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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Victoria Johns

Love Island contestants left stunned as it emerges TWO Islanders know each other

Two of the Love Island contestants already know each other as the show kicks off tonight.

Fans have been waiting eagerly for the new series to start and won't be disappointed with one of the flirtiest first episodes ever.

For the first time, the viewers will decide the couples in a shock twist, but before Maya Jama reveals the results, it appears Ella Thomas and Tyrique Hyde already know each other.

Ella was nearly on Love Island five years ago, but turned it down because she "felt too young at the time."

Speaking about the invitation, she told the Mirror and other press: "It’s funny because when I was about 18, I was in my last year of school, those management agencies approached me and asked if I wanted to like go on Love Island and them support my application."

The model, 23, hails from Glasgow and is hoping this will be the summer she is lucky in love. She has acted alongside Brad Pitt and even starred in a music video with Headie One and BurnaBoy.

Ella Thomas turned down Love Island when she was 18 (ITV)
Tyrique Hyde is a semi-pro footballer (ITV)

Tyrique, meanwhile, reckons he's hoping to find 'genuine love' in the villa.

The semi-pro footballer, 24, has never been in a committed relationship and says he's hopeful that being thrown into the Love Island villa will encourage him to get the ball rolling.

In a Love Island first, both the boys and the girls will be entering the villa together and are paired up by the audience.

Ruchee Gurung and Jess Harding are the first two girls to waltz into the villa in the Spanish sun and are soon joined by Mitchel Taylor, Ella Thomas, and Andre Furtado.

The model hails from Scotland (ITV)

Quizzed about what they're looking for in a man, the girls talk about 'Turkey teeth' and 'fashion sense' as they wait to find out who they'll be getting to know better.

Of course, it's now the fans will be responsible for matching up the couples.

Speaking about the shock twist on Good Morning Britain today, Maya said: "A very big surprise is that the public has all the power.

"For the first episode, you guys are going to decide who couples up. You vote and then we listen.

"It's a big decision to make, as soon as you see them."

Once all the Islanders are coupled up in tonight's show, Maya, looking gorgeous in a cut-out crocheted frock, makes her exit from the villa as she teases: “I think it’s fair to say on Love Island you should 100% expect the unexpected!”

Love Island airs tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX

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