Love Island star Zara Deniz Lackenby-Brown has opened up about an unseen moment where fellow Islander Tom Clare almost made her cry.
The Islander was a fan favourite on the show, until she was dumped from the villa after coming in last during the recoupling, after Tom coupled up with Ellie.
Speaking with Digital Spy, the reality star discussed one moment that she wishes viewers had seen on TV.
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“Just before the popping-off challenge started, where Tom picked Liv’s face and then my body, Tom actually came at me a little bit, and was accusing me of things that weren’t true," she said.
"It was all hearsay and gossip and opinions, and he took them as a fact.”
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Zara continued: “For example, he thought that I was talking to Shaq in the beginning just to make him jealous and apparently Aaron told him, ‘Oh, I think Zara fancies me’. Never made that clear to him.
“I was literally just being nice to the boy and maybe he took my niceness as flirting but that’s not true.
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“And everything I said that, you know, wasn’t true, and I really liked Tom, he just wasn’t hearing it, and yeah, he basically almost made me cry and then the challenge started.
“So, if people knew that we went into that challenge on rocky terms, I think the way that the challenge played out would have made more sense.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Zara responded to speculation of her returning to the villa by saying she would be open to it.
"Of course, it's not up to me, but I don't think my journey is over," she said, "and they sent in someone that I'm really interested in, Jordan, after I left. So I feel like it would be nice to explore that in there."
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Love Island airs nightly on ITV2, and is available via catch up on ITVX and BritBox.
With over a decade's experience in the media space, Ben started out as a freelance writer for publications such as Trusted Reviews, the Daily Star and Gamesradar among others, before eventually turning his skills towards the world of video.
Ben worked at Digital Spy between 2019 and 2024 as Video Editor, and later the site's Video Lead.
Prior to his time with DS, Ben worked with the likes of ITN Productions, Yahoo! UK, AOL, Red Bull and The V&A Dundee on a range of productions from smaller social edits to global live streams and longer form documentaries for London Fashion Week.
A survival-horror aficionado who has shared a stage with Chas & Dave, helped Charles Dance navigate the DVDs in HMV and visited Murray Walker's home (for a shoot, he didn't just turn up), Ben is not easily starstruck, and always happy to film with names big or small.
