LOVE Island star Paige Thorne has been dating a hunky South African rugby player on the on the quiet, The Sun can exclusively reveal.
Paige, 27, is enjoying a romance with Brendan Owen and has even flown halfway across the world to spend time with him.
Although South African, Brendan is currently playing for the Japanese team Canon Eagles and has been busy showing her the local sights.
But Paige’s new romance is likely to leave telly bosses unhappy, as she is rumoured to be starring in the next series of Love Island All Stars.
Paige is among a string of names being lined up for All Stars and has been in talks about it for some time.
Spilling the beans on her fling with Brendan, however, an insider said: “Paige is currently in Japan with her new man Brendan Owen.
“He has been showing her around the country and it’s been really romantic.
“She’s really happy but it’s obviously going to be tricky to have a full on romance, but they are just enjoying it while they can.”
The Sun revealed earlier this month that Paige is being lined-up for the 2025 series of Love Island All Stars, which airs in the new year.
The Welsh paramedic originally starred in the ITV2 reality show in 2022 and telly bosses want her back.
During her first stint, Paige captured viewers’ hearts after she fell for Jacques O’Neil.
However, as their fling progressed, viewers flocked to Twitter to accuse rugby player Jacques of “manipulating” her. His behaviour was even described as “scary” and “gaslighting”.
Jacques later went on to quit the Love Island villa after admitting he’d cheated with other girls during the show’s Casa Amor stage.
Paige, meanwhile, dumped him for Love Island lothario Adam Collard.
Their whirlwind romance was short-lived though, and ended shortly after the series wrapped.
The pair became embroiled in a public fallout after photos emerged of Adam partying with other women.
Love Island All Stars will be back for its second series in 2025 - and rumours are already rife as to who will be making a comeback this time around.
After the second All Stars series was announced in May, show boss Mike Spender said: “Lots of people have been in contact about it, lots of fun people, from series one onwards.
“We cast it because we knew what was going on behind the scenes of who was getting with who and now even more stories have come out.
“I think we will now save ex-islanders for All Stars.”
One rumoured name for the next series is data engineer Harry Baker.
Harry, 25, arrived in the villa as a bombshell in Series 11. He soon ‘stole’ Grace Jackson after making his debut.
Arriving late in the run, he only lasted for a few days before being dumped alongside Lola Deloca.
Despite the hunk’s brief stint, viewers have called for Harry’s return.
One upset fan wrote: “Get you in All Stars next”, to which Harry cryptically replied by posting ‘shrugging’ emojis.
Since leaving the villa, Paige has returned to her career as a paramedic, earning praise for going back to her normal job.
But last month, a source told The Sun: “Paige was in talks to do All Stars earlier this year, but things didn’t quite work out, and she didn’t make the final cut.
“This time around, producers are really keen to have her back. They think she is the perfect addition to spice things up.”
