Love Island Final: Toni Laites and Cach Mercer are crowned this year’s winners as she makes history as show’s first American contestant
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By KIRSTEN MURRAY, SHOWBUSINESS REPORTER
Toni and Cach have been crowned the winners of Love Island as this year’s series drew to a close on Monday evening.
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.
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Love Island Final: Toni and Cach were crowned this year’s winners on Monday night as she made history as the first American contestant
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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
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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’;
‘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’.
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The pair beat Harry and Shakira to first place in one of the most dramatic summer’s of the ITV reality show
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Toni was overcome with shock as her name was called
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The couple have had a rollercoaster journey in the villa with Harry’s roaming eye causing plenty of upset
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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
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Fans seemed delighted with the decision as they took to Twitter to wish the couple congratulations
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Others teased how funny it was that Harrison was there to watch Toni win the 50k after previously leaving her for Lauren
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The pair shared a smooch after being unveiled as the winners
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The whole cast celebrated together as this year’s series drew to a close
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’.
However after Harry discovered Shakira’s feelings for her hadn’t gone away, Harry recoupled with the 22-year-old, 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.
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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.’
