LOVE Island star Anna Vakili has revealed why she’s said to no to a show return FOUR times since starring in the villa in 2019.
The 35-year-old ex-pharmacist has been on bosses’ wish list for years but, though she came VERY close to a comeback last year, she has ruled out ever going back.
A last minute change of heart forced bosses into an unexpected shuffle in 2025, but that didn’t deter them from trying to sign Anna again for this year’s series.
However, she gave producers a cast iron no, having already declined taking part in spin-off series Love Island Games.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Anna says: “When they were interviewing people for the Love Island All Stars [2025] I was single and I did go through the process of maybe I’ll go back. I went to meet the producers, I did everything.
“They were ready to put me on and then last minute I just pulled out and I thought it doesn’t align with me any more, with what I want in my life and so I pulled out, and then I ended up getting back to my ex anyway afterwards.”
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She continues: “Then this year there was definitely no way I was going to go on.
“They wanted me, the producers reached out again and every All Stars they’ve asked me to come on, but this year I just said straight away to them I don’t even want to waste your time, there’s just no way I’m going to go on and I wasn’t even with my ex at that point as well, we have had quite a toxic on and off relationship but we’re on now.”
Even if she was single, Anna believes the show’s challenges have too much kissing in now and it doesn’t appeal to her.
“I feel like Love Island’s changed a little bit as well from when I did it,” she says. “It’s way too much snogging every person, I think my mum would have had a heart attack.”
Her sister Mandi, 34, adds: “If I was in my 20s like this would be so fun, do you know what I mean? But it just gets to the point where it gets cringe.”
Anna rekindled her relationship with on/off boyfriend ‘Cowslick’ late last year.
She’s used a pseudonym and hidden his face from the public since they first got together in 2021 — a tactic also deployed by Mandi when it comes to her boyfriend ‘Gingerbeard’.
However, they are now fed up of the secrecy surrounding their relationships, particularly Anna.
She says: “I’m just so ready to put his face out there now.
“I just feel like this whole hiding his face has become such a long and annoying… like my poor editor has to keep blurring his face out in the YouTube vlogs and I want to take cute pictures with him and put it on my Instagram and I can’t do that, so I’m like maybe I’m past the stage of hiding his face.”
Mandi’s relationship has been more stable over the years, free of the ‘toxicity’ that Anna admits has plagued hers.
But even she’s begun considering how they should announce Gingerbeard to the world — as an element of their next podcast tour.
“I’ve been thinking about this reveal, but it needs to be major,” she says. “You know what, I thought about a really good reveal would be like come to our next tour because we’re going to do a Gingerbeard and Cowslick reveal on stage and sell tickets at the same time.”
While their other halves’ faces might be under wraps for now, Mandi and Anna’s certainly aren’t.
The duo have teamed up with Adored.by to create their own brow and lip edit so fans can replicate their flawless aesthetic.
The new range follows a previous release with beauty influencer Lottie Tomlinson, which the girls were a big fan of.
Anna says: “We liked how they tailor the collection to the influencer so it’s not like we just put our name on the product. It’s inspired by us, our podcast, our personality, our makeup looks, so it’s just literally us in a makeup brand.”
Mandi says: “We knew it was going to be like really unique and it wasn’t going to be the same as other ranges they do because they want influencers to create an edit which reflects them and their brand so that’s what Adored by has done with us right now.
“All of the products, the shade, the names, all of them have been chosen and tailored by us, so it’s really exciting.”
She called the importance of good brows and lips “game-changing” and said it could take a 10 out of 10 looker down to a two if not styled correctly, and vice versa.
The girls were committed to putting out products that they personally use and this is reflected in their combo kits.
Mandi says: “We chose shades that we love, you know there are so many shades and everybody likes a different shade but we chose Anna’s lip kit, my lip kit, is our sort of go-to and we always get asked like what’s your lip combo?
She continues: “They say men always notice a woman’s lips so lips are very important.”
But perfection isn’t the goal for the girls, it’s rather about feeling comfortable in your appearance whatever the situation or style.
Anna says: “I feel because of our podcast we’re quite relaxed attitude, because like what’s perfect? I think like that’s so like old news now, people like to relate to people that are real.”
“We love glamming up, we love doing our makeup but we’re in tracksuits on podcast.”
Mandi says: “When you do a podcast you’re just sort of in like an environment, you’re in a kind of dynamic where we’re sitting on a sofa gossiping together, we’re not like catwalk supermodels.
“People want to see the real us, they don’t want to see perfect looking two girls, they just want to see like two real people, but I feel like there’s a balance between being content with how you look but also wanting to glam up and do your makeup, put your heels on and get going.
“At the moment we’re just adorned by Adored By, you know, so we’re really excited about the launch and showing everyone how we do our lips and brows with these products.”
Anna and Mandi have collaborated with Adored.by on the newest makeup edit now available to shop on www.adoredby.com