The Conversation (0)
Love Island fans were shocked yesterday by the news that Sherif Lanre has been kicked off the show for “breaking the villa rules”.
ITV has not revealed the exact reason for his departure and during Tuesday night's episode the show's voiceover simply said: "Earlier today, after a conversation with producers, Sherif left the villa."
Earlier on Tuesday a Love Island spokesperson said:
After breaking the villa rules Sherif had conversations with the producers and it was mutually agreed that he would leave the Love Island villa.
In addition, Sherif released a statement, in which he wrote:
In a case of poor judgement, I broke the villa rules and as a result agreed with the producers that it was best for me to leave the villa. I regret that I didn’t conduct myself in the right way and, as a 20 year old guy, it’s something I know I will take on board and learn from. I really enjoyed my time in the villa and look forward to catching up with everyone on the outside.
It’s not entirely clear what the “villa rules” on Love Island are, but it has been previously reported that there are strict rules about nudity, masturbation and when/how contestants can have sex with each other.
However, there is no suggestion that Sherif has broken any of these specific rules.
The Mirror has also reported that his mistake was not serious enough to warrant police involvement, which would appear to rule out anything sinister.
An earlier theory which was also revealed to be fake cited the reason for Sherif's dismissal as an onset fight that had to be broken up by the show's security after fake screengrabs of apparent Instagram DMs were 'leaked' online and quickly spread across various social media sites.
One popular speculation involves Sherif somehow sneaking his personal phone into the villa.
Love Island has strict rules about contact with the outside world and contestants are given new phones for their time in the villa.
But again, there is no evidence for the claim.
And without any official explanation from ITV, fans have been left to speculate among themselves about the answer.
And, woah, have they been speculating...
Even Sherif’s family don’t seem to know what went on. In fact, even his Mum has no clue. Speaking to MailOnline she said:
I don't know the real reason yet, but I'm determined to get to the bottom of it
I don't know if he has actually done anything wrong yet. I need to look at his Love Island code of conduct and I need to speak to him properly to find out what really happened.
Other Love Island contestants have left the villa in previous seasons.
Malia Arkian was removed from the show in series 2 after a physical altercation with Kady McDermott.
However, other Islanders have left by choice – such as Niall Aslam, who walked away for “personal reasons”, and Samira Mighty in 2018, who left to follow Frankie Foster after he was voted off the show.
Sherif was coupled up with Anna Vakili at the time of his exit and she is expected to stay in the villa. It is unclear if we will ever see her reaction to his exit and it's also looking unlikely to get any real insight, as ITV has said it will not be saying anything beyond the original statement. And thus, a new modern mystery is born.
Love Island won't say why Sherif had to leave so here are the best fan theories
More: Love Island star thinks 28 is 'old' and viewers have thoughts
Top 100
