EXCLUSIVE: Love Island winner Sammy Root has lifted the lid on some of the worst aspects about living in the lavish ITV villa – and it’s not for the faint hearted

The famous Love Island villa is known for being glamourous and classy.

But despite how gorgeous the Spanish mansion looks on screen, the reality is somewhat different. As the highly-anticipated ITV final looms closer, Daily Star has exclusively sat down with 2023 winner Sammy Root.

And it’s fair to say the Essex Hunk did not hold back as he lifted the lid on some of the grossest things that went down in the ITV villa. The 23-year-old revealed that one of the worst things that plagues the lavish villa is flying cockroaches.

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Recalling some of his creepy encounters with the buzzing critters, he said: “Do you know what, in the villa you get these bugs they’re like T-rex’s flying around. Honestly these things are massive, they just fly onto walls and stuff.

Love Island winner Sammy Root has exposed the grim reality of the villa (Image: ITV)
“I don’t even know how to describe them, they were like flying cars, it was mad. They were like big beetle looking things and they were always flying onto the walls.

“And they made the biggest noise when they hit the walls. It was mad!” He isn’t the only Islander to have divulged to us about the horrible bugs terrorising the villa.

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Back in 2019, former Islander Elma Pazar told us about some of the horrors that ITV bosses never air. She confessed: “The flying cockroaches are a nightmare.

The Spanish mansion is infested with flying cockroaches (Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“They fly around when we are trying to relax. Some of the girls are screaming every time they come near.”

But that isn’t the only difficult aspect about living in the Spanish villa, as Sammy explained how the heat was almost unbearable. He chuckled: “One of the grossest challenges was the blindfolded kissing challenge.

“It was so hot that my goggles just filled up with sweat, but as soon as you start kissing, obviously your mouth starts moving. And where your cheeks are moving, it squeezes all the sweat out of the mask.

The villa gets so hot that Islanders would sweat into their blindfolds (Image: ITV)
“So when you’re kissing, it’s coming down your face. It was a big rough but I still did enjoy it, it was fun.” One way ITV bosses combatted the heat was by having air conditioning constantly blaring throughout the house.

Sammy explained: “The bedroom is like minus five million. I used to shower outside and when you come in from the shower, it’s quite warm outside.

“But when you’re wet and you walk into the bedroom, it’s honestly like stepping into Antartica, it’s like crazy cold. All the girls used to proper moan about it.”

Follow Sammy Root on Instagram @sammyroot_. Love Island airs every day from 9pm on ITV2 or catch up on ITVX.

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