It’s the Love Island: All Stars final tonight (Monday 17 February), which somehow means it’s been six weeks since this year’s OG Islanders slo-mo strutted into the villa. Oh, how time flies.
One of those OGs was Love Island 2024’s Ronnie Vint, who just missed out on a place in the final when he was dumped from the villa alongside Harriett Blackmore after the previously dumped Islanders returned to Cape Town to exact some revenge.
Harriett and Ronnie were neck and neck with Elma Pazar and Sammy Root for most of the vote, but Tina Stinnes had the deciding vote and she chose to send Harriett and Ronnie packing in tearful scenes.
Now that they’re out of the villa, the couple have been setting the recording straight on a few things and it’s safe to say they’re not happy with the suggestion that they faked their split last year simply to win a place on All Stars.
When asked how he felt about being labelled ‘fake’ by some viewers (and even some Islanders), Ronnie replied, ‘The fake comments are crazy - did you see how much I was grafting? It’s mad. Even until last week I was still doing it, every day.
‘We fully split up. Everyone’s going to have an opinion but the real opinion is me and H. That’s all I care about.’
Ronnie even went as far to say that he and Harriett were the ‘strongest’ couple in the villa. He continued, ‘I don’t think there’s a stronger couple than us, I really don’t. I’m happy with the whole journey, coming in from day one. I feel like I’ve grown as a person, become a better person, that’s what I wanted to do. Long may it continue with Harriett.’
Harriett also spoke out against the rumours, adding, ‘Regardless, whether I picked him or not, people would have either said, “She’s picked someone else, but she still fancies Ronnie” or if I’d picked him straight away they’d have said I’d only gone back in for him.
‘I didn’t expect this to happen, this is the way it’s gone.’
Harriett admitted that before entering the villa for the second time she ‘never thought she’d speak to Ronnie again’.
‘Obviously I went into the Villa with the intention of not getting back with him. I spoke to Ron [Hall] and quickly realised he wasn’t for me. Then naturally Ronnie and I gravitated towards each other, but I still had my guard up,’ she explained.
‘It’s only really the last week that I’ve actually let it down. So I was shocked! I would never have spoken to him unless I was in the Villa. It does feel like everything’s happened for a reason.’
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Nathan Katnoria is heat and Closer online’s senior digital writer. He became obsessed with Love Island when Malin Andersson came back to confront Terry Walsh in series two and hasn’t looked back since. When he’s not interviewing former Islanders, Nathan is scrolling through their Instagram feeds for relationship updates and piping hot tea.