Taku, the cheeky 24-year-old football-playing barista who quickly developed into a fan favourite, spoke exclusively to the Illawarra Mercury just hours ahead of his final episode on the show, saying he was happy with how things turned out and proud that he remained true to himself throughout filming.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said.

"I'm happy with how things have turned out. The snippets people saw of me, I was being as genuine as I can.

"I'm happy I made it this far. I stayed true to myself."

Meanwhile, Taku, who's from Wollongong in NSW's Illawarra, revealed he and 25-year-old e-commerce support worker Michaela, are planning on giving their fledgling relationship a proper go.

"Me and Michaela are still seeing each other ... we'll keep seeing each other," he said.

"I can't see myself with anyone else at the moment - I'd rather build something with her.

"Without the pressure of being on the show, I think us actually being able to go at our own pace will help us."

Taku said a highlight of his time on the show came during episode four, when he was voted "Australia's favourite islander" by viewers.

At the time, he said "everywhere I go, I've always been the different one. I'm always trying to change myself and please other people. This opportunity has given me the only moment to be myself and I don't have to change anything about myself. It's a nice feeling. I know it's only small, but it means the world to me."

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Taku told the Mercury the moment made him teary.

He said he hoped to capitalise on the groundswell of support he'd received from the public and continue in TV or become an influencer.

"I'd love to find another TV gig, or do influencing," he said.

"I want to keep breaking cultural barriers."

He also expressed an interest in collaborating with brands in the future, saying he'd like to develop his own signature scent - he has his own YouTube fragrance channel - and would love to work with iconic country clothing and boot brand, RM Williams.

"They mainly associate with farmers - I'd like to bring a little bit of street to RMs," he said.

The 'paw-ty' is officially over for Taku after he and partner Michaela were dumped from Love Island Australia just one episode out from the finale.

Taku and Michaela made it to the final six couples in Monday night's episode but faltered at the 'puppy love' test, which saw each Love Island couple given a puppy to look after for - let's be honest - about five minutes.

Still, Michaela revealed she was not a dog fan and left Taku in the lurch to take care of "Luca" single-handedly.

Are you 'fur real' Michaela? Unfortunately so.

But, much like the booze in the contestants' glasses, the show was flowing quickly and our couples soon moved onto another topic - the future.

"We're building the blocks still ... we've got something special," Taku says thoughtfully when pressed about a possible future with Michaela.

Her silence is deafening.

Meanwhile, a mere one ad break later, the two couples viewers have decided have the strongest connections - Tina and Mitch and Jess and Aaron - are given the ultimate power: they must decide which two couples leaves the show.

It's do or die time, Michaela.

And she knocks it out of the park with a heartfelt statement about our Taku: "I do feel us growing stronger and stronger day by day, despite everything that has happened. I know I said I want to take things slow but it feels so right with you, like, yeah, I feel our chemistry really blossoming."

Aww, nice one Mik.

And Taku gives it right back: "Even though our journey hasn't really been the smoothest, I think it definitely had to take us going through some rough and deep waters for us to develop a stronger bond and I feel like it would definitely mean the world to us to stay and actually see this journey through."

They are lovely words, but alas, their judges are not moved and the two couples are unanimous in giving Taku and Michaela the flick.