Love Island 2022 star Luca Bish opens up on past romance with former Strictly star Saffron Barker-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro

Luca and Saffron met through friends before their romance (Picture: Getty Images/instagram)

Love Island 2022 contestant Luca Bish has dished on his past romance with Strictly Come Dancing star Saffron Barker before stepping into the villa for a summer of fun in the sun.

Luca, who works as a fishmonger in Brighton, has had some previous experience of life in the public eye, having dated people with big social media followings and boasting some celebrities as close friends.

The 23-year-old recently received support for the competition from former EastEnders actor Patsy Palmer – who’s a family friend – who wrote on Instagram: ‘Omg @lucabish all grown up and going on @loveisland. We cannot wait to watch you. You will smash it so beautiful, kind & funny.’

As interest in Luca and the rest of the islanders continues to grow, several people have discussed his previous relationship with YouTuber Saffron, 21, who competed on Strictly in 2019.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk and other press, Luca said that he and Saffron dated for a few months around six months to a year ago, explaining that they initially met through friends.

‘We used to go to the same school in Brighton,’ he said, recollecting how on one occasion, they went out as a group – and he and Saffron were both single at the time.

How will Luca fare in the competition? (Picture: ITV)

‘I think she had just come out of a relationship. And then yeah, that was it. We just kind of hit the ground running a bit. We still remain really good mates,’ he said.

The pair last spoke around a month or two ago, Luca revealed, noting that Saffron has ‘a very busy lifestyle’ and his work as a fishmonger means that he often works at night when asked why their relationship didn’t work out.

‘I see her as a good friend,’ he said, adding that he didn’t speak to Saffron for any advice on reality TV ahead of going on the show.

Saffron competed on Strictly with AJ Pritchard, finishing in sixth place (Picture: BBC/Guy Levy)

Luca acknowledged that being around people like Patsy and other friends of his mum’s who are in the public eye meant that he has become accustomed to scenarios when he might receive more attention than usual.

‘We were in Pizza Express, me and Saffron, and we had kids running up to the window taking pictures of me stuffing my face with doughbulls,’ he recalled.

Ex-EastEnders star Patsy is a close family friend of Luca’s (Picture: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)

‘I’ve always been very private. So like, even with Saffron, even with my ex [influencer Sophie Lloyd], my ex had 300,000 followers. I’ve always just kept mine really private.

‘If if I was knocked out and I ended up back doing fish… I was happy then and I’ll be happy again, I’m sure.’

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Luca also pledged that if he’s already connected with someone in the main house and he ends up in Casa Amor, then he’d sleep outside rather than try to forge any new connections.

However, as we all know, Love Island can be an unpredictable game indeed.

Love Island returns on Monday June 6 at 9pm on ITV2 and ITV Hub.

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