The moment Grace Jackson walked into the Love Island villa, the writing was on the wall for Samantha Kenny’s romance with Joey Essex.
And now, her close pal Munveer Jabbal, who was also recently eliminated from the show, has sensationally claimed that ITV producers “engineered” her romance leaving it “stunted” and “restricted.” Viewers will recall, during a heart to heart with the former TOWIE star, that Samantha had expressed her humiliation as she said she felt embarrassed. She also exposed the fact that there had been no physical touch from the reality TV star but he didn’t hesitate to kiss his ex-girlfriend Grace in full view of the other islanders. And this left them all shocked at his brazen behaviour.
So it’s hardly surprising that the Liverpool based make-up artist was left fuming after being axed from the show as she was then unable to forge a connection with anyone else. Speaking to FUBAR Radio, Munveer said: “She literally just called me about an hour ago and she’s obviously livid, for obvious reasons. Watching it the other day was a tough watch because, being so close to Samantha in the villa, you could clearly see she has strong feelings for Joey [Essex] but it wasn’t reciprocated. No physical touch, no intimacy.”
The former Love Islander then went on to slam producers for restricting Samantha’s ability to cement a firm romance with Joey. He continued: “She just feels like she wasn’t able to do what she wanted to and some of it was a little bit engineered. She feels like she was a little bit restricted in what she could have done in certain situations.” Joey and Grace had been in a relationship before they both entered the show but it came to an end – until, that is, Grace turned up on the ITV2 show as a bombshell.
And viewers will also remember a conversation between both Grace and Samantha, where the Liverpool born star said she knew they had history but the fault lay with Joey in how he had handled the situation. Samantha has now returned home and posted her tearful arrival on social media. Since leaving the villa, Samantha has been inundated with messages of support from fans who praised her for handling the situation with dignity. And she has now issued a statement thanking fans for their support.
She said: “I have no words for how I’m feeling right now. I am blown away by all your kind words and support. I see them all and they haven’t gone unnoticed. I was true to myself since day 1 and I will continue to be.” Sharing a video of her pals including Nicole crying ahead of her exit, she captioned the clip: “Obsessed with my girls!! Rooting for you all so so much, best thing to come out of my experience is the friends that I have made.”