Thread by @sillyolddaniel

Really surprised to see how unsympathetic some people have been in the responses to former Love Island stars calling for more aftercare once the show is finished every year.

So many people suggesting Love Island contestants (and other reality stars) “know what they’re getting themselves in for”. They quite obviously do not, do they?

It’s well-documented that I’m no fan of Love Island, but it’s beyond me how it must feel to be on a show as popular as that, particularly if you don’t come across that well.

At the height of your fame and celebrity you have absolutely no control over – or even awareness of – it.

To then get back to “regular life” only to find you’re now fodder for tabloid celebrity websites, with a back catalogue of news articles already written about you that you’ve not been able to read due to being off the grid while you’re on the show.

While you’re catching up on that, every other thing you post on Instagram is being written up as news, brands are offering you endorsements, journalists are reading between the lines of everything you tweet.

Leaving the house/going to an event is now “stepping out amid ____ row”, “all smiles while Love Island ex is ____”, “shows off a lot of leg as viewers slam actions on show” etc etc etc

And THEN, there’s the social media aspect, your mentions are ABLAZE there are weeks and weeks of comments to catch up on of people calling you stupid/ugly/nasty/spoiled/desperate/embarrassing and you can sit and flick through that for hours if you want.

Maybe you sensibly decide not to, but maybe you don’t. It’s a dark rabbit hole to fall down. And if you respond to anyone, Mirror Celeb and Mail Online are there to say “XYZ hits back at trolls after being branded stupid/ugly/desperate”

Maybe they don’t even wait for you to respond, maybe they just go ahead and write “VILE trolls brand Love Island Star ____ stupid/ugly/desperate”

But of course in your mentions there are people supporting and defending you too, telling you to shrug it off, telling you how much you made them laugh, how relatable you are, how much they’d love to go for a drink with you.

Doesn’t that sound overwhelming and strangely addictive?

And then, just when you’re getting to grips with it, just when you’re getting your head around it all, just when you’re learning to play the game, the rules change, and it’s all over, you’re not famous anymore.

No one wants you to endorse their detox tea, no ones tweeting you to say how funny you are, no ones gonna pay you to come to their club, and if they do, people just want an ironic selfie with you and to remind you what a wanker you were on the telly six months ago.

You show up to a red carpet event you’re invited to, and people write about what a has-been you are, trying to cash in on low-level fame you had ages ago

You accept an offer to go on another, less popular reality show and people take the piss out of you for not being an A-lister

You manage to get a decent presenting job or other ‘showbiz’ employment and people tell you how unqualified you are.

You go back to your old job, and it’s the same thing “oh dear, the bright lights and showbiz life aren’t exactly beckoning for this former Love Island star”

And let’s not even chat about all the people (mainly lasses, let’s be real) who had sex on the programme that specifically sets out to get you to have sex, and how that will follow them around forever.

You’re honestly fucked no matter what you do, and then what? Literally, then what?

How can anyone say how they would react in that situation, bc it is such a specific, unique situation that literally only 100ish people on this earth have ever been in?

And I’m not out here saying that I think Love Island contestants are heroes and saints and pillars of society that deserve applause and adulation.

Let me stress, I think Love Island is an absolute *heap*.

But what I *am* saying is that Love Island contestants are actual people with families and egos and self-confidence issues and fucking FEELINGS.

Up until three weeks before they arrive on the telly they’re hairdressers and receptionists and bar staff and sales people.

And they deserve the same respect you’d give to any hairdresser or receptionist or bar staff or sales person.

Jesus I did not mean that to turn into such a fucking TOME, but let me reiterate my point.

“Former Love Island contestant” is a very new, very specific, very modern sort of fame that very few people have experienced.

If those few people who *have* experienced it say it’s a flawed system at present, then it’s probably a flawed system.

If threads aren't 'your thing' I wrote a bit more in detail about this subject here: huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/love-isl…