With Love Island All Stars returning to our screens for another six weeks of love, there’s three things we’re guaranteed to hear: the words ‘pull you for a chat,’ some fire pit dramatics, and intel on their latest breakup.
The latter was exactly what we got from All Stars islander Shaq Muhammad, 27, who wasted no time during the launch show addressing his relationship with ex girlfriend Tanya Manhenga, 25. The pair met on Love Island back in 2023, finishing in fourth place before announcing their split on Instagram in August 2024.
While the pair initially seemed to keep the details of their breakup pretty quiet, Love Island All Stars has changed the game – with Shaq opening up about exactly what went down…
So, why did Shaq and Tanya from Love Island split?
In a conversation with Belle Hassan, Shaq admitted that he may have been the reason behind his split from Tanya. Sharing that he went on a boys trip to Miami, the islander explained he had gotten a lap dance from a dancer while there. He confessed, ‘I went on holiday to Miami and I got a lap dance. I was fighting for the relationship. I said it was wrong and I thought it was something we could get past.’
For Tanya, his Miami antics proved too much, with the pair soon splitting.
Naturally, his confession didn’t sit too well with fans of the ITV dating show – particularly given it’s a slightly different story compared to what Shaq revealed in the past. The star had originally told fans that their breakup came after he called another woman ‘beautiful.’
‘Shaq tried telling us that the reason they broke up was because he called another woman beautiful, and now all of a sudden he received a lap dance in Miami. You can’t fool us Shaq,’ wrote one. Another added, ‘So it went from calling a girl beautiful to a lap dance… LMAO Shaq, get the story straight.’
Did Shaq cheat on Tanya? Here’s what Tanya says…
Now, Tanya did touch on their split long before Shaq’s All Stars return. Tanya told fans while on a Twitch livestream, ‘He comes back home the day that I graduated from uni, guys. I took one look at him and I knew something was off.’
After picking up some strange vibes, Tanya recalled how she asked to go through Shaq’s phone, where she claimed she found evidence of him having been unfaithful.
Speaking during a previous podcast interview, Tanya also revealed how their relationship began to break down after they moved in together. ‘I feel like he needed to mature a little bit more, because guys mature very slowly, and then I feel like he was having his epiphany of maturing in our relationship, but then it’s at the expense of my feelings that you’re maturing, and it’s not good enough,’ she said.
‘I always said from the beginning, “Please, if you ever change your mind or you feel some type of way, you feel like you want to play outside, just say it because if I get embarrassed I’m out. I’m not going to be that couple that people are like, “Yeah, we saw him in the club, he was different.’
What has Shaq said about his split from Tanya?
Aside from that lap dance admission, the All Stars islander has only briefly touched on his split from Tanya in the past – taking to social media to deny that he had been unfaithful.
‘While I was with Tanya, I did not have sex with anyone. I didn’t kiss anyone, I didn’t do anything sexual with anyone,’ he previously said.
©ITV
Prior to entering Love Island All Stars, Shaq also said that he planned to be honest about his ex. ‘I’m not worried about anything coming up,’ he said. ‘If anyone wants to know the truth [about the split] or what happened or anything like that, I have nothing to hide. They can ask me. I’d rather someone ask me directly than speculate or have like an assumption of me without actually speaking to me first.’
Love Island All Stars continues on ITV2 and ITVX
Charlotte Roberts is a writer at Grazia UK, specialising in SEO. She spends her days covering everything celebrity, culture, and entertainment – from film review roundups to cast explainers.
