Love Island’s Eyal Booker reveals heartbreaking reason he skipped show reunion – as fans suspect he’s feuding with cast
LOVE Island hunk Eyal Booker has revealed the heartbreaking reason he has snubbed his co-stars from the latest series.
The model, 28, flew straight home following a stint on Love Island Games, almost immediately after he was voted off the spin-off show with partner Cely.
Yet Eyal – who found fame on the original matchmaking series in 2018 – has now revealed the painful reason why in a candid TikTok video.
Eyal told his followers of his tough family situation when responding to a fan who asked: “Why haven’t we seen you hanging out with any of the other Islanders while they’ve all been together?”
Wearing a grey knit jumper and speaking direct to camera, Eyal said: “I’m going to keep this short and sweet but to be honest, it’s not short and sweet.
“To answer this question, the day I was going into Love Island games my dad was going in for an operation to have his toe amputated.
“He’s diabetic, he has been since he was 10 years old, but his diabetes finally caught up with him.”
The catwalk star detailed a shock twist in the medical diagnosis – something which he only found out after his show exit.
Eyal added how he called his family on his show exit and said: “They let me know that my dad’s operation, which was initially successful, was unsuccessful and he’ll need to have his leg amputated.
“At that point I thought ‘what the f*** I just need to get home’, I need to get back to London.”
He then told how he “booked first flight out of Fiji,” with a stop in LA before landing in London, where his dad had “just come out of major surgery.”
Then followed “two months in and out really intense surgeries trying to save his other leg.”
Fortunately, this has been successful, and the ITV2 star praised the NHS for their “unbelievable” work.
He rounded off his clip by saying: “I was just trying to be there to support my family the way they would support me and I have been raised to.”
He also detailed how his mum had suffered health struggles at the same time, but that now order was starting to be restored.
Talking about the isolated experience in the villa, he said earlier in his video: “I was then on Love Island Games for two weeks, having the best time of my life, living this alternate reality where nothing else in the world even exists.
“And it’s this really weird feeling, you have no contact with the outside world, you have no phone, you don’t know what the time is.
“You’re living in this unbelievable villa, there’s sun shining, there’s beautiful people around you.
“The drama of the villa just feels like the only drama that exists.”
During his second villa stint, he was called out by former show alumni Maura Higgins.
It came after he pied by his former flame, Megan Barton Hanson, 29, not once but twice.
While filming the show, the cast appeared have been asked which islander they would be most likely to leave unread.
But when Eyal chose Megan, 2019 finalist Maura was quick to pick him up, asking what his reasons were.
He replied, “Just cause we’ve pied each other a few times and if there’s anyone that I have a tiny bit of bad blood with, I guess it’s us two.”