Love Island winners Amber Gill and Greg O’Shea have officially split – but he has insisted he did not break the news via text.
The rugby player confirmed tabloid reports he and Amber had parted ways during as appearance on Ireland’s Late Late Show on Friday night.
Amber was due to appear alongside Greg but failed to show, forcing him to speak out on the rumours about their relationship.
He insisted claims he had broken up with Amber via text message – just 39 days after winning £50,000 on the ITV2 reality show – were inaccurate.
He said: “First off, the age-old saying, don’t believe everything you read. I’ll be open and honest.
“Me and Amber have been chatting the last couple of days, over phone calls – this whole thing about a text just isn’t true. People just want to sell stories.
“We’re mad about each other. I’m mad about her. What’s not to be mad about? Gorgeous, smart, funny personality. The queen of Love Island for a reason.
“But, you need to be realistic about the situation. She lives in the UK. Every brand wants to work with her, every event wants her there. Of course, she deserves all of it.”
Greg, 24, said he decided to return to his native Ireland to focus on rugby.
He said: “I decided to come back to Ireland and do my thing here. I’m trying to get to the Olympics with the sevens team, I have my law exams coming up. We’re both so jam-packed busy.
“And you need to take these opportunities by the scruff of the neck.”
However, Greg faced criticism from Amber’s best friend on Twitter.
Mart Tweedy, who ran Amber’s social accounts while she was in the villa, tweeted after his TV appearance: “Like, Greg took that £25k bag and RAN at the first opportunity he could - he pulled the wool over EVERYBODY’s eyes. He would be NOBODY without @AmberRoseGill
“The night of the final, he had 110k followers, she had 1.9mil. I had to canvas votes SUPER hard to make up for his side.”
Greg and Amber are not the first Love Island winners to split up shortly after being crowned. The 2018 winners, Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham, went their separate ways eight months after leaving the island.
Jess Hayes and Max Morley won the 2015 edition of the show and split up six weeks later, while 2017 winners Amber Davies and Kem Cetinay lasted five months before calling it a day.
However 2016 champs Cara De La Hoyde and Nathan Massey are now married and have a son together.