The Love Island: All Stars line up has officially been announced and seriously guys, we’re in for a treat. From unforgettable OGs to Bafta-worthy bombshells, the first batch of Islanders returning to the villa are sure to bring a lot of drama. Naturally, fans are now very excited for the 15 January premiere – but there’s one thing, or rather person, standing in the way of full, nostalgic joy taking over: one of the men returning is token f*ckboy of series seven Jake Cornish.
Cast your mind back to 2021 and you’ll remember Jake Cornish for his tumultuous relationship with series sweetheart Liberty Poole. During their whirlwind romance, Jake was accused of negging Liberty often (critiquing her outfit choices, make up and behaviour), as well as gaslighting her by acting exasperated every time she questioned his own behaviour. Remember the time he told the boys he didn’t want to ‘rip her clothes off’ and then when she found out and was devastated, he laughed the whole thing off? Yeah, toxic with a capital T.
Their romance eventually ended when Liberty realised, she deserved better treatment and quit the show. Prior to that, Islanders had started questioning whether Jake was using Liberty to win the show (given how favourable she was with viewers), after he appeared to try and manipulate scenes for more airtime and Liberty was heard telling him ‘‘I know you always tell me to remember we're on a TV show, but the best thing to me is to just be yourself.’
Now, since announcing Jake Cornish’s return on Instagram, viewers have flooded the Love Island post with criticism. ‘Producers need to explain their thought process behind a lot of these choices,’ one viewer said. ‘Should be banned from the series he was in never mind a new one,’ another said. Worse still, Liberty Poole is also rumoured to be returning to the show - making for a terribly awkward reunion at best, a nightmare rebound at worst.
Of course, we should perhaps grant Jake some grace in knowing how heavily edited the show is. In fact, after leaving the villa he accused producers of manipulating scenes to make him look worse.
‘It isn't nice I've been painted this way as a pantomime villain,’ Jake told the MailOnline in 2021. 'It isn't the nicest to come across as someone I'm not… They've got to make storylines, but it isn't nice when you're on the back end. Liberty and I were big parts of the show; it was a way to make something out of it, which is a shame really. At the time I was like "What the hell?"'
Jake went on to say that he received death threats from viewers, but insisted he was doing okay mentally in the aftermath. So, has he learned from the experience at all? The answer is, iffy. In a pre-show interview with Jake, the 26-year-old was asked if he will do anything differently this time around.
‘There is nothing major I would do differently,’ Jake responded. ‘But I have definitely matured in the two years since first being on the show. I look at things differently and respond differently. When it comes to people's opinions, I don’t sit on the fence anymore. That is my way of life now, so I will take that into the Villa.’
More maturity would be great, but less ‘sitting on the fence’? In man speak, we’re actually quite afraid of what this means. Apparently, we’ll have to tune in to find out, but we’re just praying we don’t witness another Liberty heartbreak… it wasn’t entertaining to watch the first time and it certainly wouldn’t be again.