‘Love Island’ Couple Connor Trott and Mackenzie Dipman Announce Breakup

Love Island Season 2 stars Mackenzie Dipman and Connor Trott announced their breakup in a joint statement they shared on Instagram Saturday. The couple decided to go their separate ways, as they live in different cities and will not be able to move soon. Dipman and Trott did not make it to the final episode of Love Island Season 2, but Trott reached out to Dipman after he was eliminated to see if they could have a relationship outside the Las Vegas setting of the show.

“Some of you have been wondering about us and our relationship, so we want to help you to understand where we are right now,” the couple wrote in a joint statement they shared on their Instagram Stories, reports PEOPLE. “We are both young and in the early stages of our careers, and sadly those careers are keeping us in two different places. One of us is in Pittsburgh and the other is in Tucson, and neither one of us will be able to move anytime in the near future.”

They went on to note they were “having some difficult conversations” about their future in the past few weeks and realized their lives were going in “different directions.” The break-up was “not a decision we took lightly,” they wrote. “We both have so much love for each other and had hopes that we could make this work, but relationships are all about timing, and this is just not our time.” The couple also said they will be “forever grateful” to the show for bringing them together.

“We are unsure of what the future holds for us, but one thing is for certain, we will always have each other,” they continued. “With love always, Connor and Mackenzie.” In the end, they added a fun reference for Love Island fans. “P.S. Connor and Gus have already started planning their next boys’ weekend,” they wrote, referring to Dipman’s teddy bear Gus.

Dipman and Trott got together early on in Love Island Season 2, but Trott was eliminated before Dipman was. After he was eliminated, Trott reached out to Dipman for a second chance via Facetime. He almost did not go through with it but was happy he did, Trott told Entertainment Tonight in September. “I was super nervous, and the ending of it — it was a sad ending to see her go, but I think we had a very good last conversation the last night before she left,” Dpman said at the time. “And I knew we were heading in a right direction but I was still super nervous to make that phone call and I didn’t know if she was gonna pick up. But no, she did seem super happy and excited to see that it was from me. And it made me super happy and it kind of validated how I felt.”

The Love Island franchise started in the U.K. and finally came to the U.S. in July 2019. The first season was set in Fiji, but the second was moved to The Cromwell Las Vegas due to coronavirus travel restrictions. CBS renewed the show for a third season, which will film in Hawaii.