Love Island: recap of episode three as Jake says goodbye while Chris cracks on with Molly

Love Island fans watched last night as Jake finally broke the news to his fellow islanders that he would be leaving the villa, days after news broke that he had quit the show.

The series seven contestant had decided to leave the South African villa only days after the beginning of the series and after he was coupled up via public vote with his former flame from the show, Liberty. Fans were eager to see the reunion of the pair after they were both announced as day one contestants in the first ever All Stars series of the ITV dating show.

However, it was all too much for Jake, who told the islander in scenes shown in Wednesday night's (January 17) episode that he took the decision to remove himself from the villa after realising that "now isn't the right time for me to find love".

Both he and Liberty, who had a rocky end to their relationship in series seven, hashed out their feelings after being put into a pairing on day one and have been on good terms since. But for Jake, a friendship was not enough to keep hi in the villa.

After gathering his fellow islanders around the fire-pit, he said: “I was here to find love and there is no one here that I have that connection with. I just want to let you all know I am going tonight.”

While the other islanders were shocked, they rushed to support Jake. Georgia H told him: "We support you and we love you!"

Jake replied:  “I love you all. That means you’ve all got to have fun and find love, just because I haven’t, doesn’t mean you lot can’t.”

Later in a beach hut confessional, Liberty admitted that she could feel that he "wasn't himself" and added that his decision to step back was such a testament to his character". Speaking directly to him after his announcement, Liberty added: “I know what happened happened three years ago but you’ve honestly matured so much and I just wanted you to have a good chance of finding love as well.”

Jake replied: “You’ve definitely matured as well in a couple of years and I can’t just fake things for the sake of just being here, I just can’t do it. So I thought, the best thing for me to do is take myself out of the situation. I’ve had a wicked time. I hope you find someone here.”

Elsewhere in episode three, Chris caused waves by cracking on with Molly, after she coupled up with her ex of three years, Callum, on Tuesday's episode. Molly was chosen by Callum to couple up with after the pair made a shocking return to the show only months after their break-up.

However, it seems that Molly might actually be over him, after getting to know some of the boys in villa, including Chris. Callum looked less than impressed watching on as Chris grew closer to Molly throughout the day, giving her a massage on one of the day beds.

Callum also tried to compliment Molly on her appearance, but the move backfired somewhat, with Molly retorting: “This is the most compliments I’ve ever had by the way. It’s took three-and-a-half years of me saying I just need a few little words of affirmation… you’ve been practising for the last six months on some random girls.”

In scenes later in the show, Chris pulled Molly aside for a chat in the snug and pulled out his best moves on her. He jokingly told her that if you stare into someone's eyes for two minutes, you fall in love with them, saying:  “Well for women, it’s over two minutes. For men it’s actually 8.2 seconds…I’ll be there a lot sooner than you will be, but I think we should try it.”

Molly flirted with Chris, asking if he would want to fall in love with her, to which he replied: “We can try, it’s an experiment…” before kissing her.

At the end of the episode, we found out that a new bombshell All Star would be entering the island. You will need to tune into Thursday's episode at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX to see as series one contestant Joshua Richie re-enters the villa.