Somehow it’s already been two weeks since Love Island’s Gabby Allen and Casey O’Gorman were crowned the winners of All Stars 2025, but that doesn’t mean that we’ve stopped thinking about all the drama that went down in Cape Town.
One of the biggest rows of the series was between Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Elma Pazar, with the pair clashing after Ekin kissed Sammy Root during the heart rate challenge and again when the Love Island 2022 winner accused TOWIE star Elma of targeting her and Curtis Pritchard in challenges.
The feud divided viewers, with Elma on the receiving end of a lot of hate, but when Gabby and Casey visited us for a post-villa debrief earlier this week, they shed some light on unaired scenes that have made us rethink everything.
According to Gabby, a lot of the rows between Ekin and Elma were left on the cutting room floor and viewers didn’t get to see everything.
She said, ‘One thing I think from other people giving feedback is that Ekin and Elma, you know there was the whole drama with them the whole time, and I think Elma got painted in a really bad light.
‘She came out and she was getting lots of death threats and really awful things being said to her and all I know, apparently, is that a lot of the stuff that made Elma react in a certain way hasn’t been shown.’
Defending Elma, Gabby continued, ‘Elma is actually an amazing person, she’s so kind. Yes, she’s vocal, but that’s just the way she is and I think everybody needs to take it with a pinch of salt how she’s been portrayed because it’s not entirely accurate.’
The Love Island 2017 star is the latest Islander to defend Elma after runner-up Luca Bish spoke out on her ‘sweet soul’.
‘Elma coming out, she’s upset, she is proper upset. I don’t think any of us expected [the backlash],’ he said on the Wednesdays podcast.
Luca added, ‘Elma actually has such a sweet soul and when she does something wrong or she feels like she’s done something wrong, like sending three Islanders home, that ate her up for time.
‘One thing I’ll say about Elma, she was like the mum of the group. She was literally the nicest girl to everyone. We haven’t seen what’s been shown, but one thing you can’t question is that girl’s morals.’
WATCH Ekin-Su and Curtis reveal a sh**ty secret about the Love Island villa and yes, we mean 💩
Nathan Katnoria is heat and Closer online’s senior digital writer. He became obsessed with Love Island when Malin Andersson came back to confront Terry Walsh in series two and hasn’t looked back since. When he’s not interviewing former Islanders, Nathan is scrolling through their Instagram feeds for relationship updates and piping hot tea.