Zara Holland has made the decision to leave the ‘Love Island’ villa, after discovering that her mum has taken ill.
She was informed of her mum’s sudden illness on Saturday (18 June), and is now set to return to the UK.
A statement from ‘Love Island’ explains: “Owing to an illness in the family, Zara Holland has left the ‘Love Island’ villa to return to the UK. Our thoughts are with her and her family and we send all of our best wishes.”
Producers have made it clear that the door is open for Zara to return, “should she wish to depending on circumstances in the villa”.
Zara says: “I'm so sad to leave the villa but it's important for me to get home and spend time with my mum while she gets better.
“I've had the time of my life on ‘Love Island’ and would like to thank all of my fellow Islanders and the production team for all their support.”
Zara’s final week on the show was a particularly turbulent one, after discovering she’d been stripped of her Miss Great Britain title, due to a dalliance with Alex Bowen.
The pageant organisation said at the time: “The feedback we have received from pageant insiders and members of the general public is that we cannot promote Zara as a positive role model moving forward.
A petition was later set up for Zara to be reinstated as Miss Great Britain, which has almost 4000 signatures at the time of writing.
Zara is the second of this year's Islanders to walk, following the departure of Rykard Jenkins.
