Love Island: All Stars winner Tom Clare enjoyed a secret fling with Made In Chelsea favourite Ruby Adler and the couple were ‘exchanging heartfelt messages just hours before he entered the villa.’

Tom, 24, started dating Ruby, 28, after messaging her on Instagram and they grew close in the weeks preceding his time on the ITV2 show, before he met new girlfriend Molly Smith, 29.

A source close to Ruby told MailOnline she was ‘perplexed’ by his decision to go back into the Love Island villa and leaving for the All Stars series in South Africa ‘threw a spanner in the works’ – and now she will never know what could have been.

The reality stars had grown so close that Tom was said to be messaging Ruby just moments before he had his phone confiscated by TV producers ahead of his entrance on the show, which he eventually won.

Since scooping the £50,000 prize, the footballer’s romance with Molly is still going strong, whereas he and Ruby have completely cut contact.

Love Island: All Stars winner Tom Clare enjoyed a fling with Made In Chelsea favourite Ruby Adler and the couple were ‘exchanging heartfelt messages hours before he entered the villa’

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Tom started dating Ruby after messaging her on Instagram and they grew close in the weeks preceding his time on the ITV2 show, before he met new girlfriend Molly Smith

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View gallerySince scooping the £50,000 prize, the footballer’s romance with Molly is still going strong, whereas he and Ruby have completely cut contactA source told MailOnline: ‘Tom and Ruby were seeing each other for several weeks before he went on Love Island: All Stars.

‘After Tom slid into her DMs, they met up in person and started dating, with Ruby often staying over at Tom’s place.

‘He took the opportunity to go back onto Love Island for the All Stars series, which massively threw a spanner in the works, and left Ruby completely perplexed.

‘Before he entered the villa, he messaged her a heartfelt goodbye and explained he was having his phone taken away by producers, and then he met Molly… it definitely wasn’t easy for Ruby to watch all of the events of the show unfold.’

Tom met Molly during the first Love Island: All Stars season, which aired throughout January and February, and they won the title.

They coupled up after Molly closed the door on her past relationship with co-star Callum Jones, who joined her in the villa, but pursued a romance with Georgia Steel and later Jess Gale instead.

Viewers hoped to see Molly and Callum reconnect on the show but instead the exes, who met on winter Love Island in 2020, decided to remain separated.

Meanwhile, Ruby has been publicly single since her split from convicted drug dealer Nicholas Sinclair, who is now dating OnlyFans model Jemma Lucy.

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Ruby has been publicly single since her split from convicted drug dealer Nicholas Sinclair, who is now dating OnlyFans model Jemma Lucy

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Prior to her romance with Nicholas, Ruby was in a relationship for a decade with her Reza Amiri-Garroussi, with the pair kissing again during Made In Chelsea’s series in Sydney

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View galleryViewers hoped to see Molly and Callum reconnect on the show but instead the exes, who met on winter Love Island in 2020, decided to remain separated

Ruby broke down on Made In Chelsea as she spoke about the end of her relationship with co-star Olivia Bentley, explaining they had ‘built a home together’, making their separation all the more difficult to comprehend.

Prior to her romance with Nicholas, Ruby was in a relationship for a decade with her co-star Reza Amiri-Garroussi, with the pair kissing again during Made In Chelsea’s most recent series filmed in Sydney, Australia.

After winning Love Island in February, Molly and Tom discussed their time on the show with podcast hosts, Made In Chelsea stars, Sophie Habboo and Melissa Tattam.

In their podcast, Wednesdays, Melissa explained: ‘Ruby was round mine, we were having coffee in the morning, this is like five days after we had the gorgeous Molly and Tom on from Love Island and I was gushing over how gorgeous and in love they were and she was like ‘Oh my God, Tom Clare… I was talking to him for a bit last year…

‘Anyway, she said that he slid into her DMs, this is all right before he went on Love Island and he was talking to her for a bit and they were out in Bluebird, Ruby and her friend, and they were still talking and he said ‘Do you want to meet up or something?’ And she said ‘I’m in Bluebird right now, do you want to join us?’ And he joined them for a drink and there’s a photo of them together…’