Turkish woman wins UK reality show ‘Love Island’

ISTANBUL

Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, a Turkish-English actress and model, has been crowned the winner of “Love Island,” a U.K. reality show, with her Italian partner, Davide Sanclimenti, winning the show’s $61,000 prize money.

The pair, both 27, said they “could not believe” they won at the end of the ITV2 dating show’s final stage on late Aug. 2.

The couple described their time on the show as a “dream.”

Cülcüloğlu, who has more than 1 million followers on Instagram, has been bombarded by sponsorship offers from world-famous fashion labels after the result of the show.

“Apart from the prize money, Cülcüloğlu is expected to be the highest earning ‘Love Island’ contestant with the money flowing from the sponsors,” daily Milliyet reported on Aug. 3.

The total earnings the show will bring to Cülcüloğlu is expected to be more than $1.2 million.

Cülcüloğlu named Sanclimenti, a business owner from Rome, Italy, a “man of dreams” in her interview after the show.

“It feels so surreal, finding the man of your dreams and just growing, I’m lost for words,” she said, describing their relationship as “absolutely bonkers, crazy, romantic and fun.”

Cülcüloğlu, who was born in 1994 in London, split her time between the U.K. and Türkiye. On 2020, she portrayed a photographer in a Turkish TV series and a serial killer in a Turkish soap opera.