Mike Thalassitis has tragically passed away at the age of 26. The Love Island star, who became well-known after taking part in the 2017 series of the show and was affectionately nicknamed 'Muggy Mike' during his time on Love Island, was found dead in woodlands near his home on 16th March 2019.
Police confirmed that the official cause of death was suicide by hanging in a statement, saying, "Police were called to a park near Latymer Way, N9 at 0928hrs on Saturday, 16 March to reports of a man found hanged.
"Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found a man, aged in his 20s deceased. At this early stage, the death is not being treated as suspicious. Police are in the process of informing the man's next of kin. A file will be prepared for the coroner."
Our thoughts are with his friends and family.
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In the days following his death, many celebrities have paid tribute to the reality star and former footballer, with a lot of his fellow Love Island stars taking to Twitter to pay tribute as well as his former Celebs Go Dating colleagues sharing heartfelt posts.
His fellow 2017 Love Islander Montana Brown also gave an interview on This Morning, crying as she opened up about the last communication they'd had together.
Love Island's host Caroline Flack shared a post on Instagram, writing, 'Mike... you were a total gentleman... I won’t forget that ... it’s so so sad ...you will be missed. RIP. ❤️'
His Celebs Go Dating co-star, former Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson also shared a heartbreaking tribute to his friend, writing, 'I wasn’t going to do a post. I don’t think for me anyway that social media is a place to grieve. It makes me sad that to the normal person in todays world, if you don’t do a post then you didn’t care.'
He continued, 'It makes me scared of where we as a society are heading, but I want everyone to know the kind of guy I saw in Mike. A person just died. A friend just died. Someone that I know in my heart of hearts I could have done more for.'
Revealing how he'd met Mike and instantly became fast friends with him, Sam revealed what Mike was really like to him, 'This guy was one of the most polite gentlemen I had ever met. He had Tom [Read Wilson] bowled over in a day (Tom is a very good judge of character in my opinion), and had us in stitches of laughter when he would recount his love island stories. Not once was he crass about anything that happened, or bitter about how it all ended.'
Sam added in the comments, 'I have been incredibly lucky over the past year to have met a man like Mike. A friend who, much like the guy I’m currently on TV with has never had trouble being the cool guy or dating women, but who was also so kind, and would pick an insecure wimp like me off the floor time and time again, and make me feel confident, and part of the gang. You are a far better man than I mate, and I will always remember you.'
He gained notoriety in the show after (ALLEGEDLY) sleeping with Jess Shears (who was with Dom Lever) when they were both ejected from the show. He then got with Tyla Carr, broke up with her, (ALLEGEDLY) hooked up with Caroline Flack, and was just generally a bit muggy.
And after the show he went on Celebs Go Dating, was muggy again, then got with TOWIE's Megan McKenna... before announcing their split in April last year.
Who was Love Island's Mike Thalassitis?
Before appearing on Love Island in 2017, Mike's was a semi-pro footballer, playing for Margate FC and Chelmsford City.
Where was Mike Thalassitis from?
London.
How old was Mike?
Mike was aged 26 when he passed away. He was born on 19 January 1993.
When did Mike Thalassitis go on Love Island?
Mike appeared on the 2017 series of Love Island, alongside the likes of Kem Cetinay, Amber Davies, Chris Hughes and Olivia Attwood.
Was Mike on TV before Love Island?
Before Love Island, he explained, "I’ve never done any TV before, but with the football I’ve played professionally and l’ve played for my country. I was in the newspapers in Cyprus when I scored a winner in a game."
Who was Mike coupled up with in the Love Island villa?
After admitting his type, saying, "Looks wise, I’d say Jessica, Olivia and Amber. But personality is really important – I couldn’t be with Jessica if we were having boring conversation. I want to have a laugh and enjoy the girl’s company."
In his first forray into the villa Mike took Tyne-Lexy, Jess and Montana on a date. He also had his eye on Olivia Attwood, who split with Chris Hughes to be with him.
What happened between Mike Thalassitis and Jess Shears? Did they have sex?
After being dumped from the Island alongside Dom's partner Jess, rumours began to fly around that Jess and Mike had slept together. Read what happened here.
Why was Mike Thalassitis called 'Muggy Mike'?
In the villa, Chris and Mike didn't exactly see eye-to-eye. They were both on a mission to win over Olivia, and at first it looked as though Mike had managed it. But Liv soon had a change of heart and things were back on with her and Chris.
During a re-coupling, Chris took the opportunity to give a heartfelt speech about his feelings for Liv and dubbed the newcomer 'Muggy Mike'. It's stuck.
OK. So what happened when Muggy Mike left the villa? Did he get with Caroline Flack?
After leaving the Love Island villa, rumours began flying that Mike had hooked up with Love Island host Caroline Flack. He posted a picture of the two of them on his Instagram Story and captioned it, 'Who really won Love Island.'
And Caroline also posted a picture, captioning it, 'Muggy but huggy.'
Caroline was subsequently grilled about a budding romance on Alan Carr, but she denied it. She said, “No, but I’ll tell you what. He is so fit. Right, he is fit in pictures, but in the flesh and you see him close up. He is a beautiful man. But no, all very professional."
When did Mike Thalassitis go on Celebs Go Dating?
Mike appeared on celebrity matchmaking show Celebs Go Dating in 2018, in a series which also featured TOWIE's Gemma Collins, child actor Jonathan Lipnicki and Made In Chelsea stars Sam Thompson and Ollie Locke.
