Love Island’s Ollie Williams quits series after three days

ITV confirmed Williams’s departure and stated that the 23-year-old, who was coupled up with fellow Islander Paige Turley, decided to leave as he is still in love with someone else.

“I have to follow my heart in this scenario and it would be wrong for me to ignore these feelings,” he said in a statement obtained by RadioTimes.com. “At the end of the day, this is Love Island and it’s about finding love. If I carried on anything with Paige, or any other girl that might come into the villa, it wouldn’t be fair on them.”

Previous to his entrance to the villa, Williams spoke about his ex to press including RadioTimes.com, hinting there could still be a spark between the pair.

“I’ve had two long term relationships," he said. "The first one was a disaster[…] But I’ve learned from that with the second. The second was really good. It ended basically due to distance and we basically weren’t the right people for each other at that time.”

Williams has been at the centre of controversy since being announced as a Love Island star, after pictures emerged of him posing alongside dead animals while on a trip to Africa.

Earlier today, a petition on Change.org to remove him from the villa had garnered over 35,000 signatures. It was recently shared on Twitter by Springwatch presenter Chris Packham, who suggested Williams had been involved in “trophy hunting”.

A source close to Williams told RadioTimes.com: "It is categorically untrue to suggest Ollie is involved in hunting for sport. Ollie is a passionate conservationist and worked with an anti-poaching unit in Mozambique.

"Conservation is crucial to the survival of animals and as part of that work Ollie was involved in the culling of sick animals who were a threat to the health of the herd.

"There is a very big and important difference between trophy hunting and the conversation work Ollie has previously been involved in.

"At no point has Ollie organised or booked anybody to go to Africa to shoot game."

Williams's exit will not likely be shown on Tuesday evening as he was seen in the episode's 'first look' to be in the middle of a huge argument.

Love Island continues weeknights and Sundays at 9pm on ITV2