Love Island fan favourite Chris Hughes has opened up about the advice he shared with friend Gemma Owen before she entered the villa for this series of the ITV2 dating show.
Chris starred in the 2017 series of the show, leaving the villa coupled up with Olivia Attwood – although the pair subsequently split – and having found a close friend in Kem Cetinay.
As Chris has since gone into horse racing punditry he crossed paths with the 19-year-old dressage rider and even starred in the Crystal Maze with her retired footballer father.
Chris has now shared the pearls of wisdom he gave Gemma at an event in Chester in May, before she walked into the villa this year.
He told The Sun: “They're a lovely, down-to-earth family. I just said to her you've got to be yourself.
“You can't be anyone else because you're in there for such a long time. Just stay true to yourself, that's the reason you're on the show. And enjoy it, that's what life's about.”
Reflecting on how the show has evolved over the past five years, he continued: “I feel like people's perceptions when they go on have changed, possibly, from when I went on there.
“We genuinely didn't think hardly anyone was watching Love Island. It was actually blowing up while we were in there, and we didn't know that.”
This comes after Love Island's Gemma Owen tried to get the boys' heart rates racing on Tuesday night’s show, while her dad Michael Owen tuned in from home.
Football star Michael admitted he had been wary about his daughter signing up to the ITV2 show.
But from home, Michael watched on and took to Twitter to break his silence on his daughter’s appearance and her blossoming romance with Brighton fishmonger Luca Bish.
He posted a single emoji on the social media platform, which showed a person hiding their face behind their hands, with the tweet quickly racking up thousands of responses.
"Wrong night to tune in," one wrote, as another added. "Loooooooooooooooooooool deep breaths my guy."
A third shared: "Watching your daughter strip on prime time tv for a fisherman would have made my heart explode," as a fourth penned: "Mans walking up to the villa to drag Gemma out like this #LoveIsland."
Michael previously explained how he didn't like to see his daughter swearing so much on the show.
"One thing I wasn’t happy about, watching the show, was the amount of swearing - and from Gemma too. She said the s**t word (he spells it out), and I was shouting at the screen there. I don’t allow swearing at home," he explained.
Love Island airs every night at 9pm on ITV2 and ITV Hub.
