Three and a bit weeks in, we get it, Love Island: All Stars is less about former Islanders finding true love and more about them coming face-to-face with an ex/dalliance/rival for our entertainment. It kind of makes the whole premise of the show redundant, but we're enjoying it none the less – more than the winter editions anyway.
One Islander who is truly taking Love Island: All Stars on the chin is series 5 star Arabella Chi, who has come face to face with not one, not two, but three squeezes inside those villa walls and laughed/eye-rolled each exchange off stunningly. To be fair, who would waste a precious bev by throwing it over an ex when producers are only giving you two drinks a night? We'd push them in the pool – it's a Lauren Goodger classic for a reason.
A quick recap for those trying to do the Love Island maths; upon entering the villa on day five, Arabella came face-to-face with two of her former squeezes, Toby Aromolaran and Tom Clare (she's spoken openly about having connections with both of them outside of the villa). By the way, we say 'squeezes' as these were never officially relationships, and who wouldn't want to squeeze these two if given the chance? Then, a couple of weeks later, Love Island producers decided to treat the All Stars to a celeb performance in the form of Craig David and Love Island 2018 star Wes Nelson AKA Arabella's actual ex.
Even if you didn't know the full history and although they didn't actually speak on camera (as Wes was performing), you couldn't help pick up on the awkwardness between Arabella and Wes in last night's episode (Thursday 8 February) – and the somewhat unrequited love between Anton Danyluk and Craig David, but that's another story.
So what's the tea with Arabella and Wes? And more importantly, why did they split? We know that's why you're here.
The pair sparked rumours when they were spotted out and about together in July 2019. They then confirmed their relationship in August that year. Three months later, they moved in together, even spending some of lockdown together. In April 2020, it was confirmed that the pair had split, citing their age gap as the reason for the break-up – at the time, Arabella was 28 and Wes was 22. However, it seems Wes's rising star in the music industry might have also been a factor.
Speaking to Closer shortly after the split in 2020, Wes said, “I’m throwing myself into my music and am up until 7am sometimes, talking to people in LA. It’s very difficult to have a relationship, obviously, if you’re not going to bed with your partner and you’re not waking up with them. I was working anti-relationship hours. I’m in a position now where I can’t give someone my best, so I’m just going to be single. We’ve both accepted it and moved on. It’s a shame, but there you go.”
At the time, he also revealed that his co-star Josh Denzel helped him move on from his ex, telling us, “Josh was so great to me, and helped distract me. He and our other housemate Jon were so supportive of my music, too. It was so nice to be living with my two best friends. I’ve since moved out, but they’re only ten minutes from me, which is great.”
It's a shame Wes didn't fancy sticking around as a bombshell, as that would've been *chef's kiss* telly.