Why has Kyle Ashman left Love Island 2025 before it began?

When we said we wanted Love Island drama, we weren't entirely sure it would involve one season 12 islander leaving the show before it's even began.

The UK edition of the dating show returns to ITV from Monday 9 June, with 12 - well, now 11 - singles, looking for love in Majorca. Maya Jama will be back as host, and if the trailers are anything to go by, the heat is truly being turned up.

Other contestants include 29-year-old influencer Sophie Lee, 26-year-old LondonerDejon Noel Williams, and 25-year-old Meg Moore from Southampton.

However, just hours after the casting announcement on 4 June, it was shared that 23-year-old Kyle Ashman from Stafford would no longer be appearing on the show.

ITV

"I just go with it, find something to compliment a girl on and go from there," he said in his initial interview on his current approach to dating.

In the villa, he was hoping to meet someone "fun, confident, and just themselves", however, in a statement, ITV said he would not be entering the village "for personal reasons".

It came after multiple reports that the water operative was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a machete attack earlier in the year - he has since denied any involvement in a statement and confirmed he faces no further police action.

The Sun posted on article suggesting a pub brawl saw "three balaclava-clad thugs armed with machetes and metal poles storm the venue", and that Ashman was arrested in connection with it.

"I am not a violent person and any suggestion otherwise is a mischaracterisation," he has said in response to the claims.

"I fully co-operated with this police investigation and made it very clear that I had no involvement in this incident."

Love Island starts Monday 9 June on ITV and ITV2.

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