Why did Lucinda split from Mert after Love Island Games?

4 February 2026, 20:55

Why did Lucinda split from Mert after Love Island Games?

Picture:
Getty & Instagram

Love Island All Stars’ Lucinda Strafford split from ex Mert Okatan just weeks before entering the villa. Here’s what we know about why they split.

From winning a hefty $125k on Love Island Games late last year to making a dramatic bombshell entrance on All Stars, Lucinda Strafford clearly hasn’t given up on finding love.

As viewers watch Lucinda make some daring moves in the All Stars villa, they’ve noticed that it wasn’t long ago when she won the Games with Isaiah ‘Zac’ Campbell. Despite their victory, the pair didn’t stay together after the show ended.

Not long later, Lucinda reconnected with fellow Love Island Games contestant Mert Okatan, who she was coupled up with for a week before he was dumped. The pair enjoyed a brief romance in the outside world, but Lucinda abruptly ended things shortly before entering All Stars.

Lucinda and Mert were coupled up for one week in Love Island Games. .

Picture:
TikTok

Why did Lucinda split from Mert after Love Island Games?

Not long after they vlogged a romantic few days together in London, the pair unfollowed each other and removed all traces of one another from their socials in December last year.

Lucinda later appeared on ‘Ami Charlize’s Private Story’ podcast, where she shared more detail about their split.

She said: “Yeah so me and Mert have broken up but that’s really sad as well, the whole thing was just really weird. I was coupled up with Mert for a week and he couldn’t really speak proper English, but there was a connection there.

“We really fancied each other and we really got on but he just physically could not communicate with me, I feel like I need depth and he has depth, but with his communication is was just really hard.”

She added: “And I couldn’t speak Dutch so it was just really difficult to speak to each other having a normal conversation, there was a lot of repeating and stuff.”

Lucinda and Isaiah recently won Love Island Games together.

Picture:
PEACOCK

Like her other ex, Zac Nunn (who she came second with on Love Island Australia), Mert has been regularly reviewing the show. On Snapchat, Mert has questioned her recent actions with Sean Stone in the All Stars villa.

In one recent story, Mert called Lucinda “childish” after she went to secret garden with Sean while the other Islanders watched on.

In another story, Mert even asked his followers if they thought Lucinda and Sean’s relationship was “real”.

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