Former Love Island star Samie Elishi has said she was escorted off set at the show's 2026 final, after being told she could not watch the finale in person. The 26-year-old, who won the second series of Love Island: All Stars, was in Majorca with boyfriend Tyrique Hyde, 27, who was appearing on the spin-off show Aftersun.
Escorted away without explanation
In a TikTok video, Samie documented the day as she got ready to appear on the spin-off series. She said: "We then got to set and we was all super excited. Maya [Jama] looked unreal as always. But then it all kind of took a turn for the worse because we go told that we weren't actually allowed to watch the show."
She added: "Before anyone starts asking why in the comments - we don't know. There was no explanation, three of us did actually have seats in the audience but they just got taken away. Then we got escorted back to the holding villa."
Watched final on phone
Samie managed to get a signal and watched the final on her phone. She said: "God knows how I managed it but I got the show up on my phone, found a point with actually quite good signal and we all watched from the phone on a tripod. It wasn't quite how we expected to spend our evening but it is what it is."
Background
Samie initially competed on the 2023 edition of Love Island and won with then-boyfriend Ciaran Davies. She later appeared on Love Island: All Stars, winning the second series.
Winners crowned
The 2026 final aired on Monday 27 July, with Lorenzo Alessi and Julia Majchrzak being crowned winners, defeating Jasmine Muller and Kavan Murphy. Simba Kudyiwa and Angelista Gunda finished third. The decision was well received by the live audience, but some fans online were critical.
One user on X fumed: "Such an awful love island uk finale. love island usa may have had awful production, people, and couples too but they went off with the final dates & the audience went off with crowning brinity the winners #loveislanduk #loveisland." Another added: "I already said what I said: the winners of love island uk this year are AWFUL. y'all just failed this season." A third said: "the final is the worst episode of Love Island, it's always boring, they need a to rethink it and maybe go down a big brother route."
The Mirror has contacted ITV for comment.
