13 Love Islanders who knew each other before the show, as it's claimed Lauren and Ty previously "hooked up"

Cosmopolitan

17-07-2025

When contestants go on Love Island we always assume that this is the first time they're meeting their fellow Islanders. But as we've seen over the years, this isn't always the case.
Most recently, it was reported that Ty and Lauren actually "hooked" up when they met for the unfilmed rehearsal back in May.
Apparently, the producers really liked both of them and invited them back for Casa Amor. Now they're in a couple, after Toni stole Harrison back, but there's been no mention of their alleged hook up.
Ty and Lauren aren't the only Islanders with history though.
From uni besties to Instagram pals and exes, here's all the Islanders who knew each other before going on the show.
According to The Sun, Lauren and Ty "hooked up" during the unfilmed rehearsal week which they both took part in back in May.
A source said: "Ty and Lauren are acting like they've only just met but that's far from the case. They hooked up during the dry run, which is where a fake cast moves into the villa to test out everything from camera angles, to kitchen appliances and run-through challenges."
"And then they even saw each other on the outside before ITV invited them back to be part of Casa Amor."
Cosmopolitan UK has reached out to ITV for comment.
It's no secret season 12's Emma and Harry used to date. The duo dated for about three to four years (depending on who you ask), and split as Harry cheated on her "one week" into the relationship.
Season 12 star Megan recently revealed that Conor actually followed her on social media prior to the show.
"On day one [of Love Island] Conor told me that he followed me on Instagram four years ago," she said.
She added to heatworld: "I never followed him back. Since coming out I've seen that he follows me on TikTok and he's commented on one of my TikToks. Again, I've not followed him back or even realised he'd commented on one. It's nice that he's still trying four years later, it's worked out for him now I suppose."
Season five stars Amber and Ellie were longtime friends from Newcastle, with Ellie even being described as Amber's former "best friend".
Chuggs Wallis joined the seventh season of Love Island as a bombshell. There he reunited with his old university pal Hugo Hammond, who he attended Oxford Brookes University with.
Chuggs also knew Chloe Burrows, who took part in this series. She was surprised to see him on the show and said that his name was hard to forget.
As well as this, Chuggs previously matched with Lucinda Strafford on Tinder before coming on the show. How awkward!
Both Megan and Alex appeared on the fourth series of Love Island back in 2018.
It was revealed that they appeared in a music video together before appearing on the ITV2 dating show, however, this wasn't mentioned on the show.
Back in 2019, Curtis admitted that he slid into Maura's DMs before meeting her on the show. The pair ended up getting together and had an eight-month relationship outside of the show.
Gemma and Jacques dated before they appeared on season eight together. He joined as a bombshell while she was in the starting line-up, and he actually became good friends with Luca Bish, who she was coupled up with.
Olivia and Zara actually worked on the same music video before taking part in Love Island for the 2023 winter series.
They'd also interacted on social media, but weren't "besties" as such, especially once the show begun and Zara stole Tom off Olivia.
When the girlies went to Casa Amor in season 10, Ella was reunited with Ouzy who she'd met on the modelling scene and at events.
The pair ended up recoupling, but she eventually went back to Tyrique.
Ella Barnes revealed that she has "history" with Tyrique when she joined the show as a late bombshell in 2023.
"We've chatted. We've kissed. We saw each other quite recently," she explained.
While not on the same series of Love Island, it was recently revealed that season 12's Billykiss was previously in a relationship with Dami Hope, who appeared on season eight and has been in relationship with Indiyah Polack since.
Billykiss and Dami reportedly started a party business together after meeting in Dublin, which they still own now, according to The Tab.
Following his split from Toni, season 12's Cach has been getting to know Billykiss, but fans don't think it will work because Cach is really good friends with Dami - her ex.
Cach also knows a lot of former Islanders, including Josh Legrove, Tanya Manhenga, Shaq Muhammad and Deji Adeniyi.
New episodes of Love Island air on ITV2 at 9pm on weekdays and Sundays.