{"id":529595,"date":"2026-07-02T15:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/529595\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T15:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:39:08","slug":"irish-step-up-on-love-island-as-influencer-charleen-murphy-makes-it-to-the-villa-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/529595\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish step up on Love Island as influencer Charleen Murphy makes it to the villa \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Irish social media<\/a> influencer Charleen Murphy has successfully survived Casa Amor and progressed to the main Love Island<\/a> villa.<\/p>\n

Speculation had been rife that the 27-year-old content creator and podcaster from Dublin would be a participant in this year\u2019s reality show.<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s arrival as one of six Casa Amor bombshells in last Sunday night\u2019s episode sparked speculation that she would forge a liaison with Galway footballer Se\u00e1n \u2018Fitzy\u2019 Fitzgerald<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Murphy hit it off with contestant Kavan Murphy (21), an electrician from Kent, who brought her back to the main villa during Wednesday night\u2019s tense recoupling episode.<\/p>\n

During the Casa Amor challenge, existing couples on the reality dating show are separated into different houses and given the chance to pair up with new contestants, or bombshells.<\/p>\n

The Dubliner\u2019s dramatic arrival in the main villa drew a shocked reaction from Kavan\u2019s previous partner, Jasmine Muller (27), who had remained single.<\/p>\n

Murphy is one of Ireland\u2019s top beauty, fashion and lifestyle influencers, with almost half a million followers on both TikTok<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>. She has also hosted the Hold My Drink podcast with fellow influencer Ellie Kelly.<\/p>\n

Kelly told Ireland AM earlier this week that, despite long-running speculation on social media since the start of this year\u2019s Love Island that she would be added to the programme\u2019s cast, Murphy had only received the call to join Casa Amor the previous Tuesday. Rumours that her arrival on the show was imminent increased after she was spotted on a flight to Mallorca, where the show is filmed, last week.<\/p>\n

\"MarthaMartha Rothwell and Charleen Murphy on Love Island. Photograph: ITV\/Lifted Entertainment <\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s appearance on the show, a staple of the ITV summer season shown in Ireland on Virgin Media, is likely to increase her following in the UK and also in the US, where Love Island iterations are becoming increasingly popular.<\/p>\n

Murphy was previously in a relationship with Shamrock Rovers footballer Dano Mandroiu , and before entering Casa Amor said she had her eye on contestants Kavan, Aidan, Lorenzo and the aforementioned Fitzy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone owes it to themselves to see different connections, and if something isn\u2019t working maybe it\u2019s time to move on to the next or explore something,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m naturally a flirty person, I\u2019ve got a good heart and good energy. I think if you go in with too much of a strategy, it\u2019s like you\u2019re forcing it and not being yourself. I\u2019m going to be myself and go with what my heart says and follow my gut. I\u2019ll talk to everyone, give everyone a chance, even people I might not necessarily have my eye on, because people could surprise you so you never know! I\u2019ll be bringing the Irish charm.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November 2023, a man was sentenced to 18 months<\/a> in prison for an \u201cunprovoked and unwarranted attack\u201d on Murphy while she was socialising in a hotel in Dublin city centre.<\/p>\n

In a victim impact report given at the man\u2019s sentencing for assault causing harm, Murphy said she had suffered nightmares and panic attacks after the incident.<\/p>\n

Murphy is the third Irish contestant to feature in this year\u2019s Love Island. <\/p>\n

Twenty-five-year-old Fitzy, a primary schoolteacher, stepped away from the Galway senior football panel to take part in the show, and is in an exclusive couple with police detective Lola Deal (25) from Kent. The couple are among the early favourites to win this year\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

Victoria Onanusi (25), a part-time model originally from Kildare and now living in Manchester, had a short-lived stint as a bombshell earlier in the season that ended after five days.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Million Dollar Nannies love to party. They\u2019re more Mary Poppers than Mary PoppinsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish social media influencer Charleen Murphy has successfully survived Casa Amor and progressed to the main Love Island…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[615,93,61,542,60,1397,58,6116],"class_list":["post-529595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-dublin","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-instagram","tag-ireland","tag-love-island","tag-social-media","tag-tiktok"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}