Love Island's Davide Sanclimenti was one of the breakout stars of this year's series. The self-proclaimed "Italian stallion" delighted Love Island 2022 viewers with his sassy humor and on-off romance with Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, with whom he won this year's show. But since leaving the villa, victorious—what is Davide up to now? Allow us to fill you in on everything, from his new BoohooMAN collection to updates on his romance with Ekin-Su.
For those in need of a little recap, Davide entered the villa as a bombshell and at first coupled up with Gemma Owen only for Ekin-Su to enter and sweep him off his feet. The ups and downs of their relationship—nicknamed 'Ekin-De’—spawned some of the best Love Island memes of the series, including: “you’re a liar, an actress.”
Despite some rumors about the pairing, which Ekin-Su has now responded to, they seem to be going from strength to strength. From moving-in plans to a joint TV show, and if our manifesting is working—a cooking show—here's everything that Davide has been up to post-Love Island...
What is Davide Sanclimenti doing now?
The Love Island season eight winner has been rather busy since returning to the UK from Mallorca (where Love Island UK is filmed). Not only has the heartthrob announced that he and Ekin-Su will be starring in their own ITV2 road trip show, but he's also been announced as the newest face to join BoohooMan, with his own collection now live to shop!
He initially broke the news with an Instagram video taken in NYC and wrote: "So happy to announce I’m the newest member of the @boohooMANofficial family! What a surprise to see myself on a billboard in Times Square! I'm feeling so grateful. Thank you all for the amazing support, I couldn’t have done this without you ♥️ This is just the beginning! Watch this space."
Davide and Ekin-Su also made the most of their time in the Big Apple, with the pair enjoying date nights and sharing adorable selfies. Fans may also see the pair share some exciting relationship news soon too, as the pair have revealed that living together is next on their list!
His collection is now live, which he celebrated with a number of his Love Island co-stars, including Dami Hope, Jacques O-Neil and of course his girlfriend Ekin-Su—who also just launched a collection with Oh Polly.
He announced his clothing drop on Instagram, with a sneak peek of himself modeling some of the items and wrote: "I am so excited to announce that my @boohoomanofficial collection is officially live! We flew out to New York to shoot the range in Little Italy and I love how the shoot turned out 🔥
"The collection reflects my personal style and I hope you all love it as much as I do! A huge thank you to all my followers and fans, none of this would be possible without you all 🙌🏼 All my love, The Italian Stallion 🇮🇹🐎"
What was Davide's job before Love Island?
Before going on the reality dating show, Davide was a business owner, based in Manchester. He founded the company S Deluxe Shisha after quitting his job as a financial worker, according to Metro.co.uk. He also has a master’s degree in finance and banking, so he's a whizz when it comes to numbers!
As the name suggests, Davide's company provides Shisha to a wide range of hospitality venues. They provide 'luxury electronic' shisha equipment along with a wide range of flavored e-liquids.
Where is Davide from in Italy?
Davide currently lives in Manchester but is originally from Rome in Italy. His family lives in Frosinone, as he told Ekin-Su on their date, which is certain to make a nice holiday for the couple now they have left the villa.
The 'meet the parents' episode saw Davide's mum and sister visit the villa to reunite with him and meet Ekin-Su for the first time. It was an adorable exchange where Davide played translator between Ekin-Su and his mum who spoke only in Italian.
How old is Davide?
Davide is 27, which made him the third oldest guy in the villa this year, behind Jay Younger and Charlie Radnedge, who are both 28.
His age was a source of controversy at the beginning of the series after he coupled up with Gemma Owen, who is 19. The pair only lasted for about a week though, with Gemma recoupling with Luca Bish, 23 and Ekin-Su, 27, entering the villa and turning Davide's head.
Davide on Love Island's journey recap:
Gemma & Davide Love Island relationship
After being initially partnered with Liam Llewellyn, Gemma was chosen in the recoupling by Davide after he entered the villa as the first bombshell.
The pair caused a bit of backlash over their age gap (of eight years) but were not a couple for long, after Luca struck up a connection with her.
Davide & Ekin-Su Love Island relationship
Swiftly after Luca and Gemma coupled up, a certain "Turkish delight" entered the villa and immediately set her sights on Davide. The pair began to flirt, with her joining him at the gym and eventually coupling up—until Jay entered the villa.
This love triangle sparked the now infamous 'Liar actress' line from Davide, after he discovered that Ekin-Su had snuck (or should we say crawled) onto the terrace with Jay and shared a smooch.
Their explosive row spelled the end of 'Ekin-De' romantically, with the pair becoming the enemies of the villa as she recoupled with Jay, or so we thought...
Thus began the enemies to lovers arc as Jay turned his attention to Paige, much to the fury of Ekin-Su and delight of Davide—who wasted no time at winding her up over the situation.
Charlie then entered the villa and expressed his interest in Ekin but she shocked everyone, even us viewers, as she chose Davide over both Charlie and Jay in the recoupling.
Slowly the pair began to rekindle their relationship, even going on a wine tasting and grape squishing date.
Then came Casa Amor! Davide was not exactly well-behaved, he snogged both Molly and Coco but chose to stick with Ekin-Su. She also chose to remain with Davide and mostly stayed loyal, minus that weird nighttime moment with George which came back to bit her in the Mad Movies challenge.
The footage was, of course, shown to the islanders which saw Davide reuse his famous line, dubbing her a 'liar' again. Thankfully though they quickly made up and have been going strong ever since.
We then saw the couple become exclusive after Davide popped the question to Ekin-Su over a homemade piece of tiramisu! After that, came the favorites' final date, where they both told each other that they loved one another and spoke about making plans for the future.
And...they emerged victorious at the Love Island final!
Best Davide quotes
Arguably, Davide's most iconic line—aimed at Ekin-Su—was: "You're a liar, actress, get the f*** out."
Davide also delivered the perfect line when Ekin-Su shared a 'Lady And The Tramp' moment with Jay over a plate of spaghetti—to which he said: "Play with Monopoly, not me."
After Casa Amor, Tasha Ghouri also called Andrew Le Page a "liar", to which Davide quipped: "That's my line, Tasha."
Let's also not forget the moment Coco Lodge told him her ex had gone "celibate" and Davide said: "Where's that?"
This very helpful video also pretty much sums up a lot of his best one-liners...
What are fans saying about Davide?
Davide became a firm favorite among fans for his iconic interactions with Ekin-Su. Viewers are also living for the 'ex-husband and wife' vibe they claim they're giving, and to be honest—we're all rooting for them to last long outside the villa!
Here are just a few of the best fan reactions during the series...
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