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As if one explosive and unnecessary argument wasn't enough, eagle-eyed fans noticed that Zara Deniz Lackenby-Brown was missing from the girls' huddle at the end of Monday night's episode. When Aussie bombshells Jessie Wynter and Aaron Waters returned from their dates with Lana Jenkins and Will Young, the boys and girls gathered in their groups to discuss the gossip – but Zara was missing from the girls' chat and fans want to know why.
As always, there are many plausible conspiracy theories, and we've taken the liberty of curating them on your behalf. After Zara and Olivia Hawkins' showdown over who's with Tom (answer: neither of them really), tensions were running high in the villa. The two girls then sat down on the bean bags and agreed to disagree (a famously productive phrase during peace talks) as Olivia was with him first and still wants to get to know him, but Zara is the one who's partnered up with him now.
However, some fans think there was already tension between the pair before they even entered the villa, and think the pair might be faking rivalry to cover up real beef they have on the outside. Former Love Island contestant Liberty Poole shared her own theory about what’s going on between Zara and Olivia during an appearance on vlogger Lewys Ball’s YouTube show. Liberty, who took part in the 2021 series of the show, said she “picked up on Olivia [saying], ‘Ugh, [Zara] had to kiss the guy I like, like she’s done it again’” in a previous episode and thinks they must have known each other before.
And it doesn't end there. Screenshots have been circulating online of the pair being friendly with each other and commenting on each other's instagram posts from three years ago. This might explain why there's already been so much tension between them, and it's not just over... Tom.
Further still, some fans even think the girls formed an alliance before entering the villa to create drama. While this is one of the more far-fetched conspiracies, it's working!
We hope their master plan hasn't veered so far off course that Zara's decided to leave the show. Of course her absense from the girls' chat could be due to a number of reasons, such as medical checks, smoking breaks, speaking to a producer... or even being on the loo. So we will have to wait for tonight's episode to see what really happened and whether our first female bombshell has in fact made a shock exit from the villa.
Sadly she might not be the only one either! Harris Namani's time on the show has been cut short too after footage of him punching someone on a night out has emerged online. He's reportedly been removed from the villa as a result, though whether he quit or was voted out is currently unclear.