Scott van-der-Sluis has thrown shade at Jess Harding and Sammy Root following their split.
The Love Island stars called it quits earlier this month, just weeks after winning the hit dating show.
A source confirmed the news to MailOnline, saying: “Jess and Sammy have called it quits. Things have changed since leaving the villa and Jess has realised they’re better off as friends.”
Sammy later claimed he was blindsided by the news of their split in the press.
Jess later cryptically told her Instagram followers: “I really don’t want to go into detail by doing a big statement, but we’re just very different and behave differently and that’s it.”
During his appearance on the Saving Grace podcast, host Grace Keeling asked Scott: “What do you think about Jess and Sammy breaking up?”
The former Shelbourne F.C. goalkeeper replied: “I don’t think anyone truly didn’t expect it, in the nicest way.”
“Out of the four couples, for me at the time, I thought the other three were stronger.”
When asked whether he was shocked that Jess and Sammy won Love Island, Scott admitted: “Yeah.”
“I think for me, in terms of the Love Island story, it should have been Ella [Thomas] and Ty[rique Hyde].”
“Ty was a player coming into the villa, Ella probably doing a little bit of the same thing as well, and both struggling with feelings – Ty especially struggling with his feelings, and then suddenly he is absolute loverboy.”
@itsforfunokkkkk Scott speaks about Jess & Sammys breakup and also discusses them being the winners of love island #fyp #loveisland #loveislanduk #tyriqueloveisland #ellaloveisland #ellathomas #tyriquehyde #tyriqueandella #tyandella #savinggrace #gkbarry #scottloveisland #scottvandersluis #jessloveisland #sammyloveisland #jessharding #sammyroot ♬ original sound – itsforfunokkkk
“So, that’s the perfect Love Island story,” Scott continued.
“But then, obviously Whitney [Adebayo] and Lochan [Nowacki] – Whitney was obviously so loved that no one would’ve been shocked if she won either.”
Jess and Sammy were against runners-up Whitney and Lochan, third place Ella and Ty, and fourth place Molly Marsh and Zachariah Noble in the final of the summer 2023 series of Love Island.
Scott’s comments come after Sammy opened up more about his split from Jess during his appearance on the Staying Relevant podcast.
The Love Island star told co-hosts Sam Thompson and Pete Wicks: “Long story short, we spoke and for like a week or something things were all over the place.”
“There’s a lot of pressure when you come out, I think Jess was struggling more with it,” Sammy said.
“We kind of on the phone said – you know how you say in the heat of an argument ‘We’re done’ – we did that a couple of times and ended up sorting it out.”
“Then the third time, she was in Ibiza, so I thought ‘When she gets back, even if we talk and meet and say it is done, then fine, whatever.’”
“Then I just woke up a couple days later and it was just in the press. I was like ‘Alright… guess I’m on my own!’”
“We did end of nice terms, we’re still fine. I said hello to her at Pride of Britain.”
“[I told her] I was going to post [a statement] later, because obviously she had said we were done, but no one’s heard anything from me.”
Sammy’s original statement, shared to his Instagram Stories, read: “Hi guys, I thought I would come online to address today’s news about me and Jess.”
“Yes we had a private conversation regarding our relationship but this was left up in the air as Jess is still away and we haven’t had a chance to speak in person. For me to then see today via the media that we had officially broken up came as a total shock.”
“To be totally clear – I at least wanted a face to face conversation to see if our relationship could be saved and felt this would be the respectful way forward,” Sammy continued. “We had the most incredible experience winning Love Island and I genuinely saw a future with Jess.”
“I was committed and respectful to our relationship. Unfortunately things don’t always work out the way you’d hoped. Despite how this has all played out today. I think Jess is an amazing woman and genuinely wish her all the best.”
