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One thing you have to admire about Love Island? It never fails to deliver absolute peak drama. Case in point: Love Island: All Stars 2025, which will see the return of Gabby and Marcel from the 2017 season of the regular show.
Love Island: All Stars is the spin-off which sees ex-islanders who failed to find love returning to the villa for another go. In other words, we get a villa filled with seasoned reality stars, some of whom already have some shared romantic history.
Season 2 of the show, which debuts this evening, will see Gabby Allen and Marcel Somerville reuniting in the villa where they found love way back in 2017. As you probably guessed based on the fact that they're both returning to the villa, things didn't exactly end well for the pair after they left the show.
So, to prepare for what is sure to be a juicy first episode, let's take a quick trip back down memory lane to remind ourselves — what actually happened between Gabby and Marcel?
Who will crack on and who will get the ick?
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What happened between Gabby and Marcel in Love Island?
Back in 2017, Love Island season three had us all hooked. To refresh your memory, it was a good season. It was the season of Amber and Kem; the season that brought us “Little Bit Leave It” by rapper extraordinaire Chris Hughes; the season of Olivia Attwood's epic one-liners; the season that featured the sweetest contestant to ever the villa, aka Camilla Thurlow. And, yes, it was the season that saw Gabby and Marcel fall in love.
While Marcel was an OG in the villa, Gabby didn't enter until the beginning of week two. She and Marcel quickly hit it off after a chemistry-filled first date. By day 10, they had had their first kiss and by day 14, they were officially coupled up. And things stayed pretty steady between the pair, despite a few (obligatory) hiccups — Marcel kissed Shannen in Casa Amor, while a lie detector test indicated that Gabby had lied about loving Marcel. However, they worked past any issues and eventually until came in fourth place.
What happened between Gabby and Marcel after Love Island?
The pair left the show a couple — and stayed that way for a few months. At first, things seemed to be going better than ever. “We've discussed whether we'd get married abroad,” Gabby said in a 2018 interview on This Morning. "We've only been together for eight months, so you'd think it would be quick. But it's so magnified that it's already spoken about."
However, that same month, the pair took a trip to Mexico where Marcel cheated on Gabby with a guest at the hotel. “They had a row one night so Gabby went back to their hotel room to sleep. Marcel started chatting to another woman at the bar where they kissed in full view of other guests,” a source said to The Sun. The woman later sent Gabby screenshots of Marcel's messages, which apparently included texts like, “Tomorrow I'll be available. We can have some day sex,” and, "I'm going to the gym but I'll try and catch you on the way. Actually the plan has been ruined. She's back."
See which ex-couple will be reunited in the villa.
After finding out about what happened during the vacation, Gabby and Marcel split in May 2018. “It's been a tough couple of days, I think I might still be in a bit of shock!” wrote Gabby on social media at the time, per Evening Standard. "But I'm sure in time I will be OK. I have the best family and friends around me. I'm a lucky girl."
Meanwhile, Marcel's management team released a statement: “Marcel can't really defend his actions as he knows what he did wrong and will regret it forever. Marcel is upset that he broke the heart of someone he loves and someone that he shared so many special moments with, but with all the good times there are difficult times, and sadly Marcel and Gabby had been in a bad place at this stage.”
Last week, Marcel spoke to the Mirror before re-entering the villa and revealed that the pair have crossed paths again since their break-up. “Obviously, I made my mistake, put my hands up, but after that situation we did actually bump into each other and have a conversation and talk about everything, hugged it out and it was a very amicable ending to our life.”
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What might happen between Gabby and Marcel in Love Island: All Stars?
As Gabby told The Sun before re-entering the villa, seeing Marcel again will probably be — well — a tad uncomfortable. “I haven’t seen him for six years, so I don’t know how I’m going to feel when I see him,” she said. "It was a big betrayal of trust. Even though I’m over it now, it was something that happened."
She added that she hoped she and Marcel would get the chance to talk things over. “I’d actually like to have a conversation with him and put it behind us and have some sort of friendship,” she said. "We did go out with each other for a year and we know each other well and we had an experience with each other last time. So there’s no reason we shouldn’t take the positives from it and hopefully be mates of some sort."
Both Gabby and Marcel are coming back to Love Island with new-found maturity.
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“I feel like I am now, who I thought I was then,” said Gabby. “I’m confident in who I am as a person and hopefully that will help me meet someone, because I know what I want and I don't want to settle.”
Meanwhile, Marcel said, “In my series I was deemed ‘Dr Marcel’, I was giving everyone love advice! Since the show, I’ve gone through a lot of situations in life and in love so I’ve topped up my knowledge… but I feel like maybe I need to take some advice when it comes to love this time round as well.”
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