Love Island winners Mimii Ngulube and Josh Oyinsan split and admit 'things aren't going to work'
Love Islanders Mimii Ngulube and Josh Oyinsan made history this year as the series' first ever Black couple to win - but they've now announced they've split up. In a statement posted to her social media, Mimi said: "I know a lot of you gave been wondering about Josh and I and why we haven't been making appearances. The truth is we have been trying to figure it out since leaving the villa, but unfortunately things aren't going to work between us right now."
It follows weeks of speculation about whether the pair were still item, especially after they were spotted out separately and have been noticeably absent from each other's social media feeds. Mimii, 24, shared snaps from nights out with fellow Islanders Una Jammeh, Nicole Samuel, Jessy Potts and Patsy Field, while Josh attended events without her, including the Beetlejuice premiere in London.
In her statement released late on Monday, September 30, Mimii continued: "I know it's a big disappointment for a lot of your as it is for me too, your support for us hasn't gone unnoticed and I will forever be grateful for it, you guys are the reason we made it to this point. God bless you all."
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Josh, a semi-pro footballer, and mental health nurse Mimii, got together on this summer's series of the hit ITV reality dating show, and were crowned winners after Maya Jama whittled down the finalists to them and Ciaran Davies and Nicole Samuel.
After the show, the couple spoke to OK! about how they felt about making history as the first Black couple to leave the villa as winners. “We didn’t realise how much of the point that we’re making,” Mimii explained.
“I keep seeing Tweets about me and Josh [saying] this ‘is a win for all of us’ and that’s so real. I feel like everyone has just been uplifted and everyone feels like this could be a start of more change, especially in the TV scene, for recognition of Black history and the importance of Black culture being represented.”
At the time, the couple received a huge 41% of the overall final vote, and even had host Maya "rooting" for them. “I think for me and Mimii our thing was just so authentic,” Josh told OK!. “We were never thinking about winning – winning was never in the plan. My main focus was trying to make my situation with Mimii good.”
The now exes also discussed how they planned to split their time between London, where Josh lives, and Portsmouth, Mimii's home city, and whether they'd talked about moving in together yet. "We haven’t really had the conversation about moving in,” Mimii said. "We’re just taking each day that comes. The whole experience is going to be different now that we’re outside of the villa. So, we’re just going to navigate that and actually be in the real world and see what happens. But it’s just so exciting to do new things together. I will be in and out of London and Josh will be coming to Portsmouth whether he likes it or not."