The TV show ‘Love Island is one of the most popular in the UK. The last 8 seasons have provided a platform for contestants to kickstart their influencing careers. TV and radio host Will Njobvu brought out his brand new documentary ‘Life After Love Island’ to speak to previous contestants about what it’s really like when they come out of the villa.
We all know that the point of Love Island is supposed to be that people spend eight weeks in a villa in the hope of finding the love of their life. If you manage to couple up with someone and make it to the final you win a prize of £50,000 which you can either split or steal. As the show has grown and developed such a huge platform, it has become clearer with every new season that love is not the main objective. Instead, it’s become about being able to secure a brand deal at the end.
The documentary revealed that of the 259 love island participants across 8 seasons, only 28 had managed to secure a brand deal. 65 of them appeared in other tv shows after Love Island and 27 had started an Only Fans account. In total, 130 of the participants returned to their old jobs after the show.
Will Njobvu spoke to some of the contestants about their experience of life after the show, including Coco Lodge (best known for the iconic ‘he licked my tit’ line), Ikenna Ekwonna (season 8), and winners of the winter love island, Paige Turley and Finley Tapp.
Coco revealed that 6 weeks after the show finished she returned to her old job as a shot girl. While she did have a few small brand deals, the money she made from them and the show took time to come in. When speaking to Will about her experience on the show she admitted that she did not go on the show to find love.
‘You don’t go in there to find love. It’s a bonus if you do.’
Coco Lodge on ‘Life After Love Island’
The reality of coming out of the show for contestant Ikenna was also not half as glamorous as his Instagram might seem. He told Will that he was sofa surfing in London in the hopes of finding an Agent. Now, he earns half of what his salary would have been if he had taken a job in pharmaceuticals.
It turns out life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows at the top either. Winners Paige Turley and Finely Tapp have been doing really well after the show. Paige has even managed to break into the music industry. However, she opened up about suffering from anxiety after the show saying: ‘I was very strong-minded before the show but afterward, there are so many opinions around about you.’
This is not the first time we’ve heard of islanders’ mental health declining after the show. Three people involved in the show have committed suicide.
There are some contestants who have become successful after the show. The dream of walking out of the villa and being handed a six-figure brand deal with Oh Polly can happen. But only for the very few. It seems the documentary revealed that for most life goes back to normal very quickly. Even those at the top realize that the glamour of the influencer lifestyle has its pitfalls. Ultimately, it is still unclear if reality TV is worth the hassle when so few actually manage to make something of it.
The documentary is available to watch now on Channel 4.
