Wait, what? Are TOWIE’s Roman Hackett and Love Island’s Matilda Draper dating?

We guess that means she's not doing All Stars?

matilda draper roan hackett

by Ben Pulsford |
Updated on

Compared to some others on TOWIE, series regular Roman Hackett has it pretty easy; at least he has for the past few seasons. All he's done is sort of tag along on cast trips, been to bangin' events, or met the boys at the pub for an on-screen catch-up. All in the name of work. Not bad at all.

But to be fair to Roman, things aren't so easy-going for the TOWIE hunk in real life; in that every move he makes seems to create some sort of drama and fuel gossip - especially when it comes to his love life.

roman
roman ©itv lime pictures

We realise we're a big part of the problem here, but to be fair to us, we are Closer online and when you've dated as many TOWIE and Love Island stars as Roman has, you're going to find your way onto our radar eventually.

And once again, off the back of a fairly chill series 34 for our Roman, the rumour mill is spinning when it comes to the latest chapter in his dating life, and at least this time, it's kind of his fault.

roman hackett
©Instagram/@roman_hackett

After all, he recently shared this faceless snap of himself cuddling up to a mystery girl wearing very distinctive trousers.

While he didn't tag the girl in question, we were in an Instagram stalking hole that evening and noticed an eye opening mirror selfie on one Love Island 2024 star Matilda Draper's story – one where she was wearing the exact same trousers as Roman's mystery girl.

matilda draper
©Instagram/@matildajdraper

So what does this mean? Are these two reality stars dating? Did they want us all to work this out? Because surely you'd whack a more subtle pair of trousers if you wanted to elude the press? Whatever the tea here, we seriously ship Roman and Matilda as a duo, be they friends or more.

And yes, we reached out Roman's representatives for a little more tea, and of course, we didn't hear anything. Although in our line of work, we've come to learn that no answer is an answer.

The budding new romance comes shortly after Roman's split from Love Island 2023 star and momentary TOWIE star Ella Barnes. And we do mean momentary. Awks.

Ella's brief TOWIE cameo
Ella's brief TOWIE cameo ©ITV

Ella appeared on TOWIE earlier this year after she struck up a romance with Roman, however the model never actually confirmed if they were an item or whether Ella would be a permanent addition to the cast.

Opening up about his love affair with Ella, Roman revealed what went down between them and we have a feeling she won't be back on The Only Way is Essex anytime soon.

'We were dating for a while,' he confessed. 'Things didn’t work out but we still speak, she’s a lovely girl.'

'It’s just that things didn’t work out,' he went on in a chat with The Sun. 'We’re very very close. Me and her weren't like a flirty relationship, I look out for her. She’s a good girl.'

Matilda Draper
Matilda Draper ©ITV

While Matilda is relatively new to the celeb scene, she did, of course, date her Love Island bae Sean Stone for several weeks after the show, before calling it quits in September 2024.

If this means we're getting a Matilda cameo in the upcoming TOWIE Christmas special, then we've just proved that manifestation really works.

WATCH: Here are even more TOWIE stars who aren't originally from Essex including an OG cast member 😱

Ben Pulsford is a digital writer for Bauer Media, writing for both Closer online and heatworld. When he's not getting paid to gossip about Big Brother, Love Island and The Real Housewives of Cheshire, he's storming the London LGBTQ+ scene as drag queen, Beary Poppins. Both Ben and Beary are awaiting an invite to join The Real Housewives of Cheshire for series 18. The budget's not there, but the drama is 💅.

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