Winter Love Island star David Salako has become the first islander to be dumped from the 2023 series, after being left on his own on tonight’s recoupling ceremony.

Following David’s entry onto the show, it was clear from the beginning that he was keen to forge a connection with Tanya Mahenga, who he went on a date with.

While there was clearly an attraction between them, Tanya decided to stick to her original couple with Shaq Muhammad, meaning that David was sent home after Lana Jenkins selected Will Young in the final pair.

Speaking after his exit, the 24-year-old admitted that he thought he had a chance to stay, as he assumed Tanya would be picking between him and Shaq.

‘Me and Tanya did have a good bond. We just found it easy to have a conversation with each other. But maybe that’s all it was between us, just good conversation,’ the money adviser admitted.

Looking back on the recoupling ceremony, he added: ‘I didn’t know who Tanya was going to pick. It was a 50/50 split between Shaq and I. The four things she said during the re-coupling, I thought were about me, and then she picked Shaq. I was like, that’s wonderful…’

David’s time on Love Island was cut abruptly short (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)

It was up to the girls to make the tough decisions tonight (Picture: ITV2)

Several viewers admitted that they felt sorry for David, who was dumped on day five of the show, having joined the programme as a latecomer.

‘Oh I feel so sorry for David,’ one person tweeted, as another wrote: ‘Poor David – I liked him.’

However, others lambasted him for the ‘foolishness’ of putting all of his eggs in one basket so early on, when Tanya was also still linked to Shaq at the time.

While David’s exit means there’s one fewer person in the villa… there won’t be for long.

On Sunday night’s show, two more bombshells are set to join the show – and there’s more to them than meets the eye.

Shaq and Tanya are still going strong (Picture: ITV/Rex/Shutterstock)

It turns out that the newcomers, Aaron Waters and Jessie Wynter, were both previously on Love Island, but not in the UK.

The reality stars are both Aussies, having starred on Love Island Australia in 2021 and 2019 respectively.

Love Island returns on Sunday at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.

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