EXCLUSIVE: Toby Aromolaran talks Mayo roots, Love Island, and GAA

Love Island’s Toby Aromolaran has spoken of his Mayo ties and fond memories.

“My mum grew up there, she left when she was a teenager and came to London, but her sister lived there so she used to go back often to see her.

“When she had me, I'd go with her, until the age of 16 or 18, I’d have an Irish summer and then come back for school,” he said.

Toby described his summers in Mayo as ‘refreshing’, and said they gave him insight into the life he didn’t have growing up in Essex.

“The big old fields, I was so intrigued with the cows and chickens because my aunt and uncle have a farm, so that was always like my refresher every year,” said the reality TV star.

Toby first rose to fame in 2021 as a contestant on the popular dating show, where he and then girlfriend Chloe Burrows came in second place.

Seeing as he provided buckets of entertainment during his eight-week stint in the show, it was no surprise to see him on the ‘Love Island: All Stars’ line-up earlier this year.

“In December/January time, I had to decide if I would go back in or not, and I was like, ‘I'm single, kinda lonely, let me go on the show, see if I can find someone’. It worked before so let me see if it'll work again,” said Toby.

He explained that the experience on the show cannot be replicated outside the show. 

“You’re in a villa with the opposite sex, and literally all you have to think about is your feelings and if you actually like the person or not, that's the only worry in the world.

“So, I was like you know what, it's a one time experience so if you get to do it twice, you gotta do it twice - or in my case three times,” joked Toby, referring to his time on ‘Love Island Games’ last year.

When asked about the differences between his original appearance on the show and All Stars, Toby told The Mayo News it was ‘completely different to everything else’ even saying it felt like he was ‘on a different show’.

“It was a bit weird adjusting to that because you have your memories of the show and how it was before, and now it was completely different,” he said.

Toby called this year’s experience ‘a surprise’ as the format did not fold out as he expected.

Despite some fans of the show saying the All Star cast were less authentic than original contestants because of their already existing public careers, Toby said he was 100 percent himself in the villa.

“I could have gone in there and been the real perfect, public person, but like, what’s the chance of actually finding someone if that's the case?

“I'm going to act the same as I normally act because that's what helped me the first time and got me a relationship last time, so I have to do the same again; I can't change myself for it,” said the Hashtag United player.

On both occasions on the show, Toby never shied away from making shocking decisions to get what he wanted, such as his decision to choose Georgia Steel over then partner Arabella Chi, at a dramatic recoupling.

(Credits: Virgin Media Player) Georgia Steel and Toby Aromolaran

“The first time [on the show] was alright when it happened, the people in there accepted it, but this time, I did it, and the aftermath was honestly crazy,” he said.

Calling the fall-out ‘an annoyance’, Toby said that decision left the villa dynamic ‘very weird’ and said ‘it was hard’.

“At one point I could only really speak to like two people in there, and that was really annoying because I’m not that type where you get ostracised, it was very weird,” Toby explained.

The drastic decision looked to have paid off, as Toby and Georgia Steel finished fourth in the show, and still look to be going strong; however, are not yet in an official relationship.

“We're not official yet, I feel like we're just enjoying our time together,” said Toby.

Discussing the pair’s rocky time in the South African villa, he said he feels as much as they enjoyed their time together, they didn’t enjoy their time ‘compared to everyone else’.

“Everyone else was having good fun, out of the drama, but me and Georgia, we came under constant fire. When you have to keep battling other people about your situation, it's really draining.

“I feel like we’ve come out of the experience really drained and to recover, I don’t know about her but on my point, I don't want to rush into things; we're still just having fun, there’s no rush” he explained.

Toby said if they were in the villa ‘forever’ the 25-year-old influencer would be his girlfriend, but speaking on obstacles the show's relationships face on the outside world, Toby said ‘it’s different’.

“We’ve come back out, we're still adjusting to the outside, like the fact that she lives four hours away, we’re just seeing can it work or not.

“I like the fact we’re not putting pressure on it at all, we’ve had a lot of pressure on us anyway” he said.

Regarding a couples trip back to Crossmolina, Toby said ‘it’s overdue’ and that he has been ‘chatting’ about coming back.

“To be fair yeah, I need her to come back to Ireland to see my aunt and that as well”.

Although his athletic abilities have been proven strong on the soccer field, the Essex man’s knowledge on GAA isn’t as profound.

“This is funny because I was chatting to my mum about it because I never actually knew about it. 

“My cousins play it and I watch them play it, but I never got the hang of it, I could never really get my head around it, but yeah, I need to go down and watch a game,” said Toby.

When told about the heartbreak of Mayo’s All-Ireland prospects through the years, and the apparent ‘curse’ on the team, he was stunned.

“Oh my god,” he exclaimed regarding the ‘curse’, however he was not reluctant to endorse Mayo’s campaign for the Sam Maguire this year.

“When I came out of the villa the first time, I think it was just around the time [of the All-Ireland] and everyone was coming to me like ‘Mayo for Sam’ and I was like ‘yeah come on then, let's go’ and then they lost that year.

“There's no curse now, so? It’s just down to the team now really,” he said.

You can find Toby on Instagram, and catch up with ‘Love Island: All Stars’ on Virgin Media Player.

See the full interview with Toby below.