Adam Collard continues to explore a relationship with Paige Thorne after her partner Jacques O’Neill left the Love Island villa to focus on his mental wellbeing.
The return of former personal trainer Adam, who became infamous as a heartbreaker during his time on the show in 2018, had already created tension amongst the couple after he gave his opinion to Paige on Jacques’ behaviour in Casa Amor.
Following Jacques’ shock exit during Tuesday’s episode, Adam was seen pursuing his connection with Paige as he chose her for one of three dates.
At the beginning of Wednesday’s episode, Adam pulled Paige to one side to ask how she was feeling about Jacques leaving, to which she replied: “Yeah, it’s not a great situation but I’m just going to keep smiling, keep doing my thing, just have a good time. Whatever comes come.”
He added: “When Jacques left I think they thought I would be buzzing, that’s not the case because I’ve made it quite clear that I’m in to you and I would like to get to know you.
“I’d rather just let you feel it out and see how you feel about the situation.”
Later in the Beach Hut, Adam admitted he had “hit the jackpot” with Jacques leaving the villa.
He added that if the rugby player was in the villa he believed Paige would still entertain getting to know him after the revelations that Jacques had kissed bombshell Cheyanne Kerr during Casa Amor.
Newcastle-raised Adam was given the opportunity to choose three girls to take on a date in the Hideaway terrace, with Summer, Danica and Paige being chosen.
During his time with Summer they discussed their ideal dates while with Danica she treated him to a quick dance lesson.
Adam got on to deeper topics with Paige during their date as they discussed what they bring to the table in a relationship, with him admitting he likes to do “spontaneous” things for his partner.
In The Beach Hut afterwards, Paige said she thought the date had gone “well” and that she was “looking forward to having some more flirty chit-chat and seeing where it goes”.
She added: “Obviously it doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy and it doesn’t mean I’ve switched my feelings off but am I looking forward to there potentially being more chats with Adam? Yeah, for sure.”
Adam also admitted to the boys later that while he had enjoyed his dates with Summer and Danica, he had “saved the best for last” with Paige.
He added that he was grateful for some alone time with her and described her as “wifey material”.
The episode also saw Brit Award-winning singer Becky Hill provide some light relief for the islanders by surprising them with a performance in the villa garden.
The I Could Get Used To This singer treated them to a selection of her hit songs including Crazy What Love Can Do and My Heart Goes as they danced the night away.
After the performance, Danica Taylor said: “She was absolutely insane, so grateful and blessed to be here right now and to have witnessed that.”
Ekin-Su Culculoglu added that she was a “huge fan of Becky Hill” and described the moment as a “once in a lifetime opportunity”.
Love Island continues at 9pm on ITV2 and ITV Hub.