Here at Closer we LOVE to back ourselves (we all should, right?) – and by 'back ourselves' we mean we have absolutely no shame in stirring up sh*t amongst Love Island stars in face-to-face interviews. If you're a journo who cringes easily, best keep your CV far from our inboxes. Only joking (but not really).
Take this awkward exchange as a classic example: Love Island bombshell Martin Akinola has been making several scathing newsworthy comments since being dumped from the villa (after being pied off by finalist Tanya Manhenga). One of the comments he uttered recently was about runners-up Ron Hall and Lana Jenkins and how they apparently "kiss like siblings".
Can we remind all PRs reading this that Martin Akinola said that and not Closer online? Ta.
Anyway, being Closer, we couldn't help but repeat these words to the runners-up when they paid us a visit to film an episode of Closer's Secrets (our piping hot YouTube series) and ask them for a comment on Martin's choice words (we know, what are we like?).
But fair play to the couple, as they bit the bullet and shared their thoughts like semi-media-trained pros. Lana said, "Well, what I have to say, Martin, is that if you kiss your siblings like we kiss, we've got issues."
Ron then added, "Yeah, you shouldn't be doing that."
Lana finished things by saying, "That's it. That's the comment from me."
To be fair, they were both giggling during these responses, but we couldn't help but detect a smidgen of shade being thrown. To be honest, this would make sense after how things ended with Martin and Tanya (and bearing in mind Ron and Lana's friendship with her), both in and out of the villa.
During the piping hot chat with the piping hot pair, Ron and Lana also revealed which of the Love island couples were "always at it" – so definitely not kissing like siblings – in the bedroom and which Islanders they knew before entering the villa. Spoiler alert: Ron has a history with an ICONIC blonde Islander (and no, it's not Lana).