Almost a month after leaving the sunny South African villa where “Love Island: All Stars” was filmed, winners Casey O’Gorman and Gabby Allen are testing out dating in the real world — free of cups with their names on them and sharing a room with about 20 other people.
O’Gorman entered the villa as a Bombshell in Episode 2, coupling up with OG islander Allen in Episode 4. The couple stayed together until the end, visiting the hideaway together and deciding they were both closed off — meaning neither would pursue other islanders while in the villa.
Outside the villa, they haven’t officially put the boyfriend and girlfriend label on their relationship yet, they tell TODAY.com.
“I think the difference between like boyfriend and girlfriend (and) where we are now is absolutely nothing,” O’Gorman tells TODAY.com.
O’Gorman says being continuously asked about labels adds unnecessary pressure.
“Like, I will ask Gabby to be my girlfriend at some point,” he says. “But do you know what it is? It’s all this like noise of, ‘When are you going to ask? When are you going to ask?’ I feel like I don’t want to now just ask it because people are saying it. I want to just do it.”
Allen clarifies that they are not dating other people. “We don’t feel pressure from boyfriend and girlfriend to where we are now,” Allen says. “I think it will happen just naturally.”
So, what does that entail now? Well, they’ve already met each other’s friends and family.
“Love Island: All Stars” Season 1 winners Molly Smith and Tom Clare, who are good friends of O’Gorman’s, invited O’Gorman and Allen on a double date as soon as they returned from South Africa. When the couple arrived, they realized it wasn’t a double date — it was a surprise party with all their loved ones.
The two couples have planned an official double date for the future. Allen says that she gets along with Smith well — in fact, the two have a girls’ night planned for this week.
Allen says that O’Gorman met her dog, Oscar, too, although O’Gorman isn’t sure if he’s passed Oscar’s test yet.
“I think he’s jealous. Whenever I’m kissing Gabby, like hugging her, he’s always there, like barking at me, ‘Oh, God, this person,’” he jokes.
They're also planning their next international adventure. When the couple first exited the villa, winning a combined $50,000, they had ideas to spend the money on a trip to the Maldives and a treat for Allen's mom.
The couple still wants to go away, but decided it's not the best time of year for the Maldives.
“We want to be able to go away just the two of us with no cameras in our faces,” O’Gorman says. “We are just doing some research on the best place to go and when we’re going to go because we’re both just so busy at the moment work wise.”
Allen also plans to take her mom and brother to Dubai at the beginning of April.
In the mean time, O’Gorman and Allen — who only live 10 minutes apart from each other — have been getting to know each other even better, enjoying the small things like nights in together.
One of O’Gorman’s favorite moments was their first official date, which included a dinner out. He said this was “the first time we genuinely could just chat openly, not with people from the island, and just have a nice meal.”
Meanwhile, Allen prizes the memory of O’Gorman showing up on her doorstep with flowers on one of their first nights back in the U.K. She also loves how O’Gorman and her brother get along so well as family is super important to her.
O’Gorman says the most important part about the transition from villa life to the real world has been maintaining communication.
“Chatting to each other (and) still being able to make time with each other, I think, is huge,” he says.
He also feels that their connection is more “genuine and real” now that they are outside of the villa.
“You never know on camera if those genuine feelings are genuine. You just never know if people in there are going to be playing a game or not,” he says.
The show may be over, but the drama has continued. While appearing on GK Barry’s “Saving Grace” podcast, O’Gorman and Allen were asked if they thought there were any couples who wouldn’t last. O’Gorman said only, “Yeah, I think there are couples that probably won’t last.”
Fans then speculated the pair meant Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Curtis Pritchard. O’Gorman clears it up.
“Honestly, that wasn’t directed towards anyone,” O’Gorman tells TODAY.com. “I just feel like every single year on ‘Love Island’ there’s normally only about one or two couples that make it past six months. So, it was directed just towards that, more than anything, and just the
