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Love Island an allegation of “unconscious racism” by former contestant Sherif Lanre .
The 20-year-old was kicked off the show on Tuesday 12 June, sparking widespread rumours about the reason for his removal.
In an interview with the Sun on Sunday
Show all 76 1 /76Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Lucie trying - and failing - to make ‘bev’ happen Love Island is known for adding new slang to the British lexicon, but 21-year-old Lucie’s firm insistence that ‘bev’ means a hot man failed to catch on.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Amber’s anti-chemistry with Callum Straight-talking Amber quickly made mincemeat of Callum, the first boy she coupled up with. After correcting him when he said he looked younger than his 28 years, she confirmed it was his wrinkles which were aging him. She would go on to diss his sunglasses before ditching him for Anton during the next coupling.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Tommy’s Hannah Montana obsession Sensitive boxer Tommy has been vocal about his love for Miley Cyrus’ teen sitcom since day one. His fandom reached new heights when he serenaded Curtis with a rendition of her hit song ‘The Climb’ to illustrate his path to winning Lucie’s heart. Aww.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series The Joe-Tommy-Lucie love triangle Blonde surfer Lucie was an instant hit in the villa, with almost every boy trying a cheeky graft. She seemed torn between Tommy and Joe, who each went nuclear in their attempt to woo her. Tommy pledged that he would crawl to the moon and back for her after knowing her for around 24 hours. Despite this, Joe’s jealous moping eventually won out.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Anton’s unique seduction techniques The confident Scotsman’s seduction skills manage to be both slippery smooth yet wildly erratic. His mile-a-minute chat has failed to land with any of the Love Island ladies, leading his to receive a cold shoulder from from Lucie, Anna and Mollie Mae.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series The cowboy challenge The raunchy challenge saw the boys strip down to chaps and speedos before hopping on a bucking bronco and getting covered in paint splatter. Performances ranged from smooth (Michael and Sherif) to deeply awkward (Callum and Joe).
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Curtis friendzones Mollie Mae Amy had a minor wobble when newcomer Mollie Mae picked her man Curtis to join her for a date in the hot tub. She shouldn’t have worried: Curtis firmly friendzoned Mollie Mae and settled in for a gossip about his fellow housemates instead.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Anton is disappointed Anton seemed confident at the first recoupling that pharmacist Anna would choose him. His confident smile on hearing Anna compliment her mystery love’s body quickly turned into disappointment when he realised she had been talking about Sherif.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Calum leaves the villa The aircraft engineer barely seemed to grace our screens before he was ejected after Mollie Mae chose to couple up with Tommy.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Tommy makes his first cup of tea Tommy shocked the nation when he revealed he didn’t know how to make a cup of peppermint tea. With a lot of coaching from Sherif, the boxer managed to impress Mollie Mae without her realising the truth.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Tommy convinces himself he made an omelette Encouraged by his success, Tommy tried to step up his culinary game by impressing Mollie Mae with a breakfast omelette (with Curtis doing the actual cooking.) Tommy even seemed to convince himself that he cooked the omelette, although he was rumbled after Sherif let slip who really made it.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Yewande’s quest for love Gorgeous scientist Yewande had been unlucky in love in the villa – until she was picked for a date by newcomer Danny. The rest of the Islanders encouraged her fledgling romance, from putting in a good word with Danny to criticising Mollie Mae’s attempt to woo the new boy for herself.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Sherif’s mystery departure Nine days into the series Love Island bosses confirmed that Sherif had been suddenly ejected from the show after “breaking the villa rules.” The 20-year-old confirmed his departure was due to his “poor judgement”, but it remains unknown which rule he broke.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Curtis and Amy become a half-couple Amy may have never had a boyfriend before, but she was the first girl to make it official in the villa – sort of. During a date in the hideaway, Curtis asked her to become exclusive, which ended up with her getting the very high school label of ‘half-girlfriend.’
