Why Love Island's Samie Elishi and Tom Clare split

19 January 2026, 21:00

Here's what happened with Tom and Samie after Love Island season 9. Picture: Shutterstock / Instagram

By Abbie Reynolds

Love Island's Samie Elishi and Tom Clare came third but have split and both starred on Love Island All Stars. Here's why they split.

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Tom Clare and Samie Elishi met on the winter edition of Love Island in 2023 and even made it to third place, ultimately leaving the villa as boyfriend and girlfriend.

But now that Tom is Love Island All Stars royalty after winning the first series with Molly Smith and Samie is in the villa for the third All Stars, it's clear things didn't work out.

Back in 2025, Samie entered the second All Stars as a bombshell, alongside Chuggs Wallis, with her eyes set on Luca Bish. However, things didn't work out with Luca since he was deep into a connection with Grace Jackson, so Samie ended up single and dumped from the show.

It was reported that Samie was actually planning on entering Love Island All Stars the first time around but opted out as soon as she found out Tom would be there.

Now, that Samie is back on All Stars in 2026, here's everything we know about her split from Tom.

Read more: Love Island's Casey called "messy" response to Samie going on All Stars

Tom and Samie came third on Love Island season 9. Picture: ITV

Why did Love Island's Tom Clare and Samie Elishi split?

After finding each other on Love Island season 9 the pair made it official but ended up splitting just a month after leaving the show.

They both came out to confirm the breakup and Samie simply said, "it just wasn’t working on the outside". Reports also claim that "the distance between them was too much" and they both "decided to focus on their careers post Love Island".

In April 2023 Tom released a statement saying: "[I] didn’t think I’d be writing this but me and Samie have gone our separate ways.

“We are still on good terms and I have nothing but love and respect for her," added Tom, "I’m gutted it’s come to an end but I truly wish Samie the best.”

The breakup seemed to be amicable as Samie also released a statement saying: "Me and Tom have broken up. It’s ended on good terms. No one’s done anything bad to each other, there’s still lots and lots of love there.

Samie is said to have dropped out of All Stars because she didn't want to see Tom. Picture: Getty

"It just wasn’t working on the outside and we both agreed on the majority of the things. There’s no bad blood there...I would never say a bad word about him and he wouldn’t about me."

However, the pair went on to spark rumours that they had gotten back together in the summer of 2023 after Samie posted a video, which eagle-eyed fans spotted to be in Tom's garden.

A couple months later the rumours were set to rest again when Samie confirmed that she was single and the two unfollowed each other on Instagram.

Samie returned to Love Island for season 3. Picture: ITV

According to a the tabloids the pair "no longer get on these days", a source said: "There’s too much water under the bridge now. He had every right to enjoy the single life after they split and Samie was fine with that. But what wasn’t as nice was when they started trading blows on social media."

The "trading blows" refers to some TikToks that the pair made seemingly digging at one another.

First, alongside former Islander Ellie Spence, Samie filmed a TikTok with the sound 'So I used to date this guy' with retching noises in the background.

Fans were quick to assume the video was about her ex Tom and after he chose to post his own clip lip-syncing to 'Why are you so obsessed with me?' Love Island viewers were sure it was a bit of back and forth between exes.