Yahoo News Love Island's Georgia and Sam explain their exit
No couple have caused more controversy on Love Island over the last 10 days than Georgia Steel and Sam Bird.
First, there was Georgia's role in the Jack Fowler kiss drama that sparked more than 500 complaints to broadcasting regulator Ofcom, and then the other islanders forcibly split her from Sam last Friday night.
With a controversy over whether they'd since broken the rules by kissing after their conscious uncoupling brewing, Georgia and Sam ultimately walked away from the villa in Thursday's episode after a heated recoupling ceremony.
Digital Spy and other media chatted with both after their departures from the villa on Thursday, and they spoke about why it was the right time to leave.
"For me, it was when Sam sat me down before recoupling," Georgia told us. "There were circumstances that caused the split. And yeah, it was a massive shock to both of us. I just feel like we just gravitated towards each other. Even though we were split, we wanted to stay badly."
She continued: "So when Sam sat me down just before recoupling and was like, 'Look, Georgia, you do understand, it's reality. We've recoupled, Georgia. We have ultimately recoupled. We can't be kissing in the toilet. We can't be cuddling on the sofa when no-one's looking, because that's wrong'. And I thought, 'I can't be in here, not doing that with Sam'.
"Because that's not me. I don't cheat. I don't do things like that. I couldn't be in that villa without being around Sam. And I knew for me, no matter how hard I've tried to crack on, I wouldn't be able to. And yeah, when Sam told me that, that kind of clicked in my mind."
Kudos to Georgia for resisting the urge to describe herself as loyal there! Sam largely agreed with Georgia's assessment, saying there was "a lot of build-up" to them deciding to leave.
"There was a moment where I was just chatting to Steph, getting to know her," he remembered. "And Jack came over, and they said, 'Aw, you and Steph would be good together'.
"As soon as they said that, I felt really uncomfortable. I felt like I was almost cheating on Georgia. It didn't feel right. I felt like if I was then to couple with her, I would be really playing with her emotions, and really blocking her opportunities to meet… you know, something real.
"I took some time, and I spoke to Jack one on one, and said, 'Look, I think I'm going to have to talk to Georgia, and almost give her an ultimatum, and just say, 'We're going to have to properly split up and stop doing secret kisses. You can't come up to me in bed while I'm sitting with someone else. It'll look weird. It'll just be wrong'."
He went on: "It took some time. I was a bit nervous because I was basically about to say to Georgia, 'We're splitting up' or 'We're about to leave the villa' – which we didn't want to do either. We wanted to be coupled up together, in the villa. But we knew that couldn't happen. We made that decision.
"And in the end, I comforted her down and explained it. She understood, and we both agreed to leave the villa together."
As for whether Sam and Georgia will be officially coupling outside of the villa, it doesn't seem like they're quite ready to take that step just yet.
"We're not boyfriend and girlfriend," Sam insisted. "Basically, we feel like the big thing for us – we've been in relationships. Both of our relationships have been really long-term, and we've been single for a long time.
"Me and Georgia did see people getting boyfriends and girlfriends really quickly in the villa. We feel like being boyfriend and girlfriend is a big, special thing. We weren't prepared to just do that in the villa to look stronger to the public or look stronger to other islanders. We were just doing what we were doing outside. Knowing someone for a week is not a very long time.
"Even though we were getting close, and obviously our feelings for each other are really, really strong, and we were just left together. But, if I wanted to ask her to be my girlfriend, I'd want to do it in a very special way. I'd want it to mean a lot. I'd want it to be something really big. "
Love Island airs on Sundays through Fridays at 9pm on ITV2, with Caroline Flack presenting The Weekly Hot List at the same time on Saturday nights.
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