Love Island champion Jess Harding has candidly assessed her former partner Sammy Root’s performance on All Stars in anticipation of her own appearance on the ITV2 program. The 25-year-old was set to join the South African villa this week for the premiere on Monday, but ITV revealed yesterday that filming had been postponed due to local wildfires.
Although ITV has not yet specified the return date for All Stars, Jess is among the participants, joining other familiar faces like Whitney Adebayo, Millie Court, Ciaran Davies, and Shaq Muhammad. Previously, Jess and Sammy clinched the Love Island victory in 2023 before parting ways shortly thereafter.
Sammy previously featured in the second series of All Stars, finishing fifth alongside Elma Pazar. Their romance on the show ended just four months later, with the breakup unfolding on TOWIE.
In an interview with The Sun, Jess expressed her observations on Sammy’s stint on All Stars, highlighting his attachment to Elma throughout and suggesting he didn’t explore other connections as he did during their time together. She remarked that transparency was lacking in her own Love Island experience and noted Sammy’s more reserved approach on All Stars.
Jess also mentioned that she would be fine with Sammy re-entering the villa, emphasizing that there are no hard feelings towards any of the 2023 cast members.
Despite the scheduled premiere of All Stars being imminent, featuring Maya Jama’s return, ITV had to delay the launch due to the wildfires in South Africa.
A source informed The Mirror that the crew was concerned about the situation, but the welfare team was ensuring support availability, instructing them to remain in their accommodations.
Subsequently, ITV issued a statement revealing the postponement of All Stars due to the ongoing wildfires, emphasizing the priority of health and safety. The new transmission date for Love Island: All Stars is yet to be determined.
Love Island: All Stars is set to air later this year on ITV2 and ITVX.