Love Island's Harry Cooksley has admitted he 'handled things the wrong way' during his love triangle with Helena Ford and Shakira Khan on the ITV2 show. The 30-year-old footballer was coupled with Helena for weeks before moving on to Shakira, 22, and the pair finished as runners-up last week.
In their first joint interview since leaving the villa, Harry told Christine Lampard on Lorraine: 'I think I definitely handled things in the wrong way with Helena and Shakira. But at the end of the day, Helena and I are now moving forward as friends. I haven't actually spoken to her since I've been out but we had a couple of conversations before she left the villa and I'm delighted it's amicable.'
Shakira described watching the drama unfold as 'heartbreaking' and 'tough', noting that in the outside world you can have distance and talk to each other. Harry also faced his ex-girlfriend Emma Munro arriving as a Bombshell during Casa Amor, which he called a 'surreal feeling'.
Despite finishing second to Cach and Toni, Harry said he knew Shakira was the one for him after a one-on-one conversation where he expressed his buried emotions. However, the couple are hesitant to label themselves as exclusive, with Harry stating: 'When we rekindled and recoupled, I only had eyes for Shakira... but I think exclusive isn't such a thing on the outside.'
Harry denied rumours he was not single before entering the villa, insisting: 'I couldn't have been more single... my actual girlfriend was in the villa, my actual ex-girlfriend was in the villa. There wasn't any exes or current girlfriends.'
