Love Island winner Greg O’Shea has confirmed he and Amber Gill have split up – but insisted he did not break the news via text.
The now-former couple were scheduled to appear together on the Irish version of The Late Late Show but Amber, 22, failed to show.
Instead, Greg was joined by fellow Love Island contestant Maura Higgins and said he wanted to set the record straight on reports about his relationship.
He insisted claims he had broken up with Amber via text message – less than two months after picking up the winners’ £50,000 cheque – were inaccurate.
He said: “First off, the age-old saying, don’t believe everything you read. I’ll be open and honest.
“Me and Amber have been chatting the last couple of days, over phone calls – this whole thing about a text just isn’t true. People just want to sell stories.
“We’re mad about each other. I’m mad about her. What’s not to be mad about? Gorgeous, smart, funny personality. The queen of Love Island for a reason.
“But, you need to be realistic about the situation. She lives in the UK. Every brand wants to work with her, every event wants her there. Of course, she deserves all of it.”
Greg, 24, said he decided to return to his native Ireland to focus on rugby.
He said: “I decided to come back to Ireland and do my thing here. I’m trying to get to the Olympics with the sevens team, I have my law exams coming up. We’re both so jam-packed busy.
“And you need to take these opportunities by the scruff of the neck.”
Greg and Amber are not the first Love Island winners to split up shortly after being crowned. The 2018 winners, Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham, went their separate ways eight months after leaving the island.
Jess Hayes and Max Morley won the 2015 edition of the show – the first since it was rebooted – and split up six weeks later.
And 2017 winners Amber Davies and Kem Cetinay lasted five months before calling it a day.