Love Island winner Ekin-Su went by the name Susie Hayzel while working in a bar a decade ago, her former boss has revealed.
Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, 27, and boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti, 27, were crowned the winners of Love Island 2022 in a dramatic final on Monday (Aug 1).
But new details have emerged of the Turkish actress from her days working as a shot girl while living in Preston, Lancashire, where she was studying.
The ITV fan-favourite was once photographed with The Only Way is Essex star Mark Wright at Ships and Giggles in the city, where she helped with celebrity appearances as part of her job.
And now her former boss has shared what she was like when she worked there from 2012 to 2014 - including her old nickname.
Bar owner Andy Macdonald, 38, said Ekin-Su was known as Susie Hayzel to pals back then.
He couldn’t believe that she now went by a different name, but praised her and said it’s ‘a comical but smart move’.
Andy said: “For weeks, I kept getting these messages from people saying that a girl called Ekin-Su was working for me.
“It was getting to the point where I was getting pissed of by all these messages about her, and I didn’t know who this Ekin-Su was so I just had enough.
“One time it was on TV so I just thought ‘right that’s it’ and had a look, I hadn’t seen any posts because I don’t follow the show, and there she was.
“I just laughed and went ‘that’s Susie bloody Hayzel’. I couldn’t believe it, I just laughed my head off.
“I have never known her other that Susie Hayzel, and I’m still friends with Susie Hayzel on Facebook.”
Andy also believed the Love Island star was half Irish, and had no idea that she was Turkish after she entered the Miss Asia Pacific World pageant as Miss Ireland.
He said: “I always thought she was half Irish because she won Miss Ireland.
“I asked her how she won Miss Ireland as it’s another country.
“She was like ‘what do you mean it’s another country? Isn’t it part of England?’ and I was like oh my god Susie, oh no.”
Ekin-Su was always one of Andy’s ‘go to girls’ and often worked with celebrities, including Mark Wright.
He said: “I liked Susie because she was never creepy and she was never there for the wrong reasons.
“She was flirty but she was never creepy with it - she was always pleasant, always happy, always smiling.
“She always made celebrities feel comfortable and she would always look after them and take photos with them.
“She was class, I don’t have a bad word to say about her.”
Whilst Ekin-Su worked at the pub, she starred in a student documentary show called ‘Lancshore’ - based on the hit TV show Geordieshore.
He said: “I remember saying how Susie was on it, so I was going to have to watch it.
“Everyone was saying about going to Ships and Giggles, and I didn’t care how amateur this production was, but Susie turned around and went ‘we always go to those places, lets go somewhere different.
“I was furious, I messaged her asking how dare she do this and she just said it was filmed before I worked there.”
Her former boss didn’t watch the Love Island final, but said he always knew she would be successful.
He added: “I was absolutely buzzing for her, by the things that I was reading, it was clear she was going to win.
“She was just standing out by a mile with her personality and all of her usual stuff.
“She was always ambitious and never held back with what she did, she always said she would make something of herself.
“She always had that attitude and that personality.
“She would say the silliest things that you couldn’t image, but she was extremely smart at the same time.”
