“I would describe my journey as an absolute roller-coaster with extreme highs and extremely low lows.“
Describing her experience on “Love Island SA“ as a rollercoast is an understatement because everything Summer da Cruz went through was overwhelming – even as an viewer.
From the highs and lows of her relationship with Kaige Bertasso, to the Barbie and Ken situationship with Chris Mouton and her vibing with Josh Mimbulu- it’s been a lot.
Given her mammoth journey with, Summer found her dumping during the dramatic two-part episode dumping “inevitable”.
Da Cruz, 21, hails from Joburg and was among the five Islanders who left the villa.
“Being dumped is inevitable and honestly I had been given so many chances.
“No one is ever happy about being dumped but I think Tania definitely deserved to be there over me as she was building a connection with Tats.
“I’m content and what was meant to be will be.”
Da Cruz said that life in Love Island SA villa was completely different to what she was expecting.
“I honestly think it was magical that 16 completely different personalities can get along in such a short space of time.
“Love island is definitely not for the faint hearted – each connection was 100 percent real from my point.”
When it came to the Kaige of it all, Summer said that in retrospect she would’ve, “definitely communicated my feelings better in the start”, but going forward she will take it as a learning curve and a growing point.
“Kaige and I were up and down from the get-go.
“There was a lot that the public didn’t see about our relationship.
“We definitely had strong connections but there was a huge lack of communication from both our sides.
“There was a lot of his behaviour that gave me my reservations and I don’t think he fully processed that I had never been in any form of relationship prior.
“It was difficult to see him go as what the public didn’t see was that we finally came onto good terms before his departure.”
Once Chris entered the picture, it all got a even more complicated for Da Cruz.
“Chris and I weren’t sure about each other's feelings due to our constant flirty banter when we finally decided to open up. We just realised we were on completely different wavelengths.
“Barbie and Ken were besties for the resties and nothing further.”
When talking about the connection that was developing between Da Cruz and Josh Mimbulu, he had said that: “When it comes to Summer, you need to remember that we only see 50 minutes of a whole 24 hours, and Summer and I naturally gravitated towards each other around the villa and I got to see the person she was which opened the door for us wanting to give it a go.”
Da Cruz agreed and felt that there was an actual connection.
“Once Josh got dumped, I saw no real reason for me to stay.
“I felt like maybe we took it too slow however now that we are both in the outside world we can work on this at our own pace and start with basics such as a formal date before we sleep in the same bed together.”
When all is said done, Summer said that she wasn’t in “Love Island SA” just for the summer romance and while it didn’t work out as expected, she had grown from the experience.
“I think I grew so much as a person and I couldn’t have asked for a better journey.
“As much as there were extreme lows I definitely learnt so much about myself as a person and about relationships.
“’Love Island SA’ is about finding love and I found buckets full and unconditional love in the villa.”
Follow Summer on Instagram @summer.dacruz
“Love Island SA” airs Monday to Friday and unseen bits on Sundays at 9.30pm on M-Net (DStv channel 101).