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Amber opens up Amber gained a reputation for withering looks and cutting putdowns, but one man was able to get past her icy exterior. Firefighter Michael proved he could take her self-proclaimed diva attitude, and was rewarded – on the second try – with a kiss.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Anton’s bad chat gets worse With Sherif out the villa, Anton resumed his moves on Anna. This time, it went even worse than before, with the Scotsman inadvertently comparing her with Mollie Mae, calling Anna beautiful ‘on the inside’. He thought the chat went well; a dressing down from Amber and Michael soon put him in his place.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Tommy’s romantic meal Tommy was tasked with making a starter for his date with new girl Maura. “I’ve never put so much effort into cheese in my life,” he said, as he carved out lovehearts from limp sliced cheddar. The result, two slices of ketchup and mayo-smeared white bread, proved that Maura’s continuing lust for the 20-year-old boxer is made of powerful stuff.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series The girls freak out over Maura and Elma Amber, Yewande and Mollie Mae watched their respective partners meet the new girls from the balcony. “Confident sh*ts,” fumed Amber, while Mollie made fun of their flirty laughter.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Michael confronts Amber Michael brands Amber's behaviour as "childish" after the beauty therapist heckled his date with Maura.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Tommy and Mollie Mae fight Mollie Mae wasn't happy when Tommy seemed interested in new girl Maura, and wasn't afraid to let the boxer know how she felt.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Amy and Lucie fall out Lucie tearfully stood up for herself after Amy accused her of not spending enough time with the girls. Is Lucie just not a girl’s girl, or did Amy drive her away?
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Maura gets a rise out of Tommy Maura had her sights set on the 20-year-old boxer from the start, and things got steamy when she got him into bed. Her straight-up seduction techniques proved a bit too exciting for Tommy, who got a little hot and bothered under the covers. Just wait until he sees her eat an ice lolly…
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Maura’s infamous kisses Maura went full factor 50 on Tommy when she ambushed him on the sofa. Tommy put his boxing training into practice as he dodged her kisses, while a jealous Mollie Mae watched on from behind a potted plant.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Jordan and Tom enter the villa After being the only two girls not picked for recoupling, Anna and Maura got to go on a date with the new boys: 29-year-old Tom and 24-year-old Jordan.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Joe and Elma leave the villa The islanders voted for the couple they thought was least compatible, leaving the Joe-Lucie and Anton-Elma couples vulnerable. The public voted off Joe and Elma, ending the tumultuous relationship between the surfer and the sandwich maker (and leaving Anton single once again).
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Anna and Jordan take it up a notch Anna and Jordan sealed the deal with a sensuous kiss, with Anna later rating the model as a 10/10 kisser.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Arabella arrives – and immediately shakes things up After swearing to Yewande that a new girl wouldn’t turn his head, Danny was immediately smitten with fellow model Arabella after their flirty first date.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Yewande lays it on with Danny Sensing danger, Yewande made an effort to be more affectionate with Danny, kissing him in front of the rest of the islanders.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Curtis makes a snogging faux pas During a challenge, a blindfolded Curtis accidentally rated Arabella a 10/10 kisser, while giving his half-girlfriend Amy a measly seven. Amy was not happy, storming off followed by an apologetic Curtis.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Arabella challenges Yewande Arabella stirred the pot when she accused Yewande of being overly-possessive of Danny, telling her a few uncomplimentary remarks Danny had made about her to boot. A devastated Yewande soon realised that her fledgling romance was in serious jeopardy.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Maura is livid at Tom Maura’s carrot-swallowing skills won her first place during the gym bunny challenge, giving her a night in the hideaway as a prize. Maura chose Tom to join her, but things quickly went south after she overheard him brag to the boys about finding out whether or not the Irish beauty was “all mouth.” Tom got a scathing dressing down, and a night in the hideaway was firmly off the cards.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Yewande leaves the island Danny chose Arabella during a recoupling, leaving Yewande as the eliminated singleton. She was devastated to leave best mates Amber and Anna, but Danny was left with a scathing parting shot: “What goes around comes around.” Ouch.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Danny faces the wrath of Amber Amber was furious after watching Danny kiss Arabella the same night that Yewande left the villa. She had some choice words for the model, although Danny stayed calm and collected during the confrontation.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Curtis and Tommy share an intimate moment After declaring how much their friendship meant to each other, Tommy and Curtis shared the season’s first bromance kiss. Perhaps if they ditched their girlfriends, Turtis could go all the way to the £50k?
