Former Love Island star Anna Vakili has defended Luca Bish from online critics, claiming the fishmonger is just 'protective' rather than controlling towards Gemma Owen.
The former Islander - who appeared on the ITV2 show in 2019 - admits that Luca isn't her "usual type", but she does fancy the Brighton-born lad following his stint on the reality TV series.
Writing in her latest column, Anna also confesses to finding Davide Sanclimenti and Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu 's relationship entertaining and dramatic, but doesn't trust the Turkish actress.
Anna's comments - published on Tuesday - come as Love Island viewers grow frustrated with Luca, thanks to his reaction to watching Gemma's harmless interaction with another boy in Casa Amor during the show's notorious Movie Night.
Writing in her Closer column, Anna, 32, explains how she feels out of all the Islanders on this year's show she would probably get on with Michael Owen's 19-year-old daughter the best - despite a 13-year age gap between the two girls.
The former Love Island star dubbed Gemma "the most mature" one in the villa at the moment, and praised her for the good advice she gives the other girls.
"Having said that, I do fancy Luca a little bit and would couple up with him if I had to choose so maybe we wouldn't be friends," Anna mused.
"He's not my usual type but he's funny," she continued. "I don't think he's controlling - as a lot of people on Twitter have said - just protective.
"Those two should win."
Elsewhere in her column, Anna discussed Ekin-Su and Davide's fiery relationship and explained that although she finds the Italian "hilarious", she doesn't "trust Ekin-Su".
"I wonder whether Davide will find out about Ekin-Su getting handy with George in Casa Amor?" Anna mused. "That would mean fireworks".
Anna rose to fame when she entered the famous Love Island villa on day one of the fifth series in 2019, going on to couple up with Sherif Lanre, Ovie Soko and Jordan Hames during her time on the show.
Recalling her own experience on the show in her column, Anna feels there is a case of deja vu in the Villa at the moment - with the men being accused of disrespecting the girls.
The former Love Island star reminded readers of a similar thing happening to her in 2019, when her then-boyfriend Jordan went behind her back to get to know new girl India Reynolds.
Jordan's attempts to secretly woo the model - who went on to finish in third place alongside Ovie - resulted in one of Love Island's most dramatic scenes ever, with the girls all exploding at the Manchester lad for disrespecting Anna.
Reflecting on that era of her life, Anna wrote: "But I learned lessons from it and hopefully both the boys and girls will learn from it too."
Anna and Jordan were dumped from the island on day 52, just a few days on from becoming an official couple and quickly breaking up.
Jordan has undergone a dramatic transformation since his time on reality TV - now working as a high-end model for some huge brands including Prada, Zara and JD Sports.
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