Fans enraged as Love Island star admits her on-screen relationship was fake

Love Island have been left enraged after Mia Dalkos admitted to being romantically involved with a man named Christo prior to entering the villa. 

Mia's admission follows months of fervent online speculation that one of the 2024 female contestants had applied for the reality dating show multiple times, despite having a boyfriend of six years named Christo. 

Mia, 23, from Adelaide entered the villa as a 'Greek goddess' bombshell and on-screen found an instant spark with Sydney-based Niko Fotopoulos, who she said she only had eyes for after one day of filming.  

Taking to her Instagram Stories on Monday, Mia shocked fans by confirming that she and Niko 'were never together'. 

'No we're not still together. We actually never were together officially. We spoke for a few weeks after the villa but yeah, nah. We're civil. That's it,' she said in response to a fan question. 

The brunette beauty also clapped back at rumours she'd had a long-term boyfriend before the series. In doing so, she named her current partner: 'His name is Christo.'

'We were on talking terms. We were not in a committed relationship. He's talking to others. I'm talking to others,' Mia said as she shot down the allegations.

'We're very civil and we're actually friends. People just love to talk a lot of sh*t though. Those rumours, man.' 

In September, Love Island 2022 winner Claudia Bonifazio made bombshell claims that one of the 2024 contestants had a boyfriend of six years, but had applied to the series three 'years in a row' to realise her dream of becoming an influencer. 

The reality star, who is also from Adelaide, took to social media to put an unnamed female Love Island applicant on blast. 

'If you have a boyfriend, don't apply to go on a reality dating show years in a row because it just proves what you're there for, and I think that's so disgusting and desperate,' she said. 'Shame on you.'

Many South Australian Reddit users have claimed that contestant is Mia and that her alleged boyfriend is a Greek man named Christo, who wasn't able to be on Love Island due to a prior criminal offence.

'He dropped her off at the airport for Love Island and wanted to go on the show with her, but was told no because he's facing criminal charges for money laundering,' one Reddit user claimed. 

A second user added, 'His lawyer advised against it because he’s facing criminal charges.' 

'Mia has been dating her boyfriend Christo and he dropped her off at the airport for Love Island,' another South Australian Reddit user claimed. 

'Mia wants to be an influencer and is going on the show just for followers. It would be easy to "build a connection" with someone you're already dating.'

Yet another person claimed they saw Mia two weeks ago at Lucky's Beach Club with Christo, who was spotted still wearing ankle bracelet. 

In 2021, the Greek Herald reported that Christo Nickolas, then 32, had been charged with two counts of money laundering. 

Mia, in her Instagram Stories on Monday, said that she has 'no regrets at all,' about going on the show. 

'What about the rumours that you had a boyfriend back home during filming?' one fan asked in the Q&A session. 

'Guys, it actually baffles me that for a second people think that "my partner" would be okay for me to go on national TV to meet another man,' Mia said as she firmly denied the allegations. 

'That is crazy.' 

Mia's official Love Island biography states 'She recently got out of a long-term relationship that lasted for six years.'

On the flip side, a woman claiming to be Niko's ex-girlfriend has taken to social media with 'receipts' proving that Mia's on-screen partner was also not entirely unattached.

Bella Nieto claimed that she's the ex 'situationship' that Niko was talking about during his audition tape, which he may not have expected to be aired on TV.

In the tape, Niko said he’d been 'banging' an ex for two years, but that he didn’t have any feelings for her.

'One [ex] in particular, she will tear me to shreds because she got feelings for me, I didn’t have feelings for her, I ended it,' Niko told Mia. 

'Yeah, two years, was like banging, but I wasn’t emotionally attached, and it’s not someone I have a future with.'

Bella showed a bunch of screenshots allegedly sent between Niko and herself, where Niko says he loves her and misses her multiple times.

'Obviously that’s quite humiliating for people who knew that we were together,' she said in her video. 

'He’s made it out that he had no feelings for me… he got caught out because he’s a shitty person and he didn’t know they were going to show that [Love Island] audition tape.'