This year’s Love Island couples have been dropping like flies ever since they left the villa – with Uma Jammeh and Wil Anderson thought to be the only pair still going strong following Nicole Samuel and Ciaran Davies’ rumoured split – but one breakup that really shocked us was that of Jessica Spencer and Ayo Odukoya.
Their relationship started off in controversial fashion when Jess entered the villa as a Casa Amor bombshell and almost immediately turned Ayo’s head 180 from Mimii Ngulube, who he was coupled up with at the time. Although they constantly faced rumours Ayo still had feelings for Mimii, he and Jess proved everyone (well, mainly Joey Essex and Sean Stone) wrong when they made it all the way to the final and finished in fourth place.
However, they sadly only lasted a few months back in the outside world, with Jess confirming that they’d split at the end of October. Fast forward to the present day and the iconic Islander got the rumour mill spinning earlier this week when she shared a TikTok of herself cosying up to a mystery man at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland in London.
The video, which has been viewed almost three million times, shows Jess laughing as her new fella wraps an arm around her and was posted with the caption, ‘Itss cuffinnng seaaaasoooonn.’
Naturally, fans went wild with speculation in the comments section including one who wrote, ‘My detective skills have been challenged.’
Others were convinced that the man in the video was Love Island 2023 winner Sammy Root, with one commenting, ‘Guys I think it’s Sammy Root… FLIP.’
However, a source has confirmed to Closer that identity of the man in the video is Braydon Hackett, the cousin of TOWIE star Roman Hackett.
Jess and Braydon were spotted together at Winter Wonderland on the night that she posted the video alongside Roman and his new flame, Jess’ Love Island co-star Matilda Draper, as well as other Islanders including Samantha Kenny, Uma and Wil.
‘Jess and Braydon looked in good spirits as they walked around Winter Wonderland together. They couldn’t stop smiling and were very touchy feely,’ the source told us.
They added, ‘They also headed to the Bavarian Village to hang out with Braydon’s cousin Roman and Islanders like Uma, Will and Samantha. Other reality stars like Courtney Green and Jess Harding joined them later on as they partied the night away.’
Jess’ representatives have been contacted for comment.
Braydon appeared in five episodes of TOWIE between 2021 and 2022, including the last Christmas special. Outside of his reality TV appearances, he works in fashion as the founder of Blhack London and the creative director of luxury swimwear brand Lewis James.
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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.