Love Island stars offer advice to this year’s crop of contestants

Former Love Island contestants have offered advice to the new batch of islanders ahead of the series starting again this month.

The popular ITV2 reality show, which sees young, single people couple up in a villa in the hopes of finding true love, returns on June 28 at 9pm.

Laura Anderson, who was part of the 2018 crop of contestants, told ITV’s This Morning: “I think people just need to be kind to each other.

“You know, you go through a lot of emotions in there and having sort of a shoulder to cry on, it honestly just means the world because you don’t have your usual support network.

“And just have fun, it’s like a once in a lifetime opportunity. They’ll be great. I can’t wait to watch it.”

Marcel Somerville, who first found fame as a member of music group Blazin’ Squad and appeared on the show in 2017, said joining the cast was “a turning point in my life”.

He said: “I hadn’t been in the Blazin’ Squad for a little while, it rejuvenated my whole life.

“Literally before I went on the show, the company I was working for I was getting made redundant (from), I was like ‘what am I going to do?’

“And then Love Island came calling, I was like, ‘give it a go’ and after the show it was just a new chapter and it was just the best chapter.”

He also addressed the pressure to be in peak physical condition on the show, saying; “Before I went on the show I was literally in the gym twice a day, making sure that I had a six pack just because I was thinking to myself, ‘Everyone’s going to have six packs. I need to have a six pack, I need to have the shoulders ready to go’.

“But I feel like afterwards I kind of relaxed a little bit, I’ve got a dad bod going on now.

“But beforehand, it was a lot of pressure on me to be like, ‘I need to make sure I’m looking the part’.”