Montana Brown has claimed Love Island finalist Harry Cooksley was dating one of her close friends just before he entered the villa during this year’s series.
Harry, 30, has just finished as this year’s runner-up alongside Shakira Khan, 22, but it wasn’t without several stumbling blocks along the way including a love triangle with their co-star Helena Ford, 29.
And according to show alum Montana, 29, Harry was up to his usual antics before the show as well, as she insists he ditched her pal and claimed he was going to Bali to ‘clear his head’ in a move that came as a total surprise.
Montana urged fans of the ITV2 dating show not to vote for Harry as she branded him a ‘walking red flag’ for the way he apparently treated her friend before flying off to Mallorca to ‘find love’ in the villa.
Airing her thoughts in a TikTok video, Montana said: ‘Guys I’ve not been involved in the whole Love Island chat so this is the tea.
‘Harry was seeing someone that I know, one of my good friends, right before he went on the show and wrote her a letter and said, oh my gosh I know you’re doing to be really surprised at this but I still love you and we’re going to be together and I just need to sort my head out and all of this c**p.
Montana Brown has claimed Love Island finalist Harry Cooksley was dating one of her close friends just before he entered the villa during this year’s series
Harry, 30, has just finished as this year’s runner-up alongside Shakira Khan, 22, but it wasn’t without several stumbling blocks along the way including a love triangle with their co-star Helena Ford, 29
Montana urged fans of the ITV2 dating show not to vote for Harry as she branded him a ‘walking red flag’ for the way he apparently treated her friend before flying off to Mallorca to ‘find love’ in the villa (pictured Angel and Ty, Shakira and Harry, Toni and Cach, Yas and Jamie)
Discouraging her followers from voting for Harry and Shakira, she said: ‘And now I’m like this guy cannot win. Although I love Shakira from what I’ve seen of her, she’s incredible.
‘So I think we just have to think about – let’s save Shakira and not let them win, because he will just grab the money and run from what we know about him. So that’s the tea from me. Also he told my friend he was going to Bali.’
Montana’s video received a mixed response from social media users, with some arguing that they would still vote for Shakira no matter who she was coupled with.
They said: ‘Shakira could be coupled up with the literal devil and I’d still vote for her to win. After what they put her through she deserves to win it, with Harry or not’; ‘I can’t vote against the people’s princess’.
Others complained that Montana had left it too late to reveal the information about her friend as she shared the news just hours before the final.
They said: ‘Girl why now and not 8 weeks ago’; ‘Montana the vote opened yesterday! It’s too late for this info’; ‘This message is a LITTLE LATE! He might just win; ‘Why have you waited like two months to give us this information’.
In response, Montana apologised and blamed her busy life as a mother of two.
In the end, Montana got her wish as Harry narrowly missed out on the win as he and Shakira came second to Toni Laites and Cach Mercer.
Airing her thoughts in a TikTok video, Montana said: ‘Guys I’ve not been involved in the whole Love Island chat so this is the tea
The pair beat Harry and Shakira to first place in one of the most dramatic summer’s of the ITV reality show as they bagged the £50k prize money.
Toni has made history as the first American contestant to enter the UK Love Island villa and her and Cach seem set on making their relationship work despite the transatlantic distance.
Meanwhile Angel and Ty finished in fourth after receiving the fewest public votes, with Yasmin and Jamie finishing in third.
Toni and Cach had a rocky beginning after meeting during Casa Amor as it wasn’t long until the pair found themselves in a major love triangle with Harrison.
Yet once Harrison decided to leave the villa with Lauren, Toni set her sights on Cach and the pair have gone from strength to strength.
Toni and Cach won despite the bookies odds revealing it was Harry and Shakira in the running to win, just hours ahead of the live final.
And fans seemed delighted with the decision as they took to Twitter to wish the couple congratulations.
They penned: ‘Justice served well done Toni & Cach .. what a gentleman man he is’;
Toni has made history as the first American contestant to enter the UK Love Island villa and her and Cach seem set on making their relationship work despite the transatlantic distance
Toni has made history as the first American contestant to enter the UK Love Island villa and her and Cach seem set on making their relationship work despite the transatlantic distance
‘Congratulations Toni and cach. First American and she won. Iconic moves’;
‘a bombshell + a casa boy winning love island – iconic!’; ‘Love island didn’t disappoint with Cach & Toni winning’;
‘Toni was her true authentic self’; ‘Amazing winners – hats off to the producers for an elite season of #loveisland’.
Others teased how funny it was that Harrison was there to watch Toni win the 50k after previously leaving her for Lauren.
They penned: ‘Harrison had to watch Toni win 50k’ ‘Forget there were there, the win makes it even better’.
Shakira and Harry have had a rollercoaster journey in the villa with Harry’s roaming eye causing plenty of upset.
While the pair were originally coupled up, it wasn’t long before his head was turned and he snuck off to the Hideaway with Helena.
After changing his mind once again, he returned to Helena after the pair claimed to have a ‘undeniable connection’.
The pair beat Harry and Shakira to first place in one of the most dramatic summer’s of the ITV reality show
Toni was overcome with shock as her name was called
The couple have had a rollercoaster journey in the villa with Harry’s roaming eye causing plenty of upset
The finalists looked sensational as they dressed up for the live episode
Angel and Ty received the least votes as they finished in fourth place
Fans seemed delighted with the decision as they took to Twitter to wish the couple congratulations
Others teased how funny it was that Harrison was there to watch Toni win the 50k after previously leaving her for Lauren
The pair shared a smooch after being unveiled as the winners
The whole cast celebrated together as this year’s series drew to a close
However after Harry discovered Shakira’s feelings for her hadn’t gone away, Harry recoupled with Shakira, claiming his relationship with Helena was more friendship.
Angel was the final bombshell in this year’s series, only entering the villa two weeks ago where she immediately hit it off with Casa Amor boy Ty.
The pair have gone from strength to strength despite Blu’s attempt to turn her head earlier this week.
It comes after Meg and Dejon became the latest couple to be dumped from the Love Island villa after the ex-Islanders had their say.
And during AfterSun on Sunday evening, Dejon admitted he has been ‘reflecting on his actions’ since leaving the villa.
The hunk came under fire for his behaviour towards Meg, after keeping her around but continuously flirting with every bombshell that entered the villa.
While they are now officially boyfriend and girlfriend, they had a tumultuous time on the series – which this year has even been acknowledged in a Women’s Aid statement.
It comes after Meg and Dejon became the latest couple to be dumped from the Love Island villa after the ex-Islanders had their say
The charity accused some men on the show of ‘showcasing toxic male behaviour’ as well as ‘gaslighting’ and ‘manipulating’.
Speaking on Love Island Aftersun, Dejon, 26, told Maya Jama: ‘It was interesting the way that we got dumped, because I feel like the decisions were definitely… you kind of heard from both people’s point of view.
‘Some people saw bad things and some people saw good things. So it definitely made me in this time of being like reflect on my actions over the villa.
‘Coming in, I just thought, I’m on Love Island. I’m gonna explore connections, I’m gonna be flirty, I’m gonna see what my strongest connection was.
‘But in the back of my head, I always knew it was Meg, so I definitely see why that kind of… there’s a lot of opinions about that, and I feel like I could have explored connections with being less flirty and stuff.’
The professional footballer added: ‘I definitely understand why people have their opinions regarding that, and even there’s times that, honestly, she’s stuck by me, and she tells me how she feels, and she stuck by me more than more than she should. More than I deserve a lot of times.’
