Love Island: who quit the show and why did they walk?

Because some villa mates decide to dump themselves

love island amy hart, uma jammeh and jacques o'neill

by Georgina Terry |
Updated on

Love Island has seen some harsh dumpings (not the toilet kind) in the nine years it's been on UK screens.

Kady McDermott picking Zach Noble to couple up with, leaving Molly Marsh single and DUMPED. Brutal. Although, tbf, Molly 100% had the last laugh with that one (correct at time of writing).

Shannon Singh being dumped after just one day? Unkind.

Sam Taylor (what do you mean, 'Sam who?' He was literally in this series, guys) being kicked out when Joey Essexstrode in as the first bombshell and 'stole' Samantha Kenny? Terrible scenes.

But what can be even harder to process, is stars who choose to leave the villa because they just want to. Check out the Love Island stars who've walked out, and their reasons for doing so.

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Love Island stars who quit the show

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CREDIT: ITV

Uma Jammeh

We still can't get over how Wil Anderson treated Uma Jammeh during Movie Night but what made it worse was that after he was dumped, she walked out of the villa too. Speaking about leaving the villa she said, "I knew where my head and heart was at so I wanted to be true to my feelings for him....
"It’s a bittersweet feeling, I made such amazing friendships in the villa that it started to feel like home but I’m happy to be leaving as I wouldn’t have wanted to stay and not be genuine to myself and my feelings for Wil."

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CREDIT: ITV

Jake Cornish

During his second stint on Love Island (for the All Stars series), Jake Cornish quit the show on day three shortly after he reunited with ex-girlfriend Liberty Poole. Speaking about leaving he said, "After a few amazing days in the villa, I’ve made the decision to leave Love Island: All Stars as I’ve realised that now isn’t the right time for me to find love as I would never want to force a connection.

"I have no regrets whatsoever as I’m so glad I got to enjoy my time in the villa reuniting with some familiar faces as well finally getting an opportunity  to clear the air with Liberty. I wish her and all of the other Islanders the very best and will be cheering them all on from home."

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CREDIT: ITV

Jacques O'Neill

Following a rocky few days with his secret Casa Amor kiss with Cheyanne Kerr exposed to the villa and the arrival of Adam Collard, Jacques O'Neill quit the Love Island 2022 villa in the hopes of reuniting with Paige Thorne in the outside world. He told the Islanders, "Lately, I just can't be myself. I'm trying my best - but I'm not a fake person. I'm not going to start faking things and act like I'm OK when things inside aren't actually OK. So I'm going to be leaving today.

"I just can't stick around and not be myself. It's not fair to me and it's definitely not fair to Paige. For me and Paige to work I need to be at my best and if that means removing myself from the situation and waiting for Paige when she gets out, that's what I'm going to do."

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CREDIT: ITV

Liam Llewelyn

Jacques wasn't the only 2022 Islander to quit the show as Liam Llewelyn decided to leave the villa after just four days because he didn't feel like himself. He explained, "Obviously we all came here for the same reason but I haven’t really been feeling I have been giving 100% Liam."I know what 100% Liam looks like and I am miles off that.

"I’ve been thinking long and hard, this isn’t a spur of the moment thing.“I have made the decision that I am going to leave the villa. It has been a breeze, and absolute ball.”

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CREDIT: ITV

Liberty Poole and Jake Cornish

Liberty and Jake coupled up on day one of Love Island 2021 but dramatically split just three days before the final, leading them to quit the villa together after Liberty admitted she “needed to be true to herself” and told Jake that she didn’t think he loved her.

Jake then decided he didn't want to be in the villa without Liberty.

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CREDIT: ITV

Amy Hart

Amy Hart was one of the OG girls in Love Island 2019 but decided to leave after five weeks. She had been coupled up with her 'half-boyfriend' Curtis Pritchard but their relationship ended when she returned from Casa to discover he had admitted having feelings for bombshell Jourdan Riane.

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CREDIT: ITV

Samira Mighty

Samira Mighty quit the Love Island 2018 villa just days after her then-partner Frankie Foster received the boot from the show. At the time, she said, "I woke up this morning and I thought it's my time to go."

Samira and Frankie continued their relationship in the outside world, but it wasn't long before a video surfaced which saw him kissing another woman and insisting his romance with Samira was "fake" which led to them splitting.

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CREDIT: ITV

Niall Aslam

Niall Aslam quit Love Island 2018 in the first week, with producers stating that he left for "personal reasons" at the time. A few weeks later, Niall revealed he had Asperger's Syndrome, a form of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

However, it wasn't until two years later that Niall opened up about the real reason for his early departure as he admitted he suffered from stress-induced psychosis and spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital after leaving the villa. He explained, "I came out and talked about my Asperger’s and I was diagnosed at 10 years old, and that was basically the reason I left Love Island. But what actually happened to me, I ended up watching Love Island in a psychiatric hospital in London, the Nightingale Hospital in London to be exact.

"What I later found out is that I had something called stress-induced psychosis… I did not know what that was. Essentially what it is, you get so overwhelmed that you lose touch with reality."

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CREDIT: ITV

Ollie Williams

Another Love Island star who quit in the first week was 2020 Islander Ollie Williams, who appeared on the first ever winter Love Island in 2020. At the time, Ollie told the rest of the Islanders that he was leaving because he still had feelings for his ex-girlfriend.

He said, "I have to be honest with myself, and everyone, that I do still love someone else. I have to follow my heart in this scenario and it would be wrong for me to ignore these feelings. At the end of the day, this is Love Island and it's about finding love. if I carried on anything with Paige, or any other girl that might come into the villa, it wouldn't be fair on them."

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CREDIT: ITV

Georgia Steel and Sam Bird

Georgia Steel and Sam Bird were given a brutal decision to make in series four, when they had to choose whether to stay in the villa and couple up with someone else or leave the villa as a pair. Eventually they deiced to stay coupled up and quit the show.

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CREDIT: ITV

Rykard Jenkins

Love Island 2016 star Rykard Jenkins proved that romance wasn't dead when he quit the villa to be with Rachel Fenton, who had been dumped after coming bottom in a public vote alongside Daniel Lukakis. Aww.

Rykard said at the time, "I decided to leave the villa because at that moment I was developing a really nice relationship with Rachel and watching her walk away, I knew I had the power to stay or go. No one was holding me to staying in the competition, so I decided I wanted to go after Rachel as that is who I wanted to be with. I didn’t want to meet anyone new and I wasn’t there for the prize money. I didn’t anticipate Rachel leaving in advance but when it came to it I had made up my mind – if Rachel left the villa, I was going as well."

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CREDIT: ITV

Sophie Gradon

Much like her co-star Rykard, series two's Sophie Gradon decided to leave the villa to rekindle her romance with Tom Powell in the outside world. Sophie had been coupled up with Katie Salmon but eventually decided that she had a stronger connection with Tom.

"Guys, I'm going to go. I've been feeling like this for a while. Now, I think my time is done," she told the Islanders at the time.

WATCH: 'We weren't allowed to talk for the whole day' Will and Jessie spill the tea | Love Island Secrets

Georgina Terry is group editor of Closer and heat online. She's been watching Love Island since Jayne Middlemiss won and has OPINIONS on the best series ever (it's 2016). She thinks more Love Island stars should appear on TOWIE next, as that's her other favourite show.

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