Love Island’s Elma Pazar and Sammy Root – who fell for each other on All Stars this year – were greeted with loud cheers as they made their return to The Only Way Is Essex. They both made appearances on the reality show but took a break to enter the South African villa for Love Island.
After leaving the villa, which had them come in fifth place, the couple are back in Essex and were filmed walking into a venue to a group of their pals screaming and clapping for them. In a teaser for Sunday night’s episode, Harry Derbidge, Chloe Meadows, Matilda Draper and Roman Hackett were eagerly waiting for the duo to return.
They held hands as they happily walked into the room to see their friends. Sammy also revealed he and Elma took the next step in their relationship.
Speaking to The Sun, Sammy explained: “On the weekend she met my family… that was a treat. They were all really happy. And I went to meet her sister… we were there and that went really good.”
Elma also shared why she thinks their relationship lasted outside the villa, adding to the publication that they haven’t ‘been in each other’s pockets’.
In February, following the Love Island finale, fans speculated whether Sammy and Elma were already dating before they entered the villa. However, he claimed it wasn’t the case.
Sammy addressed the rumours that the couple had been secretly dating before the show began. “Don’t get me wrong, I definitely tried my best but she kept batting me away,” he said, “Me and Elma have never even kissed until the terrace.”
When asked if that kiss was worth the wait, he said: “Every bit!” while Elma added: “100 per cent. I wanted it from the minute he walked in.”
Sammy also said that he was thrilled they were leaving the villa as an exclusive couple. “It’s just nice to know where you’re at with each other. To have the nice – cringey – exclusive word means we know where we’re at.”
Fans thought the Love Island couple were together before they appeared on All Stars after doing some online detective work and spotting that Elma previously commented on a post of Sammy’s and added some heart hand emojis.
He had replied with an emoji of a couple holding hands.
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