Love Island fans fuming as 'split or steal' twist is AXED from final

Ekin-Su and Davide won the show!

Author: Alex RossPublished 2nd Aug 2022

After eight weeks of intense drama, Love Island 2022 ended last night (Monday 1st August), with the public voting Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Davide Sanclimenti as the new Queen and King of the villa.

Due to their history over the last eight weeks, many viewers were convinced the 2022 final could see one person choose to steal the prize money, something which has never happened on the show before.

Taking to social media ahead of the final, fans believed Turkish actress Ekin-Su had potential to steal if she was given the opportunity.

HOWEVER, viewers were left fuming at the start of the show when host Laura Whitmore confirmed the twist had been removed this year.

She said: "Who will be crowned winners of Love Island 2022?. The winning couple will split a huge £50,000! And this year we’re not even asking them to choose between love or money, but who that winning couple will be is all down to you guys."

Check out the final standings below:

WINNERS: Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Davide Sanclimenti

63.69% of the vote.

2ND PLACE: Gemma Owen and Luca Bish

14.47% of the vote.

3RD PLACE: Indiyah Polack and Dami Hope

11.77% of the vote.

4TH PLACE: Tasha Ghouri and Andrew Le Page

10.07% of the vote.

After hearing Laura's message, fans were quick to flock to Twitter to express their anger at the removal of the twist.

One wrote: 'Not even asking them to split or steal the money?? I've wasted 8 weeks of my life #loveisland'.

Another added: 'Hang on… they’re NOT asking whether they’ll keep or split the money?! There should have been a disclaimer at the start of the season tbh #loveisland🏝', with a third writing: 'Why didn’t they do split or steal this year? Ekin su and Davide would have been perfect for it 😭 #loveisland'. (sic)

A fourth then wrote: 'nahhh they removed the split or steal this year because there was a possibility ekinde would actually choose steal 😭😭😭 #LoveIsland'. (sic)

Check out all of the Love Island rules below:

No getting drunk

According to 2017 contestant Kem Cetinay, contestants are allowed one small glass of wine or beer a night with dinner.
Being drunk's an absolute no-no, so sex while intoxicated is obviously against the rules too.

No masturbating

No solo sex acts are allowed in the villa, though obviously allowed to get jiggy with their partner.

No nudity

Contestants cannot be naked in front of other islanders, since the villa is technically a public space.

No books, phones or magazines

The islanders are given snazzy phones from their sponsor, Samsung (what else would they get their texts on?); but anyone sneaking their own mobile phone into the villa would risk being removed.
Same goes for books and magazines, too.

No inappropriate language or behaviour

This could cover homophobic, racist or aggressive language and is quite the broad rule. Inappropriate behaviour is again at producers' discretion, and would include violence and sexual harassment.

No discriminating against staff

Any Islanders who are rude to crew could run the risk of being booted off the show, and contestants must NOT take their mic packs off unless instructed to.

Follow the rule book

Simple. Contestants must obey the rule book they're provided with; which includes information on safe sex, consent and how to know if you're following the guidelines.

In what was one of the most dramatic celebrations in Love Island history, Ekin-Su and Davide were thrilled to learn they'd been crowned the winners ahead of runners-up, Gemma Owen and Luca Bish.

Ekin-Su said after the show: "Thank you everyone for voting for us and thank you for making us who we are."

Davide added: "I didn't expect it, I still don't believe it."

All episodes of Love Island are available to watch on the ITV Hub.

Now read:

Love Island 2022: Winners revealed

Love Island's Paige reveals why she didn't leave with Jacques

Love Island's Jacques DELETES all trace of Paige from social media

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