Love Island star Scott van-der-Sluis has defended his ex Catherine Agbaje amid backlash.
The Welsh footballer was left heartbroken when the Irish beauty returned from Casa Amor with bombshell Elom Ahlijah-Wilson – leaving him single and vulnerable.
Catherine and Elom were dumped from the villa shortly afterwards, as viewers slammed Catherine for ditching Scott.
Catherine and Elom split soon after they were dumped and since then, fans have been calling for her to rekindle her romance with Scott – who was dumped from the villa alongside Abi Moores last week.
Scott and Abi both appeared on Love Island’s spin-off series Aftersun on Sunday night, and Scott was quizzed by host Maya Jama about his relationship with Catherine.
He clarified: “Me and Catherine are friends now. I just want to put it out there. Obviously, this is a reality show, you only see an hour of every day.”
Defending his former flame, Scott added: “I’ve seen a little bit of what’s been said to Catherine and it’s not right at all. I just want to put that out there and stick up for her, sort of thing, because we did get on as friends before she left. We’re in a good place with it.”
When asked if he could ever see him and Catherine be more than friends again, Scott replied: “At the moment, we get on as friends really well and there’s nothing different to that at the moment. I don’t know about a date just yet.”
“I was sort of over that situation in the villa. You can never say never with it. For me at the moment, I’m sort of done with it.”
It comes after a friend of Catherine’s told The UK Sun: “She wants to go on a date with Scott and see if they can rekindle things.”
“She realises she made a big mistake cutting things off too soon, but she’d love another chance to explore if there is something genuinely there in the outside world.”
The source explained that the Dubliner hasn’t reached out to her former beau yet, as “she’s waiting to see what he is going to say to Maya Jama on Aftersun on Sunday night first.”
“She isn’t sure how he really feels and she is worried he may completely shut down any chance of seeing her again on live TV, so she is protecting herself by taking a wait-and-see approach.”
“If he badmouths her, or goes on any podcasts in the coming days and slates their relationship, then she’ll have her answer,” Catherine’s pal continued.
“She hopes, however, that he will be open to giving things a go and taking it slowly.”
The Love Island final will air tonight at 9pm.
Check out the final episode of Goss Island with Matthew MacNabb, which is now live across all streaming platforms, including Spotify and iTunes.
The Love Island star spills the tea on couples who were faking it for the cameras, and reveals some behind the scenes drama from his season – including how producers influenced their decisions in the villa.
Matthew also opens up about finding love with his girlfriend Laura Nolan on another TV show, plus host Alan Cawley reveals who he thinks should win the series.
You can also watch the entire episode from start to finish on our YouTube channel below:
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