Hold the phone: Love Island winners Sammy Root and Jess Harding have split, just months after winning the show.
Despite being named king and queen of the summer Love Island 2023 villa, Sammy and Jess have gone their separate ways, with sources close to the couple sharing the news.
According to MailOnline, the pair decided they were "better off as friends" and mutually came to the conclusion. "Jess and Sammy have called it quits," the insider said of the 22-year-olds.
"Things have changed since leaving the villa and Jess has realised they're better off as friends."
Responding to the reports, Sammy took to Instagram Stories to allege he found out about their break up over social media and the internet. In a statement, he wrote:
"I thought I would come online to address today's news about me and Jess. Yes we had a private conversation regarding our relationship but this was left up in the air as Jess is still away and we haven't had a chance to speak in person. For me to then see today via the media that we had officially broken up came as a total shock.
"To be totally clear - I at least wanted a face to face conversation to see if our relationship could be saved and felt this would be the respectful way forward. We had the most incredible experience winning Love Island and I genuinely saw a future with Jess.
"I was committed and respectful to our relationship. Unfortunately things don't always work out the way you'd hoped. Despite how this has all played out today, I think Jess is an amazing woman and genuinely wish her all the best."
Following Sammy's statement, Jess has now broken her silence on the breakup, claiming the couple split over a week ago during a Q+A session with her followers yesterday (4th October).
One follower asked Jess: "How are you doing since your split?", to which Jess replied: "It's been over a week now since we split, so I'm getting there. We shared a once in a lifetime experience together so of course I'm sad."
When asked by another follower the reason for their split, Jess said: "I really don't want to go into detail by doing a big statement but we're just very different and behave differently and that's it."
Instagram @jesshardingox
During their time in the villa, Sammy and Jess made things official, with Sammy asking for his fellow Islanders' help with asking Jess to be his girlfriend. They also said 'I love you', before Maya Jama named them the Love Island 2023 winners, awarding them the £50,000 prize money.
Following their time in the villa, the pair spoke to Cosmopolitan UK for an episode of Text On The Beach, chatting about what the future looked like for their relationship. "We're still on cloud nine," Jess said. "We're not in a rush to do anything. We'll probably go on holidays, some shopping..."
Sammy interjected, "It's all very new to us. We're still the normal Sammy and Jess. It's very new territory. We don't really know what's coming up for the both of us, but right now, it's perfect."
Here's to hoping they're both doing OK!
We have reached out to reps for comment.
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Dusty Baxter-Wright is an award-winning journalist and the Entertainment and Lifestyle Director at Cosmopolitan, having previously worked at Sugarscape. She was named one of PPA’s 30 Under 30 for her work covering pop culture, careers, interiors and travel, and oversees the site’s Entertainment and Lifestyle strategy across print, digital and video. As a journalist for the best part of a decade, she has interviewed everyone from Louis Theroux and Channing Tatum to Margot Robbie and Ncuti Gatwa, while she has also spoken on Times Radio and BBC Radio. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram here.
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