EXCLUSIVE: Love Island's Marcel 'saving up' to propose to Gabby as they bounce back from vile racist abuse

Marcel Somerville is “saving up” to propose to his Love Island girlfriend Gabby Allen after a roller coaster few months that saw them fall in love, suffer horrific racist abuse, and finally move in together.

Our favourite couple from the hit ITV2 show packed their bags and moved into a flat in Bethnal Green over the weekend, and Gabby opened up to Yahoo Celebrity UK during an exclusive chat at the National Lottery Awards on Monday night about how they have gotten closer after the emotional abuse they were subjected to since leaving the island.

At the time Gabby, a dancer from Liverpool, threatened to name and shame her haters in a series of videos on Snapchat last month and said she was “disgusted” by the comments.

She told us: “It’s weird. Someone asked me, ‘Do you think you have been naive?’ And I don’t think I have. It’s just the fact that I never grew up around racism.

“I’ve lived in London for eights years and I grew up in Liverpool, the capital of culture, and you know it’s never been in my face.

“I’ve never been around those people. But that’s definitely something I’m aware of now. It’s only online anyone ever says anything. Behind those cartoon icons that they’ve got as their profile pictures. That’s it.

“I was really hurt by some of the stuff people were saying but it’s funny, I think it’s definitely died down since I mentioned it and named and shamed people the second time round.”

Marcel’s family have been a huge support and Gabby is inspired by their positive attitude in life.

She said: “There is no wonder he is the way he is because they are so lovely. So passive, everything is just great. Anything that happens, it’s never that bad.

“So I need to learn something from them. I need to take a leaf out of their book. They’re just amazing.”

She continued: “When I met him it was just so simple. I’ve never felt like that with someone before. Usually you have an attraction and some form of chemistry or whatever. And then you have to work at it with them. But with him, it was this calm, easy going thing and the fact that we took it at the pace that we did. Now I’m so glad we did that because I think it stood us in good stead.

“I trust him more than I’ve ever trusted anyone.”

So is it too soon to follow in the footsteps of their fellow Love Islanders Dom and Jess and get married?

She said: “I think in this situation nothing is too soon in my opinion because unless you experience it you can’t know how intense it is and how quickly these relationships develop. And I think Marcel and I, we’ve paced things, but we’re still moving in together. And they’ve already been out of the villa for three months now, and they were talking about marriage and kids and stuff in the villa. Every time I see them they are very much in love. So, go for it!”

She added: “Marcel has told me he’s saving up for a ring, he told me this one night when we were on our way back home in a cab and I was like, ‘Oh My God!!!’ He’s going to be reading this and might be like, ‘did I?’ Haha, yes you did!”

The National Lottery Awards 2017 – the annual search for the UK’s favourite Lottery funded projects – will be broadcast on Wednesday 27th September at 10.45pm on BBC1. To find out more visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk