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Lucinda Strafford is hoping her third time is a charm as she joins the latest Love Island spin-off show in the hopes to find a special someone following her split from her DJ beau

Love Island star Lucinda Strafford has signed up for the American reality show The Love Island Games following her split from famous DJ Nathan Dawe in 2024. The TV personality, who appeared in the iconic ITV2 villa in 2021, confirmed her romance with Nathan last year, though the pair went their separate ways just weeks after.

Lucinda confirmed that she and the 21 Reasons DJ were no longer together during an appearance on the White Fox After Hours podcast, where she said: “So I am recently single. You’ve actually just got to laugh or you will literally cry.”

Speaking highly of Nathan and their short relationship, the blonde beauty added: “But to be honest, my ex boyfriend is like one of the best people ever, he is so lovely and so kind. A real gent. I feel like we will always be friends. He’s a bit older as well. I feel like it’s just way more mature, which I love.”

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Lucinda has appeared on Love Island UK season 7 and Love Island Australia season 5 and is now hoping her third time is a charm as she enters the games.

Peacock’s hit show Love Island Games is back for season 2 on September 16, and the cast includes familiar faces from across the US and UK.

The spin-off series brings together Islanders from different countries to compete in challenges while pursuing love, with $100,000 (£73,894) up for grabs. Hosted by Ariana Madix, the show will once again feature eliminations, re-couplings, and surprise arrivals.

Fellow Love Island star Maura Higgins will also be making an appearance on the show after the Irish presenter, 34, has officially been confirmed as the host of the newly commissioned Aftersun series for The Love Island Games.

Having already impressed as the face of Aftersun for Love Island USA last year, Maura has firmly established herself as a fan favourite with the US audience. According to reports, the former Love Island UK star will soon be jetting off to Fiji, where Love Island Games will begin filming.

A TV insider explained: “The first series of Love Island Games didn’t include an Aftersun show, as it was filmed in advance and broadcast later. But this time, it’s going out in real time like the main show.

“That’s why bosses have decided to create a dedicated Aftersun, and Maura was the obvious choice to host it.”

The source added to The Sun: “Maura was thrilled to be asked to do it, as Games is a totally separate show so there was no guarantee she would be offered it. When bosses approached her, she was over the moon because it proved how happy they are with her, and she is seen as a key fixture in the Love Island USA family.”

Ahead of her new film, The Roses, Oscar-winner Olivia Colman revealed which type of job she wished she didn’t have to do

Whether you think of The Crown’s Queen Elizabeth II, her Oscar-winning turn as Queen Anne in The Favourite or the dastardly Mrs Scrubitt in Wonka, when someone says “Olivia Colman”, great acting comes to mind. But the film star has recently revealed there is one type of acting job that she thinks she’s “terrible” at and hates doing.

Ahead of her new film The Roses, Olivia joined her co-star Benedict Cumberbatch, and hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett on Dish, Waitrose & Partner’s podcast. On the show, she the topic turned to jobs the episodes guests had hated, as Benedict and Angela both revealed there were times when they worked in kitchens and “wished a fire alarm would go off” so they didn’t have to go back in.

Olivia added: “I’m like that with most theatre.”

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When Benedict then asked which jobs she thought that about specifically, she said: “Oh, most plays. I’m terrible!

“I have a quite a short attention span, so doing months of the same words, I struggle with. I’m scared for a long time, and then once, once the fear finishes, I’m so bored. Which is awful.”

She also recalled a time when a fire alarm really did go off and the joy she felt before they told her should would actually have to return to the stage: “And we did one play when the alarm went off, you know, like, yes! And I was out my costume in seconds. ‘Surely we can’t go back?’ Yeah!

“But they got us all back on stage. Like, argh. Put my costume back on.”

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Olivia hasn’t done many plays. Whilst the actress has countless TV and film credits, she has only been in four plays. In 2000, she played Cathleen in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and didn’t return to the stage until nine years later when she was Philippa in England People Very Nice by Richard Bean. Shortly after that, she was Myra Arundel in Hay Fever and, lastly, in 2017, she was Jenny in Mosquitoes. She has not been in a play since.

Her most recent project, The Roses, is a satirical black comedy loosely based on the 1981 film, The War of the Roses. It follows the breakdown of the marriage between Ivy (Olivia Colman), a chef who has put her business plans on hold to raise children, and Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch), a successful architect, after a freak accident swaps their roles and Ivy becomes the successful one, whilst Theo becomes a stay-at-home dad.

Olivia will also appear in a new TV adaptation of Pride & Prejudice where she will play Mrs Bennet. The show has already made history by casting The Crown co-star Emma Corrin as Lizzie, making them the first non-binary actor to play the iconic character. Adapted by Dolly Alderton for Netflix, the series has also cast Jack Lowden as Mr Darcy.

