Let's be real for a second. If you didn't watch the first season of Love Island back in 2015, you missed out on the absolute Wild West of reality TV. There were no brand deals waiting at the finish line. Nobody was thinking about their Instagram aesthetic. It was just a bunch of people in a villa in Mallorca, smoking like chimneys and having actual, unfiltered meltdowns. At the center of that beautiful chaos were Max Morley and Jess Hayes.
They won. They took the £50,000. And then, almost as fast as they’d arrived, they crashed and burned.
The Messy Road to the Final
Most people forget just how much Jess Hayes went through in that villa. She was the ultimate underdog. Early on, she was "pied off" by Josh Ritchie for Naomi Ball. Then, in a move that felt like a scripted soap opera, Naomi went after Max Morley too, even though he was coupled up with Jess.
It was brutal to watch. Max actually dumped Jess for Naomi during the show, only to crawl back when Naomi got voted out.
Honestly, the only reason they won is that the British public felt for Jess. She’d been through the ringer, sl*t-shamed by other contestants, and basically treated like a second choice for weeks. When she and Max finally stood there with the prize money, it felt like a win for every girl who’d ever been ghosted. But even as the confetti fell, the cracks were already showing.
Six Weeks of "Bliss"
How long did they actually last? Not long. About six weeks, give or take a few days for travel.
By August 2015, the "JAX" era was officially over. They didn't even make it to the autumn. Max posted a tweet saying they gave it their "best shot," while Jess was a bit more blunt, saying some things just aren't meant to be.
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The reality is that they lived at opposite ends of the country. Max was in Yorkshire, and Jess was down south. In the pre-TikTok era of 2015, maintaining a long-distance relationship fueled by "club appearances" and paparazzi shots was basically impossible.
What happened after the split?
If you think the drama ended with the breakup, you're wrong. It actually got weirder.
Shortly after they split, Max was spotted out with Naomi Ball—yes, the same Naomi from the villa. It was a massive slap in the face to Jess fans. Max then went on a bit of a reality TV tour, appearing on Ex on the Beach and dating a string of other famous faces, including Charlotte Crosby and other Love Island alum like Zara Holland and Laura Anderson.
Jess, on the other hand, stayed in the spotlight but in a different way. She’s been very vocal about how much she regretted sharing that prize money. In a 2022 appearance on Love Island: Aftersun, she admitted she 100% would have taken the full £50,000 for herself if she could go back. You can't really blame her, can you?
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Where are they now in 2026?
It’s been over a decade since that first season aired. The lives they lead now couldn't be more different from the "glamour model and cricketer" personas they had in the villa.
- Jess Hayes: She’s a mum of two now. She had her son, Presley, in 2019 with her former partner Dan Lawry. More recently, she welcomed a daughter named Zendaya in 2024 with her then-fiancé Zeb. However, in early 2025, she confirmed that she and Zeb had split up, and she was starting over as a single mum. She’s built a massive following as an influencer, focusing on motherhood and real-life struggles rather than just "villa glam."
- Max Morley: Max has mostly stepped away from the cameras. He became a father himself in late 2021 to a son named Brooklyn. He keeps his private life pretty locked down these days, rarely posting on social media compared to his islander peers. He’s ditched the reality TV circuit for a quieter life, though he still occasionally pops up in "where are they now" articles.
The Love Island Legacy
Max and Jess were the blueprint. They proved that you didn't have to be the "perfect" couple like Hannah and Jon (who actually got engaged on the show and still broke up) to win. You just had to be relatable.
The biggest takeaway from the Max and Jess saga isn't about their "love" at all. It’s about the shift in how we view reality contestants. Back then, they were raw and messy. Today, contestants are terrified of saying the wrong thing. Max and Jess said everything wrong, and that’s exactly why we still talk about them ten years later.
If you’re looking to keep up with the OGs, your best bet is following Jess on Instagram, where she’s surprisingly transparent about the highs and lows of post-fame life. Max is a tougher one to track down, as he seems to have traded the limelight for fatherhood and a regular 9-to-5 life away from the paparazzi.
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To see how the show has evolved since their win, you can compare the Season 1 "share or steal" results with later seasons to see if anyone else has ever truly considered taking the money and running. Spoiler: they rarely do, but Jess Hayes definitely paved the way for that "what if" conversation.