Love Island UK crowns winners of twist-filled series

This article contains spoilers for the Love Island final.

Julia Majchrzak and Lorenzo Alessi have been crowned the winners of Love Island UK 2026.

The pair beat runners-up Jasmine Muller and Kavan Murphy, and Angelista Gunda and Simba Kudyiwa, who came in third, to take home the £50,000 prize.

A shocked Julia thanked all those who had voted for them, saying: "I just didn't think coming into Casa [Amor] I'd be stood here."

When host Maya Jama asked what they would spend the money on, Julia revealed she wanted Lorenzo, who appeared too stunned to speak, to move in with her after leaving the villa.

Talking to Maya ahead of the reveal during the live final, 28-year-old Lorenzo said he had "never met someone who feels so well matched to me" when reflecting on his relationship with Julia.

Business owner Lorenzo, who entered the villa on day one, said he felt like he "manifested" meeting Julia, 26, in Casa Amor, the alternate villa where relationships are tested by new arrivals.

Julia said she felt an "instant spark" when meeting Lorenzo and described their relationship as "seriously unserious".

Fashion business owner Jasmine, 27, said she had been attracted to 21-year-old Kavan's "aura" when speaking to Maya during the final.

Viewers were surprised early in the series when Kavan, who was sent in as a bombshell, was revealed to be the brother of day-one contestant Aidan Murphy.

Fans said it was reminiscent of popular Prime Video show The Summer I Turned Pretty, which focuses on a love triangle involving two siblings.

During the final, Kavan said he "couldn't be luckier" to have been in the villa with his brother and to have met Jasmine.

Simba, who turned 25 in the villa, told Maya his first plan with nurse Angelista once they left the show would be to celebrate her 25th birthday, which is on Tuesday.

For the first time in the history of the UK series, only three couples were in the final after several shock twists rocked the villa during Sunday's episode.

Firstly, ex-islanders returned to vote for the couple they felt should be dumped from the island.

After the votes were counted, Mica Harris and Samraj Toor were forced to leave having received the most.

Before they left, the pair were tasked with picking one other couple who they felt should also leave.

It was revealed at the start of Monday's episode that Yasmin Hadlow and Tommy Stagg were going to miss out on a place in the final.

Afterwards, Tommy comforted Yasmin, telling her: "I've got you and that's all I care about."

The dating show, which is on its 13th UK series, has tried to keep viewers on their toes over the past eight weeks by bringing in 32 islanders.

From the get-go, they changed things up by giving bombshells Yasmin and George Knight the power to dump day-one contestants Ellie Chadwick and Samraj from the villa.

However, it was soon revealed they were not actually going home, and were sent on dates with two new bombshells instead.

The series also saw islander Priya Jaswal receive some pushback from fellow contestants and viewers after she took a jab at dumped islander Elicia Bailey.

After Priya found out Elicia had branded her as the "biggest game player" on Love Island: Aftersun, she said she should "go back" to her job at National Rail instead of appearing on the aftermath show.

Kavan responded by saying there's "nothing wrong with working on the National Rail".

RMT Union, which represents rail workers, weighed in on the discussion by resharing the video to their Instagram followed by clips of people working on the train lines, ending with the message: "Rail workers and proud".

Priya later apologised for her comment on Aftersun, saying it was "completely out of line" and "catty".

She added that her emotions had become "very heightened" after spending weeks in the villa.

During the live final, Priya directly apologised to Elicia, and clarified it was "not meant to be a job-shaming comment".

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