On Dish, both Olivia and Benedict agreed that television was one of their favourite mediums to work with. As the latter said, TV provides a “water cooler moment” and that people are more likely to watch your work if it’s on TV.

“Good, bad or indifferent, people are gonna watch it.”

Former Apprentice star Thomas Skinner caused chaos at the Strictly press launch after snatching a reporter’s phone and storming off. BBC bosses have since decided the Essex pillow king can keep dancing – but what do you think?

Former Apprentice star Thomas Skinner found himself in hot water this week after snatching a reporter’s phone and walking out of interviews ahead of the new Strictly Come Dancing series.

The pillow salesman’s future on the show was looking precarious, but this morning the BBC confirmed he’s going nowhere. And we want to know if you think he should be booted off for his behaviour – by taking our poll below.

Organisers were said to be fuming about it all, with the corporation even issuing a statement reminding everyone that behaviour falling below its standards won’t be tolerated.

The Essex boy, famous for his fiery social media presence, grabbed a reporter’s phone mid-interview and told them to stop – leaving his fellow contestant, ex-footballer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, to carry on the press duties solo.

Skinner was heard saying: “What’s that? Are you taping it?” The reporter answered: “We have to record it,” before she was heard asking: “What are you doing?”

A voice was heard: “Just answer the question, we’ve got three minutes,” before the reporter said: “No, no, no, don’t.”

Thomas then told them: “That’s about me,” before the reporter answered: “No, it’s not.” When one person asked ‘what made them run the question’, the reporter said they were ‘just recording it’.

After a few moments of inaudible audio, someone else said: “Oh my God, he’s gone.”

Should the BBC drop Thomas Skinner from Strictly? Take our poll below, and if you can’t see it click here

Speaking about the bizarre incident, an insider told the Mirror: “He walked to the table with his head down, he sat down, grabbed one of the reporters phones, who told him to stop. It was a shock. His reaction came out of nowhere.”

Another source told us: “It was totally out of the blue. He was absolutely fine during the first interview. In good spirits and delighted and surprised to be there. Like a competition winner.”

Gavin & Stacey creator and actress Ruth Jones has listed her impressive Cardiff home following the split from her husband as she throws herself into work with James Corden

Ruth Jones has put her stunning marital home up for sale as she prepares to get back to work with Gavin & Stacey co-star James Corden. The actress and writer, 58, has listed her impressive house for £1,150,000 after splitting from husband David Peet.

Their home is now on the market following the end of their 25-year marriage. Ruth, who is best known for playing Nessa in the hit BBC sitcom, split from TV executive David, 72, some time ago.

They announced their separation earlier this year and now it seems Ruth is ready to part with their property. She once labelled it “my favourite place to be” and gushed the kitchen was “the best bit”.

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Ruth and David have not been seen together at the property in Penylan, Cardiff for almost two years. Furniture has already been cleared out of the mock Tudor home, which they bought in 2001.

The five bedroomed semi was purchased for £325,000, with the pair set to make an impressive £825,000 profit. Ruth and David also have a holiday home on the west coast of Scotland and owned a popular restaurant called Peet’s in the village of Lochinver.

Following the split, Ruth has reportedly been living in London while David has left the UK for Canada. He has since moved on with Jayne Charity Cook, 46.

Their three-storey home overlooks a park and has original fireplaces, tiling and wooden floors. The estate agent listing describes it as a “handsome, three-storey bay-fronted Edwardian style residence, retaining charm and character, sympathetically extended, choice position overlooking Roath Park recreation fields.”

In a statement in June, Ruth and David said: “We amicably went our separate ways 18 months ago and are now legally separated. We remain good friends. Since our separation, Ruth is living in London and David is living in Canada, where he is in a new relationship.” Ruth was a step-mum to David’s three children from a previous marriage.

The former couple met when they were both filming a pilot of a BBC comedy in the early 90s. At the time, David was married, with Ruth later explaining that there had been an overlap with their relationship.

She said: “Affairs cause a lot of pain; they’re not something one aspires to do. You don’t aspire to cause pain to people in their life.” The couple had lived in Cardiff, where they established their production company Tidy Productions, which created Gavin & Stacey.

Speaking about her views on children, Ruth previously told the Daily Mail: “It just didn’t happen. It wasn’t a decision. I don’t have a burning desire to have babies.

“I think it’s heartbreaking if you do and you find out you can’t have them. I love being a stepmum — all the joy of motherhood without the pain of childbirth.”

Ruth has since thrown herself into work as she is said to be back working with James Corden. They said they hoped to work together again after Gavin & Stacey ended, and it seems fans might not have long to wait.

It has now been reported we can expect to see a brand new ten-part comedy drama from James and Ruth as they have reportedly signed a huge deal with AppleTV+. Their new show will be set in the UK with filming starting next year, according to reports.

The Mirror has contacted Ruth’s representative for comment.

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