LOVE Island Australia’s Grant Crapp had a secret girlfriend throughout his stint on the dating show – and went back to her just weeks after winning the series with Tayla Damir.
The series initially aired Down Under back in 2018, but UK viewers have been glued to their screens this summer with nightly episodes.
It replaced the usual British version of the show, which was unable to go ahead this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
In tonight’s finale, fans rejoiced as Grant and Tayla were crowned the champions, beating Eden and Erin who’d been confident that they’d secure the prize money.
However, Tayla’s joy ended up being incredibly short-lived, with the brunette beauty left heartbroken when she learned the truth about Grant’s relationship status in the real world once they left the villa.
Throughout his time on the show, rumours swirled back in Oz that he had a secret live-in girlfriend, Lucy Cartwright, and that he’d only gone on the dating show to promote his clothing line – with Lucy running his business while he was on TV.
The speculation came to a head when Grant was confronted with the information during a villa challenge, but he strongly denied the claims – reassuring Tayla that it was all just hearsay.
Just two weeks after winning the show, Tayla took to Instagram to reveal that she and Grant weren’t together any more, writing: “It’s with great heartbreak that I write this post to inform everyone that Grant and I are no longer together, but will remain amicable despite the circumstances.
“I hope everyone can understand that the last few days have been very emotional and overwhelming for me and that you can all respect my decision.
“I want to take the time to thank everyone who supported Grant and I during our Love Island journey and especially everyone who has continued to support us since.”
The plot thickened when Grant commented on the post: “This is news to me??”
But Tayla’s fellow Islanders had her back, with villa bestie Millie replying: “@grant_crapp are you kidding me I was with Tayla last night and you were with the boys in a different hotel. Another lie and yet again you hurt Tayla even more”.
Eden wrote: “Tayla should have walked away with the money…just sayin”.
Just two weeks after the split, Grant was back with Lucy – and Tayla revealed that he’d been with Lucy the entire time.
She told TheFix: “It came out that there were new accusations that Grant had a live-in girlfriend, and he’s gone on the show to promote his business and get famous.
“He denied it when we were in the house and I just had this gut feeling to follow through with it.
“Once I was able to access media and read the articles, I told Grant he needed to own up.
“I finally got the answer that was the truth: he was on there to promote himself and he did have a girlfriend who was running his business while he was inside the villa.”
Grant insisted that he dumped Lucy before going into the show, but his fellow Islanders and fans remained dubious.
The truth about Lucy was particularly shocking as Grant and Tayla had been intimate during their time on Love Island, with Grant even declaring his love for Tayla before planning an elaborate proposal to ask her to be his girlfriend.
The pair’s relationship got off to a rocky start when Tayla stole Grant from Cassidy in week one of the series, but it appeared to go from strength to strength during their time on the show.
However, Grant’s apparent deceit doesn’t appear to have been in vain, with the hunk still loved-up with Lucy to this very day – even buying a house together.
Meanwhile, Tayla enjoyed a brief romance with her fellow former Islander Dom and is currently dating AFL star Nathan Broad.
All other Love Island Australia couples have also split up, apart from Josh and Amelia who finished in third place and are still as loved-up as ever.
