LOVE Island’s Harriett Blackmore had a boyfriend who she said “I love you” to just days before striking up a romance with Ronnie Vint in the villa last year, friends claimed.
And a former Islander suggested she could have been with him when she applied to go on the show.
Josh Curling only found out the dancer and personal shopper was going on the show after seeing The Sun's exclusive line-up reveal, with friends saying he was livid and hurt.
Sources who know the former couple said the self-styled “It” girl gave Josh a scrapbook of photos from their relationship together and told him: "I love you."
It is understood she dumped him later that same evening over text, telling him: “I need time to focus on myself and what I’m doing.”
Her friends said she wanted to tell him that she was going on the show but never did.
The couple broke up in January following a three-year relationship but are understood to have rekindled their romance in April.
Josh had a short fling with another girl when they were separated.
A source said: “Josh had suspicions she was going on the show. She was going up to London and saying she was being interviewed for Pretty Little Thing.
“He asked if she was going on but at the time she said she would never go on Love Island.
“Josh feels like he’s been led down a garden path. He was in love and during their relationship they were talking about moving out and getting married.
"They had a good relationship but it fizzled out in January when they started arguing all the time.
"But they seemed to have been working on getting back to where they were."
Harriet took the chance to respond to the claims before she entered the villa.
She said: “We kind of broke up out of the blue but we've remained in contact and, and I think we'll always be friends, there's no bad blood there.
“You know the ex-boyfriend’s always going to have a lot to say and even if it's not the ex-boyfriend, one of his friends…. he's not expecting me to be on TV, so he’s probably got a lot of emotions, he’s probably got a lot of feelings.
“But I'm just gonna clarify, we've had conversations and we remained in contact but yeah, for me, the relationship ended in January.”
Writing on his social media account at the time, 2022 star Andrew Le Page had doubts about Harriett's back story.
While watching at home, he wrote: "[She] just say she's been single for four months?
"The application process is longer than that."
Harriett ended up leaving the Love Island villa with semi-pro footballer Ronnie after a drama-filled few weeks.
Though they never called themselves boyfriend and girlfriend, they were 'seeing' each other for a number of months in the real world.
They split in September but have now been brought back together by Love Island All Stars.
In tonight's show, a blindfolded Ronnie recognised Harriett's kiss immediately during a game and rated it 10 out of 10, much to the annoyance of his current villa partner Elma Pazar.
The episode ended with them having a heart to heart on the terrace and Ronnie telling her "it's always been you" as Elma and the rest of the girls listened in below.
