TV & Showbiz
Manchester’s Kai Fagan crowned Love Island 2023 winner with Sanam Harrinanan
The fan-favourite couple beat runners-up Ron Hall and Lana Jenkins to take home the £50,000 prize money.
Emily Sergeant -
14th March 2023 
Kai Fagan and Sanam Harriananan were officially crowned the winners of Love Island 2023 in South Africa last night.
Nearly two months after the smash-hit ITV reality competition show returned to our screens for its ninth series and it’s second Winter edition, and a whole new lineup of hopeful singletons made the trip to South Africa in the look for love, viewers tuned into ITV2 in their millions last night to see who would take home the title of Love Island 2023 winners.
And after a suspenseful wait, new host Maya Jama announced that fan-favourite couple Kai and Sanam had clinched the coveted win.
The 24-year-old PE and Science teacher from Manchester, and the 24-year-old Social Worker from Bedford beat runners-up Ron Hall and Lana Jenkins to take home the £50,000 prize money.
Tom Clare and Samie Elishi came in third, while Tanya Manhenga and Shaq Muhammad took fourth.
With a romance that blossomed in Casa Amor after Sanam entered as a ‘bombshell’, and relationship that survived all other challenges thrown at it throughout the series, Kai and Sanam went on to capture the hearts of Love Island fans.
Kai – who fans found out before he entered the villa claims to have three different degrees from three different universities, and also played semi-professional rugby for Burnage RFC alongside his teaching career – told presenter Maya Jama that Sanam had “blown me away straight away” after her introduction on the show.
“I think it was the eyes,” he said, adding: “Now she doesn’t leave my side. I don’t leave her side and I absolutely love it.”
Sanam admitted to Jama that “it was always Kai”.
“I always said he was my number one and that, of course he is a very attractive guy, but apart from the looks, like I was just like… he’s an amazing guy, everything about him.”
In what is a typical Love Island final tradition, the couple also shared their declarations of love with each other during last night’s episode – where Sanam told Kai: “You charmed me with your smile and melted me with your warm brown eyes.
“I was hooked by your intelligence, values, kindness and you always manage to make me laugh. You’ve made me realise my worth and I can’t wait for us to one day be official.”
Kai replied: “My time here has been a dream since I met you.
“Sanam, you’re one of a kind and I’m so happy to have you in my life because I adore you and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us.”
Read more:
- Love Island’s Kai Fagan dishes on what former classmate Marcus Rashford was like at school
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- New dating show dubbed ‘middle-aged Love Island’ is looking for single parents to apply
Kai and Sanam are the first winners in the show’s history to have coupled-up in Casa Amor.
Featured Image – ITV
