‘We had such a strong connection in there’: Love Island’s Joe on his future with Lucie

Love Island's Joe Garratt has revealed he and Lucie Donlan won't be rekindling their relationship now that they've both left the villa.

The pair partnered up near the start of their time in the Love Island villa, but were separated when Joe was dumped on Day 16. However, Joe has now said that while he and Lucie had a "strong connection", they're going to strictly remain friends. Appearing on Dan Wootton's talkRADIO show, he said [via The Sun]:

"We’re friends, we’re not dating, no, we’re friends. We had such a strong connection in there, I really fancy the girl, she’s such a nice person. “I’m happy we’re going to be friends, take all the pressure off. I don’t know if I’m heartbroken, you’ve got to be tough going into that situation."

Joe also spoke about the fact he was accused of gaslighting Lucie, after he told her he was seen telling her he was uncomfortable with how close she was with Tommy Fury. He denied the claims, and insisted that Lucie said she had no issues with how he behaved when they reunited again in the UK. He continued:

“If anything was untoward in there they have such a strong welfare team and would have pulled me out. It is a reality show. "It was a hard thing to come out to and see. I’m happy people can see the way I am now. “Lucie came out and said ‘I had no problems with you at all’. That’s what I was waiting for.”