubbing – and even convinced him to give his ex a shoutout.
Catherine Agbaje
Hoping to find love in the villa this Summer is Catherine Agbaje, who has since been revealed to have links to last year’s contestant Tanya Manhenga. Although it is currently unknown how the two know each other, Tanya was quick to cheer on her pal when she was announced as a contestant last month.
Taking to Instagram to share a post introducing her, Tanya adorably captioned the photo “my girl” as she celebrated her entrance to the villa.
Zachariah Noble
When Zachariah Noble first made his appearance in the Love Island villa, fans at home couldn’t get over how much he looked like former contestant Jack Fowler, who appeared on the show back in 2018. Dubbed “Jack Fowler 2.0” fans at home were convinced they had been taking style cues from each other – and it has since emerged that they might not be wrong.
It turns out Zach and Jack have been firm friends for a number of years, with the duo having previously shared numerous photos together on Instagram as they embarked on days and nights out together.
Leah Taylor
One of the most recent bombshells to enter the villa is Leah Taylor, and just like many of her fellow contestants, she too has a string of links to former Islanders including the likes of Maura Higgins, Danny Williams, Tasha Ghouri and Stephanie Lam.
Maura and Tasha in particular are counted among her closest friends, with Tasha frequently commenting on many of her social media posts. She was also spotted on a recent “girls trip” with Maura and Stephanie indicating a strong friendship with both Islanders.
And if that wasn’t well-connected enough, Leah even previously dated 2019 Islander Danny Williams before heading into the villa!
Danny and Leah are thought to have first started dating in November 2020, and even went to Iceland together in 2022. However, sadly the couple have since broken up and cut all ties with each other on social media.
Love Island continues Sunday to Thursday at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX
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