Love Island finalists get emotional during final declarations

The Love Island finalists shed tears and gave emotional embraces as they shared their declarations of love during the 2024 final.

Four couples are competing for the £50,000 prize with the winners announced live from Majorca following a public vote.

The finalists include Nicole Samuel and Ciaran Davies, Matilda Draper and Sean Stone, Mimii Ngulube and Josh Oyinsan and Jessica Spencer and Ayo Odukoya.

Up first during the declarations was an emotional Jessica who said: “We have created such a special bond and a deeper connection between us that I never thought was possible.”

Ayo returned the sentiment, telling her that although they may say it casually, he confirmed that he really did love her.

Nicole reminisced on their early days in the villa together, saying: “It all started the day you walked through that door with the biggest, cheekiest smile on your face.

“As soon as I came up to you the words that left your mouth was ‘Alright love, I’m Ciaran, nice to meet you’ and I replied ‘Are you Welsh? I instantly felt the butterflies.”

She also told the Welshman that she is “so madly in love” with him while he told her “I love everything about you”.

Meanwhile, Mimii praised Josh for being “attentive, kind, gentle and loving” as she gave her declaration.

“Thank you for showing me the qualities that I thought were unrealistic in this day and age”, she added.

During his turn, Josh told her: “You mentioned to me that no one has ever written you a poem before and I promised you I will so I hope you like it.”

Last up was Matilda and Sean, with the bombshell saying that they had gone on their “fair share of ups and downs” but that it had “always” been him.

Sweet salesman Sean said he is “so proud and grateful” to have met Matilda before telling her he loved her, to which she quickly returned the sentiment.

Earlier in the episode, the remaining couples got dressed up to enjoy one last dinner together.

During their meal, the contestants shared their favourite memories, with Matilda saying her family and Sean’s meeting each other in the villa was “unreal”.

Nicole revealed that her peak moment was when her partner Ciaran asked her to be his girlfriend.

TV personality Joey Essex was dumped from the villa a day before the final along with his partner Jessy Potts.

Essex, who rose to fame on The Only Way Is Essex (Towie) before appearing on a host of reality shows, entered the ITV2 dating series as the show’s “first celebrity contestant” and was voted out by the other hopefuls as they felt he and Jessy were the “least compatible couple”.

Love Island continues on ITV.