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Twitter shakes things up During a challenge which saw the islanders read the public’s tweets, some couples were left seriously shaken. Amy was called out for making Curtis feel “in the wrong,” Lucie and Tommy were named as a good potential couple and Mollie Mae was accused of faking her relationship with Tommy for the prize money.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Mollie Mae worries about Lucie The Twitter challenge made Mollie Mae re-examine Tommy’s close friendship with Lucie. After a chat with Mollie Mae, the boxer told Lucie they should stop being so affectionate with each other. A disgruntled Lucie complained about the new “rules” imposed on her, while also refusing to rule out a potential relationship with Tommy during a chat with the girls.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Maura confronts Tom – again Maura wasn’t happy to hear that Tom had called her “attention-seeking” and “cringey” behind her back. She stormed over and confronted him, later making it clear he had blown his second chance.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Arabella and Tom get dumped from the island After four couples were left vulnerable following a public vote, the three safe couples decided that Arabella and Tom should be the pair to leave the villa. Maura comforted a devastated Danny, but didn’t appear to be that heartbroken about losing Tom.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Lucie confesses her feelings for Tommy Encouraged by Anton, Lucie revealed to Tommy that she would be interested in rekindling their romance. Tommy told her he was happy with Mollie Mae, and later told Mollie about Lucie’s confession, leading Mollie to brand the Cornish surfer “muggy” for not coming to her first.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series The girls take a holiday to Casa Amor Six new boys entered the game when the girls took a trip to Casa Amor. A thrilled Maura took an instant liking to Dennon, while 6ft 7in basketball player Ovie immediately cracked on with Anna, leaving her relationship with Jordan in jeopardy.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Six new girls cause the boys to have doubts Back at the villa, heads were also turning at the arrival of six new girls. Jordan flirted with Jourdan, Anton shared a bed with Belle and Danny seemed ready to move on from his Arabella heartbreak. Michael and Curtis began to question their own seemingly-solid partnerships, thanks to pretty newcomer Joanna. Anton remained hopeful about his odds of finally finding love: “I’ve got six new chances to not get pied.”
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Curtis tells Jourdan he wants to recouple with her Curtis took a risk and laid it all out to Jourdan, telling her he would choose to recouple with her over Amy. Smitten with Danny, Jourdan politely brushed him off: “Stay loyal to the situation you’re in now, because I need you as a friend,” she said.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Michael kisses Joanna Michael and Amber’s romance appeared dead in the water as Michael finally made his move on new girl Joanna.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Amy confesses she has fallen in love with Curtis While away in Casa Amor, flight attendant Amy revealed to Mollie Mae that she had fallen in love for the first time: “[Curtis] is my absolute favourite person,” she gushed, revealing that their time apart had made her realise her feelings for him. Over in the villa, Curtis was crediting their time apart for a very different realisation: that their relationship had serious issues, and he might not be totally into her. Yikes.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series There were some awkward recouplings after Casa Amor… Amy was thrilled that Curtis had chosen to recouple with her – although she was soon to find out that he had made a move on another girl and told everyone that their relationship needs work. Michael recoupled with Joanna, leaving Amber single – and absolutely fuming. Poor Jordan saw Anna return with basketball player Ovie, although she was more apologetic about it than Michael.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series … Although romance isn’t quite dead Mollie Mae collapsed into relieved tears when she saw Tommy waiting for her, holding her favourite stuffed elephant toy Ellie-Belly. Anton finally found himself in a romantic couple with Belle, Lucie coupled with new blonde bombshell George and Maura seemed keen on sensitive Marvin.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Michael and Curtis catch some serious heat After seeing Amber in tears, Anna went straight for Michael’s jugular, accusing him of leading Amber on by not communicating his doubts about their relationship earlier. Michael went on the defensive, calling Anna and Amber “childish.” Meanwhile a tearful Amy gave Curtis a dressing down for making moves on Jourdan: “Do you know how worthless this makes me feel?”
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Maura serves some cold, hard truth While Amy was discussing her drama with Curtis to Maura and Lucie, she seemed on the verge of forgiveness: “I love him,” she said. A doubtful Lucie interjected: “But does he love you?” A furious Maura took a less subtle approach: “Why are you asking her that? He doesn’t!”
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Lucie tells Tommy she has feelings for him – again After Tommy took Lucie aside to check they were still friends, she confessed she’s still attracted to him, wishes she had chosen him over Joe and was thinking about him the whole time she was in Casa Amor. Once again, Tommy brushed her off saying he was still smitten with Mollie Mae – perhaps third time lucky, Lucie?
