I’m a Love Island finalist and there’s a reason why most relationships don’t last outside the villa… including mine
HE entered the Love Island villa as a bombshell… and left it with what he hoped was the girl of his dreams.
But after finishing as a runner up on season seven of the ITV2 series, Tyler Cruickshank quickly realised his new life with Kaz Kamwi was not what either of them had imagined.
After months of fan speculation and rumours, the pair confirmed they had split in December 2021, with Kaz explaining she didn’t feel “appreciated”.
But Tyler, 27, believes relationships formed on the show are often doomed from the start because of the huge strain they fall under after returning to the outside world.
As it stands, three of the final four couples from his season have gone their separate ways, with the last pair standing, Faye Winter and Teddy Soares, reportedly in crisis talks to save their relationship.
In a chat with The Sun, Tyler explains: “There’s a lot of pressure in relationships anyways – even when you’re not in the public eye and you start seeing someone.
“There’s a lot of pressure like ‘okay so what are we doing here? Are we moving in? Are we saving to buy a house together?’
“So imagine when you’ve become a public figure and you’ve fit all that added pressure from everybody else. It’s going to be tough.
“People are always watching your every move and you always feel like you need to explain yourself. That added extra pressure can sometimes get the better of you. I hope Faye and Teddy are able to figure it out and move forward.”
While Kaz previously claimed she felt “very naive” about her relationship with Tyler, he claims tensions might have formed because he put his own life first.
He says: “When we came out, there was a lot of pressure on us to be that couple and act as though everything was hunky dory all the time when it really wasn’t.
“There were a lot of doubters, naysayers, and trolls – we are only human so it’d going to affect us. It kind of tore us down in a sense.
“Seeing her go through all that, I was dealing with trying to hold myself together and I was trying to help her deal with her trolling as well, so it was tough.
“Even though I’m very selfless, I feel like sometimes when you’re going through situations, you kind of need to put yourself first in some instances and worry about your own stuff before trying to help someone else.
“I feel like because I was dealing with my own stuff before trying to help her is what she meant by what she said, but I guess it’s just one of those things.”
‘Sink or swim’
During the relationship, Tyler also refused to give up his life goals just to fit into what people expected from him and Kaz.
“I still wanted to achieve certain things by a certain time, so I wasn’t going to jeopardise my own future and success just to please other people,” he says.
“An example is people expected us to start renting a place and move in straight away. Whereas myself, I was looking to buy a property within a specific time frame, so why would I put myself in a worse situation just to please someone?”
He adds: “You’re always expected to be together all the time, day in and day out. Give the people what they want.
“And I understand it because they’ve followed our journey and I would have loved to give the fans a little something back.”
“It got a lot for Kaz and me because none of us had been in a situation like that before and when you’re put in that environment, it’s like sink or swim. You go with the flow, roll with the punches and if you can’t, you can’t.”
No regrets
Although Tyler may not have found love in the villa, he maintains that he has no regrets about his time in the show.
“I would describe it as one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” he says.
“It’s a rollercoaster of emotions but ultimately I don’t regret it and I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
When Tyler went on the show more than two weeks into the season, he made a beeline for Kaz right away after she had experienced a tough start.
“As a bombshell, you watch episodes of the show with your chaperone and they ask you who is tickling your fancy and who you were drawn to. I was drawn to her personality as that’s what draws me the most to females.”
The couple became instantly popular and were seen as favourites to win.
But it all came crashing down when Tyler decided to bring back Clarisse Juliettè from his time in Casa Amor, sparking a huge backlash from fans on Twitter.
“I can understand why people would get upset because a lot of people get invested in the journey and people’s lives on the show,” Tyler admits.
“But what people didn’t realise is that, especially in my situation, I knew Kaz for only four days and I went to Casa Amor and got to know Clarisse for four days.
“So it wasn’t the case if I had been in a relationship for a certain amount of time or years and I had jumped ship. So maybe people were upset by it because they wanted the whole fairytale ending.
“People need to strip it down and see the reality of it and think about what would happen in the real world. Would you really cut everyone off after you start speaking to someone for a couple of days?”
Screen time cut
Despite finding his way back to Kaz, fans noticed that the couple’s airtime had been cut drastically – even though multiple Islanders said they were one of the strongest couples.
Tyler says: “We were together quite a lot, always laughing, joking and playing games in the pool but I guess the public didn’t see that. At the end of the day, it is what it is.
“ITV had a show to make and had to put it out as soon as possible. It’s not like they had months and months to edit it.
“I guess they had their own storylines to follow and maybe we just didn’t fit into it. It may have been shown on Unseen Bits. I’ve seen a few clips on there.”
Coming out of the villa to his newfound fame was a “surreal experience”, according to Tyler, who is currently single.
But now, the Islander, who has a law degree from St Mary’s University, is focused on school and is studying once again to become a commercial lawyer.
He explains: “That’s what I want to do in the long term and eventually open up my own firm. I should be done with my studies at the back end of this year.”
