Love Island's Jessie Wynter and her boyfriend Will Young have been left out of friendship groups.
The couple met on day seven of season nine (2023) of the UK dating show when Jessie entered as a bombshell, having previously made the final of Australian Love Island in 2019. Jessie, 27, instantly hit it off with Will and they coupled up on day eight and became inseparable.
While friendships were made inside the villa, it's since become clear that people have gone their separate ways but Jessie says she will always say hello to her former co-stars and "everything is good".
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror from her home in Australia, the personal trainer said: "We don't actually bump into many Islanders from our season, we bump into Islanders from other seasons. It's not very common we see Islanders from our season. Whenever I've seen them, everything is all good, I always stop to say hello to people.
"I do think perhaps that they are more in a friendship group, there's a few groups from my season, it's a bit divided. I've not taken sides, ever, I always say hello to everyone. I don't think Will and I are really included in the groups. But we're really happy with each other." Although Jessie and Will hit the jackpot, Jessie admits she had no idea she would fall for somebody as hard as she did while in the villa.
Love Island's Haris spills on unaired row between Zara and Tanyel"I really wanted it but I didn't think it would happen," she explained before adding: "I don't believe that we're here where we are now, he's literally here in Australia with me!" But Jessie says she was "too young" when she first appeared on Love Island Australia and she wasn't "emotionally invested" in who she left the competition with (Todd).
She said: "I knew that if you found the right person in there, it's the perfect place to build a relationship because you're trapped with them for 24 hours a day. What better way there's no distractions, you can't go to work. You can't even go to the gym without each other.
"When I did go into Love Island for the second time, I did say 'I'm going to be really open' because if people go in with the right mind frame, you can feel it. I feel like the producers in ours were getting people who don't quite want the longevity of the relationship – it's not everyone that goes in for true love." But Jessie says she understands people who choose to go on the show for the platform and not for love.
"It would be nice to see a few more Love Island couples!" she said. Although some have been sceptical about Love Island: All Stars, Jessie says: "I do think there's a lot of history between a lot of Islanders, crossing over at parties and then dating history, even like a friend of a friend.
"It's really interesting to see that put all into one place. It's going to be completely different." She added: "The Islanders are going to be a lot more stern and I think they're probably going to get a little more fed up with the environment, they've done it once in their life and it's intense."
Although Jessie and Will are currently spending time in Australia with her family, she teased that the couple have exciting plans ahead of their return to the UK. "We do really want to look to kind of invest in our YouTube channel and kind of level up, we're 50/50 between elevating our YouTube channel or having a podcast style, or into actually going down the avenue of a podcast."