Love Island: Doncaster's Molly Marsh warned: "Don't say 'I love you' too quickly

Molly, 21, has been partnered with Sheffield’s Mitchel in the ITV dating show and has already revealed that she 'falls quickly' for guys.

But a relationship expert has advised Molly to take it slowly and not to rule out other contestants.

Speaking on behalf of Spin Genie, Love Island podcast star Annabelle Knight said past islanders often 'fall in love with the idea of someone' and this year's cast needs to be wary of that by giving a few people a chance at a time.

She said contestants often fast track their romantic journeys in the villa, which results in ‘falling in love with the idea of a person’ rather than who they actually are.

Annabelle adds that you are likely to be more successful as a couple on the outside if you ‘don’t rush’, are ‘slow and steady’ and are a bit more ‘reserved’. She also points out the mistake islanders are making by joining the show after a nasty break up, revealing that doing so can easily lead to sabotaging themselves from finding a real ‘emotional connection’.

She said: “We largely say that there are three stages to falling in love.

"It starts with lust, and there is a stage people rarely talk about, which is limerence - it gives way to love.

"Limerence is intense attraction, and quite often, people will exchange their ‘I love yous’ in that limerence window because it’s so easily confused.

"You experience tonnes of feel-good chemicals, heightened oxytocin and serotonin.

"And those three stages do take some time to go through.

"But if you try and go through them quite quickly, you’re building your house of love on a bad foundation.

"Fast-tracking through the stages isn’t the kiss of death, but it does mean you’re starting your romantic journey on the back foot - because you end up falling in love with the idea of that person rather than who that person actually is. These heavy emotions can easily cloud your judgement, especially in the villa.”

“Islanders need to be cautious of falling in love too quickly.

“I would probably say it is something to be cautious of because there is a real possibility that you’re trying to distract yourself rather than healing and taking care of your emotions.

"It’s about knowing yourself and your behaviours - and being able to self-analyse by saying, ‘Maybe I’m not into this as much as I should be at this stage.’

" It might be that someone is in this romantic situation with someone to foster some feelings that are in the romantic sense, which aren’t at their full potential.”

“Love Island stars ‘ignore red flags’ and fall quicker than others due to feeling ‘confident’ and ‘date-ready 24/7.

“They can ignore red flags as they haven’t got their sounding boards - friends and family aren’t there for advice, and you can’t see how that person fits into your world.

"The villa is geared up to be romantic, sexy and a bit of a dream.

"You’re seeing a lot of skin, there’s a gym there, everyone looks good and feels great about themselves, and everyone feels they’re date-ready 24/7.

"This gives everyone a massive confidence boost and the more confident you are, you’re likely to feel like you are falling in love with someone.”

“You should be exploring your options and going on dates with a few people at the same time.

“We have this idea of Love Island where we want to see people cross the finish line with who they started their journey.

"When people split up or choose to get to know someone else, we have an immediate natural reaction where we say, ‘Well that’s not going to work.’

"But quite often, it does work out because they have been exploring their options and we’ve seen these two people spend time together before being matched.

"I don’t think getting to know a few people is a bad thing, because you’re not limiting yourself that way.

"The only thing I don’t think is wise is when one person is presenting themselves one way to their partner, and a completely different way to others when their partner isn’t there. As long as honesty is at the forefront of their actions, then they can’t really go wrong.”

“Love Island couples are ‘more successful’ if they are ‘slow and steady’ and ‘don’t rush the ‘I love yous.”

“You’re not seeing that person in their entirety.

"I do think it’s possible for islanders to fall in love with the villa.

"And the ones who don’t exchange their ‘I love yous’ early doors do much better when they’re out of the villa. It’s best to not rush into anything.

"They’re a little more reserved around each other, and that can be a good thing.

"Slow and steady definitely wins the race.

"If you let that spark turn into a raging fire too quickly, it can quickly burn out and then you’re left with not a lot.

"There are also a lot of things you can miss when you’re in that environment, like your red flags.

"Unless you’re in a situation where you can see how that person would react, you don’t know how they’re going to be. It is really difficult to judge and know that person.

"There’s a lot of pressure on them - they’re having to be vulnerable with someone as well as juggle friendships in the villa too. It’s a lot to emotionally deal with in such a short space of time.”

“Love Island stars fresh out of a breakup ‘sabotage themselves of moving on as an emotional connection can’t be made.

“Everyone is on a different journey and they’ve all had different experiences with love.

"Those who are a bit more guarded with their feelings have probably had their fingers burnt before and it takes a long time to get over someone.

"People have applied for the show because they’ve had a bad breakup or have just broken up with someone.

"They’ve wanted to get out of their comfort zone and give it a go, which can seem to be a cathartic thing to do when you’re newly single.

"And if they manage to get onto the show soon after their break up, they don’t get to heal from that heartbreak.

"Instead of taking time to heal, they’re sidestepping it and sabotaging themselves.

"They have all this positive anticipation about getting into the villa and what that means for them. It’s only when things start to slow down a bit that they go through that grieving process - and that can severely get in the way of a real, meaningful connection being made.”