All the times Love Island has thrown an Islander’s ex in the villa and the chaos that followed

Love Island last year spiced up the drama by throwing in Gemma Owen’s ex boyfriend, Jacques O’Neill. And the 2023 series has seen Ty’s former flame Ella B causing a stir. But seasoned Love Island fans will remember this has happened before, and some of the historic chaos that has followed when exes have stepped into the villa.

Remember when Jack Fincham’s ex entered Casa Amor and Love Island received some of the most Ofcom complaints it has in history with how this was relayed to Dani Dyer? Here is a rundown of each and every time the show has used this tactic to get some extra drama.

Tyrique Hyde’s former flame Ella Barnes

In the 2023 series bombshell Ella B straight away announced she had “history” with Tyrique, and wanted to “battle” other Ella, who he was coupled up with. There was a bit of a stand-off between the girls, and Tyrique yet again got himself in deep water with Ella, who already felt as though she couldn’t trust him.

The drama didn’t last too long though, with Tyrique telling Ella B their kiss outside the villa before the show was their last, and Ella B ended up coupling with Mitch.

Gemma Owen’s ex Jacques O’Neill

Just a week into Love Island 2022 the producers threw in bombshell Jacques, who was the ex boyfriend of OG Islander, Gemma Owen. When Jacques entered the villa, Gemma told the girls “oh my god, that’s my ex” but proclaimed she had no intention of getting back with him.

On the show, Gemma said she and Jacques split up around a year and a half ago, with Jacques adding they were together for around eight months. According to Jacques’ Wikipedia page, he was 20 when he dated a 16-year-old Gemma.

Luca was very nervous about Jacques being in the villa, but the worst thing that happened was Gemma calling him Jacques once by accident.

Jack Fincham’s ex Ellie Jones

Chaos ensued when the producers of the 2018 series had Jack Fincham’s ex as part of the Casa Amor lineup. At the time, Jack was coupled up with Dani Dyer, and the villa was shown a video of Jack at Casa Amor saying one of the girls was his ex. His ex was Ellie Jones, and they had split up shortly before the show.

Ofcom received over 2,500 complaints after Dani Dyer was brought to tears because she thought Jack Fincham was going to cheat on her. People claimed the producers allowed her to believe Jack was going to cheat on her to stir up drama and upset her, despite him actually doing nothing wrong and sticking by her.

Tom Powell’s ex Emma-Jane Woodhams

Possibly the most chaotic example of Love Island using exes to stir the pot came in season two. 19-year-old bombshell Emma-Jane waltzed into the villa, and Tom Powell screeched across the swimming pool that she was his ex. She claimed Tom would “hit the roof” when she came in and would get jealous if she got close to another guy. At the time, Tom was coupled up with Sophie Gradon, and Tom and Emma had dated for five months.

Emma then coupled up with Terry Walsh, despite the fact he’d gone official with Malin but she’d been kicked out the villa, and then Emma and Terry had sex on top of the sheets for all the other Islanders to see. Emma had been convinced if they had sex on top of the sheets, the show wouldn’t air it. It did.

“A small part of me thinks she did it to make me jealous and it was aimed at me,” Tom said about Emma and Terry sleeping together. “Sophie thinks it was aimed at me, and other people in the villa feel the same as us. No one knows what goes on in Emma’s head.”

Jordan Ring’s ex Jasmine

Season one of Love Island was feral. It was wall-to-wall carnage and the Islanders basically ran riot. Imagine the scene: A whole bunch of new girls are lined up to enter the villa and date the boys. Jordan is watching from the balcony, and then realises one is his ex. Next thing she’s saying to him: “You hurt me real bad. I am literally fucking gobsmacked that you could treat me like you did. All I wanted was closure, I didn’t want to get back with you. I knew I’d never get any apology for the way you treated me.” YIKES.

Jordan then said he “never treated you bad once in the relationship whatsoever”, but Jasmine came back with: “How can you sit here and say this Jordan? No matter what you did to me I could never fucking hurt you, and all I was asking from you is just closure and you wouldn’t talk to me, you dumped me by text. You fucking screwed me over you dickhead!”

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