What happened on Love Island summer 2023 last night? Episode 21 recap

After her partner Zachariah Noble was chosen to couple up with new bombshell Kady McDermott, Molly received a text saying she was single and had been dumped from the Island.

However, as we all know, life in the villa moves at lightning speed - as Zach chose to remain in Mallorca and get to know Kady.

Ella Thomas and Tyrique Hyde’s relationship also took another battering - after Ty seemed totally indifferent that they could have been in the same situation as Molly and Zach, if Kady had paired up with him instead.

The episode also saw the return of the heart rate challenge, and the results made for some very interesting viewing!

If you missed Sunday’s show, then don’t worry - RadioTimes.com has you covered with our handy recap video.

Read on to find out everything that happened on episode 21 of Love Island…

What happened on Love Island summer 2023 last night? Episode 21 recap

The episode began where we last left the islanders - in the aftermath of Molly’s brutal dumping from the villa.

As she sobbed in Zachariah's arms, her partner could be heard telling the actress: "I love you so much. You know that, don’t you?"

But despite Molly's tears, the boys succeeded in getting Zach to continue his journey on the programme - and he wasted no time at all in pulling his new pairing Kady for a chat.

Revealing that it was a "nice surprise" to be picked by the new bombshell, Zach continued: "Me and Molly were good, but it was still very early days. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be."

Tyrique - who was very close to being in Zach’s position - also seemed to think the pair should give their new partnership a chance, and told the boys that if he was in the personal trainer’s shoes, he would say: "Later, Molly - she’s gone, it’s done, it’s done, it’s done. Kady’s in my bed now, done."

Elsewhere, Sammy Root and Jess Harding had yet another tense chat. The pair were not allowed to recouple with each other, and Sammy described seeing his former partner with Mitchel Taylor as "horrible" and asked Jess if she still wanted to get to know each other.

When Jess answered, "I’d rather just close it off now," Sammy encouraged her to sleep on it - which didn’t go down well with Sammy’s current partner Mal Nicol when Jess told her!

The next morning, Kady and Zach discussed their feelings with different groups, and Kady - who still felt slightly guilty - admitted to the girls: "If he was completely closed off, I would never have picked him."

During another chat, Zach told her they should "take it easy for now, for sure", and later revealed in the Beach Hut: "If anyone was able to turn my head, it would have been her. She’s definitely a beautiful woman." Molly, who?

The subject of Tyrique also came up in Kady’s chat with the girls, as she described the semi-professional footballer as "flirty", to which a savage Whitney Adebayo replied: "He’d flirt with a wall, that boy."

She went on to explain how Ella thought they had got through the "test" of their relationship after Leah Taylor entered the villa, but now Kady had turned his head again - to which the returning islander fumed: "I ain’t no maths test!"

After Ty smugly told the boys that he was glad Kady had chosen Zach over him, as he now got to explore his options with both women in the villa - boasting "it’s a win-win sort of thing" - Ella pulled her partner for a chat where she expressed the hurt she was feeling to always being sidelined.

But telling her he "misses the game" of being single, Tyrique defensively said, "If being closed off is what you want, I can’t give it to you right now," before storming off.

Ella then repeated the conversation to Jess, Whitney and Catherine Agbaje - who the previous night had encouraged the Scottish model to go after Montel McKenzie instead - and tearfully told them: "It’s just f***ing embarrassing for me.

"For him it’s just for f***ing fun. I just can’t believe that this is me, that I’m that girl."

She later took a timeout in the bedroom with Whitney, and said: "I need to take a step back because he is literally having his cake and eating it, too."

"Don’t be giving out your heart for free," Whitney agreed. "Stop expecting things from him."

Sammy and Mal also appeared to patch things up, as the project manager told her: "How I feel with you in three days is already probably stronger than how I felt about Jess in two weeks. I preferred being with you."

Catherine then got a text - and it was time for the show’s infamous heart rate challenge!

Dressing up in sexy outfits, the islanders danced for the opposite sex, and whichever team got pulses racing the highest would be crowned the winners.

The competition threw out a few surprises for the contestants - especially when Medhi Edno kissed all the girls on the mouth! - and not one of the girls’ heart rates shot up the highest by the person they are matched with.

Catherine and Kady enjoyed Sammy’s performance the most, whereas Jess went wild for Medhi, and Leah for Tyrique.

Whitney found her pulse raced for Zach, and so did Ella - which left Tyrique looking annoyed!

The girls won the challenge - but at what cost? The teaser for the next episode showed that things are about to get explosive between Whitney and Medhi, whose heart rate went the highest from Catherine’s performance... so could this spell the end of their relationship? Tune in tonight to find out!

Love Island airs on ITV2 at 9pm. You can watch all previous seasons of Love Island on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial.

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