.jpg?resize=720%2C405)
Kita & Sam
Right from the start, it was obvious Kita Bunton and Sam Casey stood out as a strong potential couple. Sam’s cool demeanor matched Kita’s confidence instantly, leaving viewers with no doubt he was a likely contender.
“There was no competition,” laughs Kita, 22. “The rest of the boys were so awkward. It was hard to have a conversation with them, but I tried my best!”
Since the TVNZ+ show ended, Kita’s been flying up from Christchurch to stay with Sam, 23, in Auckland and she plans to move up permanently in the very near future.
“We’ll see if she can hack it in the Big Smoke,” Sam grins. “Then we’ll take it from there. You never want to plan too far into the future because you never know what’s around the corner – in a good way!”
Kita screws up her nose in response. “He’s keeping his options open,” she says, rolling her eyes.
She admits she wasn’t shocked that Sam came on the show as an FBoy.
“He looked like an FBoy, but he treated me very well. In the back of my mind, I thought, ‘Maybe he could be a Nice Guy. Maybe it could be a plot twist.'”
“I am a nice guy!” Sam protests. “When I came on the show, I just hadn’t met anyone yet. I had been through the whole nice-guy phase and not been treated that well, so I went to the other side of the field. That put me in a position to pick what I wanted, as opposed to getting picked last.”
Despite his label, Kita says she feels lucky to have ended up with what she describes as her “dream man”. Sam even fits the description she laid out for producers in the beginning.
“I wanted someone large and in charge, and I got him!” she says. “He’s 6’4″ [193cm] – he’s my perfect guy. I do feel lucky. We get along so well. I just didn’t think it would happen and yet here we are.”
In fact, Kita is so confident their relationship will last, she’s booked him on her family cruise to Fiji next year.
“His name is on the room already!” says Kita. Sam, in true Sam style, plays it cool.
“I checked my schedule and saw I could make it, so I said I’d go.” Which earns another eye roll from Kita!
Coco & Zac
There’s no denying Coco Song and FBoy Zac Prince are each other’s type. Especially given Zac slid into Coco’s DMs a year before they met in person on FBoy Island.
“He had that edge over everyone from the start,” says Coco, 23.
“We matched on Tinder and were meant to meet up, but then COVID happened and we just never spoke again after that,” explains Zac, 26.
“We finally got that first date through Island!” laughs Coco.
And it was lucky they didn’t connect any earlier, says Zac.
“If we ended up meeting on the outside, we would have had a one-night stand and never talked again, so I’m glad we did meet like this. We were forced to get to know each other.”
Dubbed the “FGirl” of FBoy Island by her fellow female contestants, Coco knew she probably wouldn’t end up with a Nice Guy.
“We would have had a one-night stand,” says Zac.
“It’s crazy how alike Zac and I are,” gushes Coco. “We just fit so perfectly.”
Coco and Zac admit they’re both risk-takers with a zest for adventure. And they’re also hard-working business owners – Coco runs a marketing company and Zac owns Netting Solutions, which specialises in workplace safety nets. They work so hard, in fact, they have to plan time out to spend together. But both understand the pressures of running a business.
“That’s the crazy thing,” says Coco. “We live 20 minutes apart, but we don’t see each other all that much because we’re both so busy.”
Weekly rendezvous have been keeping the relationship going, as well as a few trips to the beach.
“We’ve been having these secret little home dates while the show airs,” reveals Coco.
“Sometimes Coco cooks, sometimes I cook,” agrees Zac.
“We do little trips to Muriwai. We went away to Mangawhai together as well.”
Their shared passion for travel has them planning holidays that they hope to take once Zac gets his business sorted.
“Before that, we’ll definitely do a couple of smaller trips to Melbourne and down to the South Island,” says Zac.
Kiera & Will
On paper, Kiera McLeod, the tradie from down south, and Will Inwood-Reardon, the deep-thinking Auckland actor, make an unlikely couple. But it’s plain to see they complement each other perfectly.
“I just love how comfortable he is in himself,” says Kiera. “And I’ve always felt really comfortable around him.”
With Kiera, 22, in Wānaka and Will, 23, in Auckland, the pair have found it difficult to meet up much, although Kiera has her bags packed and she’s ready to move up to the big city to explore their relationship further.
“We’ve got this amazing connection and it’s survived the test of long distance,” says Will. “It’s still amazing and when we see each other, everything gets amplified.”
However, both are level-headed enough to wait and see how things pan out once Kiera makes the move to Auckland.
“I’m a slow burner and it takes me time to be able to trust someone,” explains Kiera. “I want to work someone out fully before I jump into anything.”
Will agrees somewhat poetically. “We’re like, ‘Let’s just put this flag in the ground and see which way the wind blows.’ We just want to build the blocks when we’re in the same place, so we’re just really excited to be close to each other and get the ball rolling.”
Kiera plans to move into a flat in Auckland with fellow contestant Coco. They had found a place together and were set to move in the week before the final episodes aired, but it fell through at
the last minute. And so the search continues.
“I offered my couch, but she didn’t take it,” Will says jokingly.
Kiera’s hesitation to jump into anything serious isn’t surprising. She says she spent the past few weeks getting bombarded with messages from concerned fans of the show, warning her about Will.
“The amount of messages was insane,” tells Kiera. “People saying, ‘Get rid of him – he is definitely an FBoy!'”
So was he hamming it up purposely?
Kiera could see past Will’s FBoy pretense.
“Everyone knows girls like the FBoys,” he smiles. “They like the badass. It’s a lot easier to cut off the niceties a bit to try to keep people on their toes.”
It seems his reverse FBoy tactic worked out for both of them.
“I am absolutely not disappointed that he’s a nice guy,” she laughs. “I’ve done my fair share of FBoys and that is not what I was looking for.”
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
