When it was announced that a Love Island spin-off was in the works – one that WAS NOT whatever the hell The Love Island Games turned out to be – naturally, names of former Islanders were swirling around like nobody's business.
From season five bombshell of all bombshells Ovie Soko to controversial Love Island 2021 OG Faye Winter, anybody who had ever stepped foot into the villa was a possibility.
Including Sammy Root.
Despite having only just won Love Island 2023 alongside his now ex-girlfriend, Jess Harding, Sammy was still a popular fan choice for All Stars.
Perhaps he would do a Scott van-der-Sluis, who famously left the Spanish villa in 2023 and rocked up in Love Island USA LITERALLY a week later before jetting off to take part in the Games as well. Talk about finding ways to avoid unpacking...
But as the All Stars series comes to an end tonight (19 February 2024) it is fair to say that Sammy is not one of the former contestants who jumped at the opportunity to try and find love. Again.
We had a chance to catch up with the winner and quiz him about his decision to not return to the dating show.
"We spoke about All Stars, but for me it was very soon," he revealed, "I'd literally just got out of one and although it was an amazing show and I had a lot of fun, I was in two minds about it."
We'll tell you who didn't think it was too soon to head back and that's 'Messy' Mitch Taylor who took part in All Stars but only lasted 16 days, a substantially lesser amount compared to his chaotic 56 days on the show first time around.
Naturally, we couldn't help but ask Sammy's thoughts on the Sheffield troublemaker returning to Love Island...
"Mitch is just Mitch, ain’t he? I expected him to get a bit messy and he did," Sammy replied.
"He delivered. He's a funny boy to watch. I do have to sometimes tell him to think before he speaks," he added.
Sammy might not be back on the romance reality show but he is still living his best life and when we quizzed about how he's finding fame there's no denying he is enjoying it.
"I'm not gonna lie I've just had a lot of fun with it," he confessed, "I think some people get a bit overwhelmed with it, but for me, personally, I've just had a lot of fun. It's the industry I'd always wanted to be in. I'm just having a lot of fun, maybe too much fun."
We just KNEW Sammy was having fun when he joined us at heat HQ for our Christmas dress-up. With MAFS UK bride Ella Morgan kitted out as Barbie, Sammy channelled his inner Ryan Gosling and was the ultimate reality TV star Ken.