olivia love island looking shocked© Photo: Rex

Love Island: Olivia and Zara shock with shared history before entering villa

Tensions are rising in the South African villa…

Senior Features Writer
January 23, 2023

The Love Island villa has seen some tensions arise in the past couple of episodes, particularly between three Islanders who have now found themselves in a love triangle.

During last week's dramatic recoupling, bombshell Tom Clare decided to jump ship from Olivia Hawkins to Zara Lackenby-Brown – and it's sparked some heated discussions ever since.

WATCH: Meet the contestants on Love Island series nine

A first-look clip at Monday night's episode shows the Islanders engaged in a game of Never Have I Ever and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the question-and-answer game prompts more of a row between Zara and Olivia, with the former telling the latter: "Do you think I flew 11 hours out here just to [expletive] you off?" Ouch.

But viewers of the reality show have somewhat been confused by the two being at loggerheads since it's been reported that they knew each other before joining the show.

MORE: Maya Jama's epic London home: Inside the Love Island host's pad

MORE: Inside Love Island star Zara Deniz Lackenby-Brown's career and famous connections

© Photo: Rex

Zara and Olivia have come to blows on the show

On Instagram, fans have found evidence that the girls had been commenting on each other's photos back in 2020. One of Zara's old posts features a comment left by Olivia in May which reads: "Fave photo of you," followed by a love-heart eyed emoji.

In March of the same year, Olivia also left a number of flame emojis on Zara's Instagram pictures. What's more, Zara commented on Olivia's posts in June 2020 writing: "Absolutely unreal babes," followed by a love-heart eye emoji and flames emoji. Consider us intrigued!

© Photo: ITV

Are you watching series nine?

Since finding the comments in question, viewers have been taking to social media to share their theories on what the previous friendship might mean. While some have been speculating that their friendship and 'misplaced loyalty' could be the reason why they're now arguing over Tom, others are more cynical and state that the rows could be "fake".

One person wrote: "So Olivia and Zara knew each other long before Love Island... I'm losing hope on this show. All scripted and fake..." as a second tweeted: "Why are Zara and Olivia pretending they don’t know each other? This might explain why Olivia seemed overly offended at Zara calling her two-faced."

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