Sammy Root has opened up about his split from Jess Harding.
The pair won Love Island earlier this year but decided to go their separate ways in October.
When news of his and Jess’ break-up was announced in the media, Root admitted it came as a ‘total shock to him’ at the time.
While speaking out about the break-up now, Sammy described how different life was for the couple to go from being on the show to leaving the villa, and admitted that there was ‘no blame on anyone’.
Root spoke to MailOnline about the split, revealing, “I think what a lot of people don't understand is that you are going from a sheltered villa with around 10 people in it, to the whole world in your ear”.
“You receive messages, people talk about you, people make up things and get involved”.
“When you come out and you're trying to work on your own career, all of this put together, it is hard to still have a nice, easy-going relationship and I think sometimes it just affects you a little bit”.
He added, “So yeah, I think that's where it was, but there's no blame on anyone”.
When asked how he’s been finding single life, the 22-year-old explained, “I mean, I'm literally just working on myself, trying to better myself, and that's all I'm really caring about”.
“I'm fresh out of a breakup. I'm not really looking to get into another one or anything, I'm literally just working on my career right now and trying to have a bit of fun in the meantime as well”.
When confirming their split in October, Sammy released a lengthy statement that reads, “Yes we had a private conversation regarding our relationship but this was left up in the air as Jess is still away and we haven’t had a chance to speak in person. For me to then see today via the media that we had officially broken up came as a total shock”.
“To be totally clear – I at least wanted a face to face conversation to see if our relationship could be saved and felt this would be the respectful way forward. We had the most incredible experience winning Love Island and I genuinely saw a future with Jess”.
“I was committed and respectful to our relationship. Unfortunately things don’t always work out the way you’d hoped. Despite how this has all played out today. I think Jess is an amazing woman and genuinely wish her all the best”.
When Jess broke her silence on the two going their separate ways, she stated, “It’s been over a week now since we split, so I’m getting there. We shared a once in a lifetime experience together so of course I’m sad”.
“I really don’t want to go into detail by doing a big statement but we’re just very different and behave differently and that’s it”.