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Tommy and Mollie Mae get serious After the latest declaration from Lucie, Tommy reassured Mollie Mae by telling her how much he liked her. Mollie Mae confessed she could see herself falling in love with him, before Tommy admitted he was already falling.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Anna and Jordan rekindle their romance When Anna returned to the villa and saw Jordan was still single, she seemed to question her new romance with Ovie. After a few flirtations conversations with her old flame, she told Ovie that she and Jordan might not be over after all…
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Curtis and Amy break up Amy was so determined to work out what had happened to suddenly derail her perfect half-relationship that she made a checklist to get to the bottom of it. But after a heartfelt chat, Curtis effectively ended things by telling Amy he couldn’t guarantee he would stay loyal to her.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Maura reveals this years’ biggest plot twist In a characteristically unpredictable move, Maura revealed to Lucie she had a crush – on the newly-single Curtis. “I want him to teach me how to dance,” she said, calling him “gorgeous”.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series A double dumping Villa BFFs Maura and Lucie both grew tired of their Casa Amor romances, so agreed to tell the lads – as a group. George and Marvin were sat down and pied together, with Marvin reacting with outrage and George barely keeping a straight face.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Anna chooses Jordan Ovie may have seemed like her perfect man in Casa Amor, but Jordan caught Anna’s eye once again when she returned to the villa. Anna sat down for a chat with the laid-back basketball player, but things got heated quickly. Ovie stormed off before Anna headed up for a sneaky balcony snog with Jordan.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Tommy pulls off the perfect proposal Tommy decided it was time to ask Mollie Mae to be his girlfriend. As with cooking, writing isn’t Tommy’s strong point, so he enlisted Curtis to write him a love note in eyeliner (who knew there were no pens in the villa?) Mollie Mae found the note tied to her toy Elly Belly, and happily agreed to making things official with Tommy.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series The ‘travel agent’ strikes again Not long after Danny coupled up with Yewande and Arabella the two girls were sent packing, leading presenter Iain Sterling to nickname Danny ‘the travel agent’ for his talent in sending girls to the airport. New partner Jourdan was the final girl to fall under Danny’s curse as the pair received the least votes, although this time Danny was booted from the villa too.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Amy leaves on heartbreaking note As she prepared to leave the villa, Amy took her ex Curtis aside for a chat. Days after Curtis had ended their relationship, she told him: "You turned my whole world around and turned it into some kind of craziness. All I've ever wanted is for you to be happy. And you're not going to be able to be happy if I'm still here." As Curtis broke down in tears, she continued: "I want us to be best friends and I want us to both find someone... I'm not going to be ready in the next three weeks to meet someone else."
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Amber gets Michael’s pulse racing He might be coupled up with Joanna, but it was Michael’s ex Amber who got his pulse racing fastest during the dirty dancing challenge. Amber was glad to hear it, saying: “"So now I've at least got something, I can't just sit and mope around because I know I raised his heart rate the most!"
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Anton and Belle hit the rocks She may have shaved his bum, but Belle reached breaking point after a series of slip-ups from Anton. She wasn’t happy that he kissed Anna in the Snog, Marry, Pie challenge, and a confrontation ended in a heated exchange at the nightclub
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Joanna and Michael say an awkward goodbye After it was revealed that Joanna and Michael couldn’t stay in the villa together, their fellow Islanders chose to send Joanna packing. She was less than impressed with Michael after it became clear he wouldn’t follow her out of the door, refusing a hug and labelling him a “snake” for staying.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Ovie kisses new girl India Ovie kisses new girl India on the terrace after stealing her from Chris
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Michael finally admits he still likes Amber After spending weeks vehemently denying it, Michael eventually pulled Amber aside to tell her he still had feelings for her.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Amber recouples with Greg Amber was forced to choose between old flame Michael and new romance Greg. “It’s hard choosing whether to go with your heart or your head… it’s been hard,” she said, before choosing Irish rugby player Greg.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Francesca savages Michael in her recoupling speech After Amber chose Greg, Francesca was left with only one man to choose from - Michael. She didn’t seem too happy to be left with the consolation prize: "I’ve personally really struggled to find a connection with anyone here and as you’re an expert, I’m hoping that you might be able to teach me a few things,” she said to Michael. “I think you’re a great person, and I haven’t really got any other choice.”
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Chris and Harley get closer Chris and Harley shared their first kiss after Harley admitted that “funny can laugh you into bed.”
