Mike Thalassitis’ former Love Island co-star Montana Brown broke down in tears on This Morning as she spoke of her regret at not replying to the last message he sent her.
Montana appeared on the ITV daytime show to remember Mike, who was found dead at the age of 26 on Saturday.
Speaking to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, she revealed she had remained close with Mike after appearing together on Love Island in 2017, and had heard from him two days before his death.
However, she has been left devastated after failing to reply to his last message.
“I’m kicking myself because he texted me and I didn’t reply because I’m bad at my phone and I just wish I’d replied,” Montana said tearfully.
“He just said ‘how’s it going girl, how are you’ and I didn’t reply.”
Telling of how she’d been there for Mike in recent months, she continued: “I kind of felt like he was coming out of it which is why it’s come as such a shock.”
She added: “When he was going through a rough time I was checking up on him every day.”
Montana, who had Mike’s family’s blessing to appear on This Morning to talk about him, was also visibly upset as she recalled how she thought the news about his death was initially a “horrible rumour” after receiving a message from a friend.
She explained: “I was sat in the pub and thought ‘that’s not true that’s a horrible rumour’ so I text him and said ‘there is this really weird rumour going around call me when you get this’ and it didn’t deliver. That rang alarm bells, and then I tried to call him and it went to answerphone. Then I felt sick.”
Montana was just one of the show’s former stars who posted tributes to him on social media on Saturday night.
Many have since criticised the show’s aftercare support for being insufficient, with Mike’s death following that of series two contestant Sophie Gradon last June.
A representative for the ITV2 series told HuffPost UK that the care of contestants is taken “very seriously” and it is “a continuous process for all those taking part in the show”.
This Morning airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.
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