15 January 2026, 21:10
Sammy Root and Jess Harding were together for just 2 months after Love Island.
Picture:
Getty/Jess Harding/Instagram
Love Island’s Jess Harding and Sammy Root won the show in 2023 but ended up breaking up. As Jess enters Love Island All Stars 2026, here’s why they called it quits.
Following in Sammy Root’s footsteps, his ex Jess Harding. has returned to the Love Island villa for All Stars 2026.
In 2023 Sammy and Jess met on Love Island series 10 and went on to take home the crown. However, things didn’t work out for the couple as they broke up less than two months after winning the £50,000 prize.
Now, after Sammy’s Love Island All Stars stint in 2025, Jess is taking on the spin-off show alongside the likes of Millie Court, Jack Keating and Whitney Adebeyo.
So, as Jess cracks on in South Africa, here’s what happened between her and Sammy after they won Love Island and why they split.
Jess Harding and Sammy Root split two months after Love Island.
Picture:
Getty
Why did Sammy Root and Jess Harding split?
Sammy and Jess announced their split just a couple of months after leaving the Love Island villa in 2023, with a source saying their relationship ‘changed’ once they returned to their normal lives back home.
An insider said to the tabloids at the time: “Jess and Sammy have called it quits. Things have changed since leaving the villa and Jess has realised they’re better off as friends.”
Jess was in Ibiza with her friends when news of their breakup emerged, but Sammy claimed he found out they were over ‘via the press.’ On the Staying Relevant podcast he said they’d said ‘we’re done’ numerous times before finally breaking up.
“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 Root is heading back on Love Island for All Stars.
Picture:
ITV2
He continued: “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.”
He added: “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!’”
Despite this, Sammy added that they ‘did end on nice terms’.
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