No shade, but they can't all be Molly-Maes and Mauras can they? Saying that, most of this lot wouldn't want to be – no offence, ladies.
It's no secret that some Love Island stars walk into the villa with a little more than love on their minds; a world of glitz, glamour and fame can await them on the outside world, if they play their cards right while heating up our screens. Olivia Atwood, Molly-Mae Hague, Shaughna Phillips, Maura Higgins, Chris Hughes, Wes Nelson and Tommy Fury are just some of the names that have been riding the waves of fame since leaving their respective villas.
Then there's the vast majority; the guys and gals who enjoy their five minutes (attending the opening of an envelope for five or six weeks) and end up going to Sunday morning film premieres for the next five years. All tea, no shade.
THEN there are the few that throw in the towel all together; the ones that leave the villa and either ending up quitting the fame game entirely or simply reverting back to their 9 to 5. In the last few weeks, Love Island's Liam Llewellyn has very much been the poster boy for this group, after getting pied by Gemma Owen and choosing to ceremoniously leave the villa on his own accord.
Unlike many Islanders who choose to ride every fame wave going, Liam has remained fairly shtum since exiting the villa, doing very few interviews and remaining fairly quiet on social media.
The Love Island 2022 star recently opened up about his decision on social media shortly after his exit, admitting, "Whilst in the villa I was overthinking everything massively and couldn't really relax, which resulted in me not feeling like myself, and I didn't want to be in the villa if I couldn't offer 100%.
"I waited to see if that would change, but in the end it just got worse, so I acted on it." He added, "I think the villa is a tough place to be if your head isn't 100% in it, and I know I couldn't have sent someone home, knowing I personally wasn't feeling even 10% of my normal self."
Fellow Islander Afia Tonkmor spoke to Closer about the mood in the villa before Liam's exit, saying, "He seemed a bit down, so I mean I didn’t know he was going to leave, because he didn’t say anything to me and he put on such a brave face on the date.
"But I think the rest of the Islanders had an inkling that he might want to leave."
Liam is now back in Cardiff, and as far as we can tell, adjusting back to normal life. Naturally, this got us thinking about all the Islanders who paved the way for Liam's glow-down back to normality; the Love Island stars who found fame on the show and then ceremoniously showed fame the door (whether they wanted to or not).
9 Love Island stars who quit fame after the show
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Georgia Townend
Just a few weeks on from the end of season seven, Georgia Townend quit fame to return to her day job. But what was that again?
She told her Instagram followers, “My degree was in food and nutrition so that is my passion project, that’s always been my area of expertise. During my degree, I did a placement year and I worked in food manufacturing, which I really enjoyed, but I knew when I graduated I wanted to move retail side because for me, the joy comes out of bringing end product to customer.
“I joined Lidl on the graduate scheme about six years ago. Obviously, I’m not on the graduate scheme anymore, I’m a fully-fledged employee and my role is in a marketing function.”
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**Rachel Finni
**
Luxury travel specialist Rachel Finni appeared on Love Island season 7. After trying her hand at influencing, she decided to return to her day job.
She told fans, "A lot of people don’t know this, but I’ve actually gone back to working in hospitality which I’m really enjoying so far.
"My end goal is to focus as much as I can on my career, keep doing influencing on the side and hopefully one day be a housewife with my babies."
Wholesome stuff.
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**Danny Bibby
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Love Island 2021 (are you sensing a theme here?) bombshell Danny Bibby has opened up about his struggle to find work following the controversy surrounding him. It all began after Danny posted a TikTok of his house tour. It was then that one of his followers claimed they weren't surprised by his interior following his time on Love Island.
Danny then clapped back and said, "If anyone saw what actually happened to me on Love Island, when I came out all the work that I had lined up, all the sponsorship deals, everything, all got cancelled.
"I lost everything. So I went back straight into work after the show. Not many people know that. So this is just all hard work, so don't be bitter."
After Danny arrived in the villa last summer, it came to light that he had previously used the N-word on Instagram.
In a now deleted comment after one of his friends commented "Champ 👊" underneath his photo, he responded, "My n----".
His comment was written in November 2019, when he was 23 years old (two years before he appeared on Love Island), but that didn't stop eagle-eyed fans from noticing his comment.
Danny also came under fire for his 'possessiveness' of Lucinda Strafford just days after meeting her.
4 of 9Anna-Vakili-Love-Island
**Anna Vakili
**
Okay, Anna Vakilicertainly hasn't vanished.
In fact, she appeared on heat's Under the Duvet just last week.
With that being said, the Love Island 2019 star has said publicly that she "hates fame".
In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Anna returned to work as a pharmacist. Now the apocalypse is over and former Islanders are free to go outside and influence again, she is an influencer, blogger and podcaster.
5 of 9Dr-Alex-George-Love-Island
**Dr Alex George
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Dr Alex exited the season 4 villa and decided to ditch a life of mediocre movie screenings and drinking Fiji Water on Instagram to become the UK Youth Mental Health Ambassador within the Department for Education. He is also a resident presenter on ITV’s Lorraine and has a hugely successful podcast. Oh, and he's also a a seriously successful wellbeing author.
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**Rachel Fenton
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Nurse Rachel Fenton left the Love Island villa in 2016 with now ex-boyfriend Rykard Jenkins. And while a career as an influencer beckoned, she chose to return within weeks to her role as an orthopaedic nurse at a busy hospital in southwest London.
Rachel says, “I really enjoyed my time on Love Island, but after leaving the villa, I knew I could never give up nursing. So many people said to me, ‘Why don’t you pursue a career in influencing?’ But I didn’t ever consider not going back to work. Nursing is my vocation – it’s what I love to do.
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**Harley Judge
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Okay, Harley Judge wouldn't be the first example of a Love Island hunk exiting the villa and getting jacked, but he's certainly one of the first to make a bonafide career out of it. Yep, Harley ditched influencer deals for dumbbells, following his six-day stint on the show in 2017.
In 2020, Harley took to Instagram to wow fans with his transformation. He looked like he bathed in a tub of St Tropez, and hit them naughty highlights, resulting in a complete different look following some bodybuilding competitions (that he won). Harley is now an online coach and personal trainer but does also compete in bodybuilding competitions and is constantly pushing himself to be leaner and work harder.
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Abigail Rawlings
Tattooed beauty Abigail Rawlings might've painted a picture of herself on Love Island 2021, but this kind of fame wasn't for her. Shortly after the show, Abigail revealed she was going back to her "normal job" as a tattoo artist.
Saying that, she still has a manager.
9 of 9lauren-richardson
**Lauren Richardson
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After appearing on the very first season of Love Island back in 2015, Lauren Richardson went back to her job as a PE teacher. The Love Island star has managed to keep a seriously low profile for years.