Hear me out on this one, Davide Sanclimenti might be too sexy for his own good. The accent, the tan and the Hercules physique, sent a veritable frisson around the Love Island fire pit and slammed everyone’s jaws (threatened male contestants included) onto the wooden decking. But his self-satisfaction was eye roll inducing: ‘I saw the girls were really impressed,’ he said. ‘I’m not gonna lie.’
‘Do you fancy Davide?’ Gemma scoped out the competition. ‘I’m done. I’m ready to get married,’ declared Paige. ‘He looks like one of those guys out of a rom com film,’ added Indiyah while Tasha questioned: ‘Wow. Fit. Hot. Sexy. Who is this guy?’
This guy is Italian – that’s bizarrely all we know from his introductory video and ever since he walked in the Love Island villa everyone has been scrambling to Google search for: ‘How old is Davide from Love Island?’ and ‘What is Davide from Love Island’s job?’
To follow up his fit face with a proper introduction, Davide is 27, owns his own (unspecified) business, and moved to Manchester from Rome. ‘I’m good looking,’ he acknowledged of his appearance. ‘A lot of English girls actually love me. They love to be around me and I love to be around them.’
‘If a girl is really rude or if she’s not giving me enough attention, I will just lose interest very quickly,’ he outlined in his VT as the camera panned across his bronze abs. ‘If I receive nothing back, no feedback or appreciation, I will lose interest in that person.’
Well, Davide is in luck because all of the women are interested in him and very much ready to show it. Gemma left Liam bereft when she planted a peck on the Italian snack’s lips instead of his own Welsh pout during a game of dare. Meanwhile, Paige’s conversational skills were reduced to blithering chaos until she eventually landed on a topic she was sure Davide would love: the romanticisation of the Mafia.
Davide, who some viewers are convinced has never watched Love Island in his life (‘you know what good for him’), knows everyone wants him. As a response, he’s giving absolutely nothing but disinterest back – his own pet peeve if you recall.
Receiving the first text of the season, the bombshell read out to the message to the rest of the contestants: ‘Davide, in 24 hours you will couple up with a girl of your choice leaving one boy single and vulnerable #italiansnack #ciaobella.’
A smirk filled with unadulterated glee spread across Davide’s face as he announced the news to Ikenna, Luca, Liam, Dami, and Andrew – who I’m almost certain started visibly sweating. This man is going to be the saboteur of the season, meddling just because he can. The girls are already vying for his attention, but based on his behaviour so far – should they be?
‘Entitlement is an ugly attitude, and even good looks will only get you so far,’ Match’s dating expert Hayley Quinn tells Grazia. ‘They may work for a short-lived romance, but without the ability to relate to someone and build a connection, any romance will fizzle out. Is he a good communicator? Does he respect you? Forget being an Italian Stallion, or a Greek God, what we all really need in the long run is a Humble Human.’
And humble Davide is not. If I were to hedge my bets right now, I’d waiver he causes maximum romantic disruption everyone inevitably goes off him one by one: ‘In time, cockiness becomes less and less attractive and can even become quite annoying,’ says Quinn.
There’s something about a perfect appearance that’s fundamentally unsettling. ‘Davide gonna read out that text and tell the villa his enemies are after him,’ wrote one Twitter user as they likened him to the Tinder Swindler. ‘The damage that Paolo from the Lizzie McGuire movie did for Italian men for a generation of women,’ added another of his dangerous energy.
Davide might look like he smells great, has an unbelievable jaw line and a wardrobe full of effortlessly chic summer linen that clings to his chiselled frame, but could his pretty privilege prevent him from empathising with insecurities? Has a life of swooning and compliments hindered his sense of humour?
Ultimately, the girls might think they’re battling each other to win the self-declared stallion’s affections but really the question is can Davide love anyone else as much as he appears to love himself? ‘I want to find my soulmate,’ he claims. ‘My biggest dream is to find someone I can spend the rest of my life with.’
How old is Davide?
Davide is one of the oldest contestants on this year's Love Island, as he's 27. (Yes, we know it's not actually old - OK.)
What does Davide do?
Some people joked at the beginning of the series that Davide simply said he was Italian, instead of elaborating on his job. But some digging has found that he's a business owner. He started S Deluxe Shisha after quitting his job as a financial worker.
What is Davide's Instagram?
Want to follow the show's Italian Stallion? You can find him @davidesancli. So far, from his stint in the villa, he's managed to amass 92,000 followers.
How tall is Davide?
OK, so a lot of you are Googling this one. Davide is 6ft2in, if you really wanted to know.