Viral text messages rumoured to be about Love Island's Ben debunked

18 June 2025, 17:40 | Updated: 19 June 2025, 09:38

Love Island's Ben exposed by 'girlfriend' of two years with leaked text messages. Picture: ITV

By Abbie Reynolds

Love Island fans believe Ben Holbrough had a girlfriend before entering the villa.

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This article's headline has been edited to reflect the latest updates in the story.

It's safe to say Love Island's Ben Holbrough isn't a fan favourite after how things ended with him and bombshell Toni Laites as he stormed away from her and declared he had "the ick".

And things didn't get better for his public perception when it appeared he had entered the villa in a relationship.

The 23-year-old taxi driver from Gloucester has been cracking on with Shakira Khan in the villa but a video shared by a girl who reportedly dated Ben went viral on TikTok.

Read more: Love Island's Ben before and after £3000 hair transplant

Ben allegedly has a girlfriend — Fans have told Shakira to 'run'. Picture: ITV

The alleged girlfriend shared texts which read: "Just think, realistically im not finding my wife on there so you haven't gotta worry about that.

"It's a summer of fun which comes with a load of benefits and just makes sense. One of the producers even said to me they all know no one goes on there to find love everyone just plays the game x."

They continued: "Nothing you see on there is serious every single person in that villa does not care about love they just know what opportunity could be coming their way if they play it right.

"And how can I forget about you x"

However the girl the texts were shared by has reached out to Capital to confirm the texts were not from Ben. Her original post has been taken down.

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Despite the original post being removed, multiple accounts on TikTok have reshared the texts and have found old photos of the girl with Ben.

But before the truth came out fans were quick to respond.

Reacting to the 'revelation', one fan said: "My jaw stayed in the same place. This is obvious."Another said: "well he's not lying to be fair... literally nobody goes on there to actually find love [crying emoji] if they get a relationship out of it it's a benefit.

"They all go on there for the money, followers and brand deals. It's literally obvious. Idk how this is shocking to anyone? It's reality tv lol."