We are only a few weeks away from this year’s Love Island final, but Jacques O’Neill has decided to quit the series.
ITV confirmed that the contestant “made the decision to leave the villa” and he will explain his reasons to the Islanders during Tuesday’s episode.
Jacques’ romance with Paige was rocked when it emerged he had grown close with another contestant during the show’s annual Casa Amor twist.
After attempting to make it up to Paige in the past few days, a preview revealed Jacques is set to clash with new arrival Adam Collard – who previously took part in Love Island back in 2018 – in Tuesday night’s episode, after he expressed an interest in Paige during his first day in the new villa.
However, Jacques is not the only former contestant to leave the villa for their own reasons – or because producers have prematurely called time on their stint on the Island, for that matter.
In 2020, Ollie Williams bowed out after just four days, while the previous series saw Amy Hart quit the villa after her dramatic split from Curtis Pritchard, while Sherif Lanre mutually agreed with producers to leave the villa, after an incident involving Mollie-Mae.
Here are all the Love Island stars to leave via the back door over the years…
Rykard Jenkins (Walked – series 2)
Rykard was the first Love Island contestant to ever choose to walk away from the villa, deciding – like Samira would two years later – that his blossoming romance with co-star Rachel Fenton was more important than staying the course on the ITV2 reality show.
He and Rachel remained an item after their series ended, eventually announcing their split almost 18 months later. They insisted at the time that the break-up was an amicable one, with Rachel tweeting that she “wished [Rykard] all the best for the future”.
Malia Arkian (Removed – series 2)
Rykard’s decision to leave was the first in Love Island history, but he wasn’t the only one of that year’s contestants to leave in unusual circumstances.
Just a week before he threw in the towel, newcomer Malia Arkian was removed from the villa after just one night, following a physical altercation with fellow Islander Kady McDermott.
While Malia’s outburst cost her a place on the show, Kady made it all the way to the final, finishing in third place that year.
Sophie Gradon (Walked – series 2)
During her time on the show, Sophie – who sadly died in June 2018, at the age of 32 – made Love Island history as one half of the first (and, at the time of writing, only) same-sex couple to ever appear on the show.
She chose to walk just two days after coupling up with co-star Katie Salmon, who eventually ended the show in fourth place, alongside her new partner Adam Maxted.
Zara Holland (Walked – series 2)
Definitely among the most memorable walk-outs in Love Island history, Zara left days after it revealed that a sexual encounter in the villa had cost her the title of Miss GB.
It should be pointed out that Zara’s exit had nothing to do with her controversial decrowning, though, as she actually opted to leave due to an illness in her family.
Niall Aslam (Walked – series 4)
For the entirety of series three, no contestants were thrown out or chose to leave of their own accord, a pattern that was broken when it was announced Niall was leaving just over a week into the fourth series.
Niall has made a series of accusations about the back story of his exit in the years since, with a Love Island spokesperson claiming at the time he made the decision to walk away for “personal reasons”.
Samira Mighty (Walked – series 4)
The course of true love didn’t exactly run smoothly for Samira during her stint in the villa, until she eventually clicked with new arrival Frankie Foster.
When Frankie was dumped, Samira eventually came to the decision she didn’t want to go through the motions of recoupling anymore and left the show to pursue their relationship away from the cameras.
Sadly, it wasn’t to last and they called time on their brief romance after it emerged that he’d been unfaithful to her.
Sherif Lanre (Walked – series 5)
Sherif left in the early days of the show’s fifth series, after breaking an unspecified rule.
While producers were initially tight-lipped about the reasons for Sherif’s exit, which lead to all kinds of speculation, he eventually gave an interview in which he revealed he’d accidentally kicked a fellow contestant in the groin, and joked it was a “c**t-punt”.
Sherif later said he felt it was the joke that had cost him his place in the villa, rather than the actual kick.
Amy Hart (Walked – series 5)
In 2019, Amy Hart had a particularly difficult time in the villa as her relationship (well, half-relationship) with Curtis Pritchard came to an end.
The two grew close in the early stages of the show, but when the Casa Amor twist was brought in, Curtis found his head was turned, and decided the right thing to do would be to end his romance with the former flight attendant.
She eventually chose to stand down, claiming she didn’t want to see the ballroom star growing close to anyone new.
Fortunately, it was a story with a happy ending, with Amy carving a career for herself in TV away from the villa, and Curtis getting together with fellow Islander, Maura Higgins.
Ollie Williams (Walked – series 6)
Ollie’s departure came after more than 200 angry fans complained to Ofcom about his presence, after old photos emerged of him posing with dead animals.
However, it wasn’t the controversy that was responsible for his exit, but rather his feelings for an unidentified ex on the outside world.
As he said in the Beach Hut: “At the end of the day, this is Love Island and it’s about finding love.
“If I carried on anything with Paige [with whom he was partnered at the time of his exit], or any other girl that might come into the villa, it wouldn’t be fair on them.”
Liberty Poole & Jake Cornish (Walked – series 7)
For a long time, Liberty and Jake were the most stable couple of series seven, even surviving Casa Amor and becoming official boyfriend and girlfriend.
But after doubts started creeping in, their relationship started to unravel, and while it initially seemed like there was hope they could work it out, they eventually called time on their relationship and made the decision to leave the villa together (albeit not romantically).
Liam Llewellyn (Walked – series 8)
Liam decided to quit the villa just a few days into the 2022 series, explaining to his fellow Islanders he didn’t feel like he was giving “100%” of himself.
“Trying to find someone you leave the villa with that you care about – obviously that’s the goal, isnt it? But when you‘re not feeling that, it makes it a hard sort of time to find that,” he said.
Liam had been left single and vulnerable earlier that week after new arrival Davide Sanclimenti chose to couple up with Gemma Owen, who Liam had originally been paired with.
Emma and Eve Ryan (Ejected – Celebrity Love Island series 2)
Don’t forget, the current incarnation of Love Island is actually a reboot of a show first shown on ITV in the 2000s, in which a load of celebrities looked for love in the sun.
Glamour model twins Emma and Eve Ryan were late arrivals in the show’s fourth week, but were thrown out by producers after just five days.
Intriguingly, no explanation was ever given as to why they were given the boot, though they were given a send-off.
Shane Lynch (Walked – Celebrity Love Island series 2)
Former Boyzone singer Shane Lynch lasted five weeks in the original Love Island villa, until he decided to call it a day, to try and make it up with an old flame back home.
He said at the time: “I’ve come to a point of realisation what’s right for me and some mistakes I’ve made which I need to go home and put right and that’s to do with a woman at home.
“I wanted to complete this journey, I wanted to experience what this whole show was about but there is nothing and nobody that comes close to what I already know and I need to fight for that.”
Dennis Rodman (Walked – Celebrity Love Island series 2)
Basketball legend Dennis Rodman wasn’t even an official Love Island contestant, instead being brought in as a “guest” to try and spice things up in the show’s third week, and he still didn’t make it as long as he was meant to.
Dennis left the villa four days into filming, when a comment he made about his intention to “f***” fellow contestant Colleen Shannon went down poorly with the rest of the celebrities.
As tension grew, Dennis chose to pack his bags, stating: “I’m a nice guy. I don’t hit people but I don’t need to be in this environment so I want to keep it that way.”
Steve-O (Walked – Celebrity Love Island series 2)
Similarly, Jackass star Steve-O was also brought in as a guest, but chose to walk after two days, because his requests for beer and chocolate were refused by Love Island bosses.
Steve-O had stipulated prior to touching down in the Love Island villa that he was sober.
Love Island airs Sunday to Friday at 9pm on ITV2.