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Michael and Francesca leave the villa Islanders decided that Michael and Francesca were the weakest of the bottom three couples and dumped them from the villa. Michael left on a good note with Amber, admitting he wasn’t “the nicest person” over the past few weeks and saying he was happy to see Amber getting on well with Greg.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series The Sidebar of Shame challenge rocks some couples Islanders learned that newspaper headlines called Maura and Curtis’ relationship “staged,” that India was accused faking her affection for Ovie, and that “bored” Molly-Mae was accused faking both her love for Tommy and her happiness for Maura and Curtis. Chris put his foot in it when he said he thought that a headline about two Islanders being meant for each other was about him and India rather than Harley.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Jordan goes on a kamikaze mission Despite having asked Anna to be his girlfriend only two days before, Jordan decided his emerging romantic feelings for India were too powerful to ignore. On the advice of Curtis, he pulled India aside and began to confess his feelings, before Anna stormed over ready to give him a piece of his mind. Was it worth it? Well, Jordan found out that India definitely just sees him as a “mate.” Ouch.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Anna goes nuclear It didn’t take long before Anna was giving Jordan a dressing down, joined by Maura and Amber who were equally ready to lay into the lothario. “You ask a girl to be your girlfriend and the two days later you were hitting on her?” Anna yelled. “It’s disrespectful for her to be sitting over there like a god damned mug!” Amber added. “You’re a f*cking liar,” shouted Maura for good measure.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Curtis lands in hot water Curtis caught a lot of flak for advising Jordan to tell India how he feels without speaking to Anna first. Aside from some harsh words from Maura, Anna sat him down and told him he was a “narcissist,” saying “you move like you’re such a good person, but you’re not”.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Anna has an emotional goodbye Anna, Jordan, Harley and Chris were all dumped from the villa following a public vote. Although she seemed glad to leave Jordan, Anna left Molly Mae, Amber and Maura in tears after she told them: “I’m so grateful for you three, because I feel like I found love with you guys.”
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series The couples go on their final dates Helicopter rides, yacht trips and candlelit dinners... the remaining five couples enjoyed their final dates in this particularly romantic episode. Tommy and Molly-Mae got serious over dinner, speaking about how they might even be ready to move in together.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series 'Meet the parents' In one of the most popular segments of the series, each contestant received a visit from members of their family – and got to introduce them to their respective partners. Cut to Curtis's mum being unable to say "Maura" (she kept saying "Moira"), Greg's mum giving Amber a shamrock necklace, and Anton's mum handing Belle a razor so she could continue shaving his arse.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Anton and Belle get dumped before the final Poor Anton. He didn't have much luck during Love Island, and even his relationship with Belle seemed pretty bland. But it was still a surprise – if only to him – when the couple were voted off by the public in the penultimate episode. "We're fine," he'd whispered confidently to Belle before the results were announced. Reader, they were not.
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Love Island 2019: The best moments from the series Amber and Greg pull of a shock victory Was it Greg's love poem in which he praised Amber's butt? Was it because he can twerk up a wall? Was it the fact that he is simply not Michael? Whatever it was, the public warmed to Amber and Greg so much that they overlooked the fact that they had known each other for two weeks and crowned them winners of Love Island 2019. Bookie favourites Molly Mae and Tommy managed second place, with Ovie and India coming third and Curtis and Maura in fourth place.
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While he apologised for the incident, Sherif said the whole saga had been "blown out of proportion" and implied that his removal was the result of “unconscious racism”, referring to the fact that he was the only black male contestant on the show.
“I've never used the word before and I don't know where it came from. I think I have heard other people saying it and it just popped out,” he said.
“But I realise it can be offensive and, as someone that was raised by a strong and loving mother, I want to say that I would never intentionally harm a woman.
“I know I have been stupid and let myself down, but I was not being malicious. This has been blown out of all proportion and I have been made to look like a terrible person when I am not.”
He added: “I was the only black man in the villa and I was kicked out after ten days,“ he said. “In my opinion, what happened was unconscious racism. There was, I felt, sexism. I feel I wouldn’t have been given that red card if I was a white woman.”
“We have a duty of care towards all of the islanders and as such we would not make public the details of the breach of code,” Love Island said in a statement addressing Sherif’s removal from the show.
Responding to Sherif’s accusation of “unconscious racism”, a Love Island spokesperson told The Independent : “We would strongly refute any accusation of racism. All of the Islanders are treated fairly and in accordance with our duty of care.”
Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2
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