During episode 14 of Love Island Games, six new bombshells entered the villa, and they certainly made a splash (no pun intended). Zeta Morrison, Deb Chubb, Aurelia Lamprecht and Scott van-der-Sluis definitely turned heads upon their arrival, but two individuals stunned both islanders and viewers back home — winners of Love Island: Australia season 3, Tina Provis and Mitch Hibberd.
For those who are unfamiliar, Love Island Games brings together fan-favorite islanders from international iterations of the beloved competition series (from Love Island: USA to Love Island: UK to Love Island: Australia and beyond) for a “second shot at love as they compete in a brand-new format to be crowned champions of Love Island Games. In this cheeky new iteration, romance will meet reality as fan-favorite islanders are faced with both team and couples’ challenges, all while navigating dating, eliminations, recoupling, dramatic arrivals, and new competition twists and turns like never before.”
Beginning with stunners like Justine Ndiba, Cely Vazquez, Imani Wheeler, and more, new contestants have entered the villa every few days as bombshells. As mentioned, the most notable of said bombshells is Tina and Mitch, ultimately adding another set of exes to the villa (along with Cely Vazquez and Johnny Middlebrooks) upon their arrival — how awkward is that?
Tina and Mitch had quite the journey on season 3 of Love Island: Australia, remaining faithful to each other throughout their time in the villa (with the exception of day 10, where Tina coupled up with Taku Chimwaza and Mitch coupled up with Emily Ward), coasting them all the way to finale night and earning them the cash prize.
Pursuing a relationship with one another outside of the villa, Tina and Mitch took to their respective Instagram stories in January of 2022 to announce their split, amid allegations that Mitch cheated on Tina with Emily post-filming — yikes!
“This is difficult for me, as my instinct is to deal with this in private, however, I have been living a very public life, and for that reason, I want to speak openly on here so that I never have to address it on the internet again. It’s with a very sad, heavy heart that I tell you guys, Mitch and I are no longer together. I’m so devastated to be sharing this news with you and I am still processing the situation. Sadly, this was not our time and we agreed that the best decision for us right now is to part ways,” Tina shared with her 168,000 followers just three months after filming wrapped.
Shortly after their breakup, both Tina and Mitch returned for season 4 of Love Island: Australia, where they rekindled their romance in the villa. Breaking up once and for all after their second time on Love Island: Australia came to a close, fans of the Love Island franchise thought that Tina and Mitch could reconnect for the third time on Love Island Games, however, Tina revealed in an exclusive interview with The Messenger that she and Mitch practiced “social distancing” on the show.
Given that arriving on Love Island Games together was the first time Tina Provis and Mitch Hibberd had interacted since their split, keep scrolling to see what the former had to say about the latter shortly after they were both dumped from the villa (respectively).
Kicking off the conversation, Tina admitted that she “really hoped this time that he wouldn’t be there, to break it up a bit and have an experience that didn’t involve each other,” but unfortunately that was not the case.
Once she realized that she would be competing on the inaugural season of Love Island Games alongside her ex-boyfriend, the 27-year-old admitted that the only thing going through her mind was “what the f**k,” but the pair decided to just stay away from one another in the villa nonetheless.
To the surprise of Tina herself, “social distancing” from Mitch ultimately gave her the closure she needed once and for all.
“I think the was one thing that was great about my journey this time around is it really gave me closure on that whole experience, because by the time I saw [Mitch] in there, I just feel nothing anymore,” she dished. “I think we’ve given it enough goes. I’ve kind of really given all I have to give, and there’s just nothing left there.”
Tina concluded passionately, “This time, knowing for good that I’m done and I’m not just like telling myself lies, I just felt nothing at all. That was the biggest win for me” — you go girl!
While both Tina Provis and Mitch Hibberd have been greatly missed in the villa since their departures, fans of the Love Island franchise can catch new episodes of Love Island Games Sundays through Fridays on Peacock to see how the rest of the inaugural season unfolds — the finale is just days away!