Tyrique Hyde and Ella Thomas, who have been a couple since the beginning, came in third place, while original islander Molly Marsh and Zachariah Noble came in fourth.
The winning couple’s journey began when Root entered the villa on day four as a “bombshell” and caught Harding’s eye, but the pair were in for a few ups and downs before officially becoming boyfriend and girlfriend.
When the pair read out their “declarations of love” to each other during the finale, Root revealed he knew Harding was “the one” when she came back alone from Casa Amor - a separate villa where the islanders have the chance to get to know intruders.
“When I saw you walking towards the fire pit on your own after Casa, I instantly knew that you were all that I wanted – my wandering eye turned into my eye for Jess,” he said.
Moments before the winners were announced, Harding told Jama, “I feel like the road I have been on is so unexpected, but we’re here now.”
Root was shocked by the win, telling the show’s host he thought he would have been dumped from the show in week one.
And viewers shared his surprise, with many of them taking to social media in shock at the result.
“WHAT!!! This show is rigged because there’s no way Sammy and Jess actually won over Whitney and Lochan. What kind of bad joke is this?!!” one commented on Twitter.
Others noted the couple had consistently been voted as the least favourite and least compatible couple several times. “Whitney and Lochan have been voted by the public AS THE FAVOURITE COUPLE. And they’ve never been bottom,” one pointed out.
“Maya, I think that was a slip of [the] tongue? What the hell is Jess and Sammy?” another joked.
“Sammy and Jess winners ... they were never even in the competition, it was always Whitney and Lochan or Ty and Ella,” another viewer wrote.
Love Island’s latest season began on Monday, June 5 in the UK and premiered on TVNZ+ in New Zealand on June 7, with Maya Jama returning to her hosting duties after making her debut for the winter season earlier this year.
The show was a ratings hit with Kiwi viewers on the platform, beating fan favourites Shortland Street and MasterChef Australia in its first week and delivering one of the broadcaster’s biggest audience weeks ever.
At the end of the finale, Jama announced that the series will return and applications for the next season are already open.
The 10th season of Love Island is available to stream on TVNZ+.
