After a dramatic eight weeks in the villa and months of ups and downs afterwards, including accusations of faking their breakup for 'attention', Ella Thomas and Tyrique Hyde have called it quits on their relationship.
While rumours have been swirling around the pair’s on and off relationship for a while, Ella confirmed she is single this week on the Saving Grace podcast. ‘I’m newly single,’ she said. ‘I am enjoying it; I’ve just been focusing on myself,' she said.
Why did Ella Thomas and Tyrique Hyde break up?
When host GK Barry asked what happened between her and Tyrique, Ella explained they broke up a couple of months ago. ‘Things were really good when we came out of Love Island; things just changed. I am the type of person that I know how I want to be treated,’ she said. ‘I was his first girlfriend and being someone’s first girlfriend – it’s not a joke,' she went on, 'It’s not easy, it’s hard. It is what it is.’
Ella and Tyrique actually met in a London nightclub just weeks before they both entered the Love Island villa last year. After coupling up, they faced a number of tests in the villa before coming third, losing out to runners-up Whitney Adebayo and Lochan Nowacki and winners Jess Harding and Sammy Root.
On the podcast, Grace asked Ella if she had posted any ‘revenge photos’ since she split from Tyrique. ‘I’m active on the pics anyway,’ Ella said, continuing ‘I feel like I did, you know, a little birthday post.’ She added ‘You’ve got to show them (exes), "Look what you’re missing out on."'
Ella and Tyrique were first reported to have split in November a few months after returning from the villa before they quickly appeared to rekindle their romance. However, things took a turn for the worse again in February this year, when eagle-eyed followers spotted that they had removed all traces of each other from social media.
A source told Mail Online at the time ‘Ella and Tyrique have decided it's time to go their separate ways. They have such love for each other, but they often struggle to get along and as viewers saw in the villa, they're always arguing,’ continuing ‘This time, things have ended badly… and they have both removed all recent photographs of each other from their respective Instagram profiles, as well as all Snapchat content. They have unfollowed each other as well… it certainly feels like this breakup is final.’
In April, people started to speculate that the pair were back on, leading Ella and Tyrique to individually address the rumours on social media. Ella responded in a Snapchat Q&A, telling her fans 'Just to clear things up we’re not together. Didn’t speak on it while we were figuring things out and dealing with it privately. Both agree it’s for the best and wish him well. All love. Thanks to everyone that supported us together and individually.'
A few hours later, a fan asked Tyrique on Snapchat why he hadn't spoken about his breakup, to which he replied 'Tf you want me to say? This is my life g. Did you announce your breakup to the world? Just cos people on Love Island usually put out statements don’t mean I have to. That’s not my portion.'
If Ella's recent podcast interview is anything to go by, it seems this time around their relationship is actually done for good. And as for Ella's hot girl summer? Watch this space.