BELOW: Which Love Island couples are still together (and which are NOT)
love island couples heat slider
1 of 25Hannah Elizabeth and Jonathan Clark (2015): SPLIT
Remember when they, like, got engaged on the show? That one didn't quite last...
2 of 25Katie Salmon and Adam Maxwell (2016): SPLIT
Adam claimed he was '100 percent single' shortly after leaving the villa and, um, that was that. #Kadam; gone but never forgotten.
3 of 25Gabby Allen and Marcel Somerville (2017): SPLIT
Gabby dumped Marcel after he was spotted cheating as they holidayed TOGETHER. Blimey.
4 of 25Scott Thomas and Kady McDermott (2016): SPLIT
Scott and Kady managed a year before splitting in 2017.
5 of 25Nathan Massey and Cara de da Hoyde (2016): STILL TOGETHER
They've got their little Love Island baby and everything.
6 of 25Jamie Jewitt and Camilla Thurlow (2017): STILL TOGETHER
An absolute success story of Love Island 2017, Jamie and Camilla and Jamie are still the CUTEST of couples.
7 of 25Sam Gowland and Georgia Harrison (2017): SPLIT
Sam seems to be doing alright for himself on Geordie Shore, so we don't think he's too gutted.
8 of 25Olivia Attwood and Chris Hughes (2017): SPLIT
The couple were plagued with cheating rumours throughout their relationship (who can forget that whole Chris Hughes and Katie Price debacle?). Since their ITVBe show Crackin' On ended, Olivia's confirmed she's back with ex-boyfriend Bradley Dack.
9 of 25Malin Andersson and Terry Walsh (2016): SPLIT
He did date fellow Love Island-er Emma-Jane Woodhams eight months in actual real life before calling it a day. AH WELL.
10 of 25Rykard Jenkins and Rachel Fenton (2016): SPLIT
At least they lasted 18 months. Not bad going...
11 of 25Jessica Hayes and Max Morley (2015): SPLIT
Still fancy Max in a huge way, not gonna lie.
12 of 25Alex Bowen and Olivia Buckland (2016): MARRIED
Alex and Olivia are married and literally as strong as ever. We like to live vicariously through them, to be honest.
13 of 25Jordan Ring and Zoe Brown (2015): SPLIT
Absolutely DID NOT work IRL. Neeext.
14 of 25Luis Morrison and Cally Jane Beech (2015): SPLIT
They had the first ever Love Island baby, but things later took a sour turn, with Cally accusing Luis of 'cheating' on her whilst she was pregnant with their daughter. (Oh dear).
15 of 25Tyla Carr and Jonny Mitchell (2017): SPLIT
Oh it was never gonna last, was it?
16 of 25Kem Cetinay and Amber Davies (2017): SPLIT
The Love Island 2017 winners split in December 2017; five months after the finale.
17 of 25Montana Brown and Alex Beattie (2017): SPLIT
These two split just weeks after returning to the UK. Sad times.
18 of 25Dom Lever and Jess Shears (2017): MARRIE
Jess and Dom are so together, in fact, they got 'married' on Good Morning Britain on Valentine's Day 2017. They then got, y'know, properly married.
19 of 25Sam Bird and Georgia Steel: SPLIT
You know how this one went. Sam accused Georgia of cheating on him with her ex, which she denied. It's safe to say they didn't split on the best of terms.
20 of 25Zara McDermott and Adam Collard: SPLIT
Zara and Adam have called it quits. WAH.
21 of 25Megan Barton-Hanson and Wes Nelson: SPLIT
Megan and Wes did move in together, but announced their split in January 2019 following rumours Wes was getting close to Dancing on Ice partner Vanessa Bauer. Uh oh.
22 of 25Josh Denzel and Kaz Crossley: SPLIT
Josh and Kaz announced their split in February 2019, with Kaz saying: "Sometimes things don't go the way you planned, but you have to be grateful for the journey. Thank you for everything especially showing me how to love myself again."
23 of 25Samira Mighty and Frankie Foster: SPLIT
Frankie reportedly cheated on Samira and that was that. Done. Over. thank u, next.
24 of 25Laura Anderson and Paul Knops: SPLIT
There's no bad blood between Laura and Paul, but they split months after making it to the final of the show.
25 of 25Jack Fincham and Dani Dyer: SPLIT
Although they briefly split in 2018, in April 2019, Jack Fincham announced he was no longer in a relationship with Dani, just hours before her book launch. (OUCH).
Was Mike Thalassitis dating Megan McKenna?
Mike and Megan went public with their romance in 2018, posting loved-up pictures together on Instagram. Things took a sour turn and the pair split in July 2018, with Megan admitting they weren't right for each other.
However, the pair travelled to Dubai together in an attempt to reconcile their romance in October 2018, with fans of the couple apparently spotting them in the street. As well as this, of course, Megan and Mike posted pictures to their social media accounts, leading fans to believe they were together.
Sadly, the make-or-break holiday didn't work, with Megan telling The Sun a week later, "We went there because it was out of the public eye and it could be the two of us. But it hasn’t worked. Sometimes it just can’t happen. I’m just trying to move on with my life now."
Megan appeared on Celebs Go Dating in February 2019, seemingly breaking down over the split and revealing that she had been "in love" with Mike. She said, "'I think my last relationship, I was kind of... I think I definitely fell in love. I don't really want to talk about it, sorry. But I feel that's all I want, I want that love back."
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