Gemma Owen has spoken about her concerns ahead of appearing on Love Island this summer that the ITV2 dating show could affect her reputation.
The international dressage rider opened up about her decision to enter the Love Island villa, after she was first approached by the ITV show last year, to feature on the series of the show which was won by former couple Millie Court and Liam Reardon.
The 19-year-old said she chose to decline the initial offer because of her busy riding schedule, but then reconsidered the offer this year after a rocky start to the dressage season.
In a candid chat on her YouTube channel, the daughter of footballer Michael Owen said: “This year again I got approached and initially thought I still wasn't feeling it, but after a few competitions at the start of the season, my riding wasn't going to go the way I wanted it to.
“I pretty much ruled myself out of the season. So, pretty quickly the door for Love Island opened and I started going through the process.
“The further I got into the process and the more I got a feel of it, I just loved it. I was like, this is what I'm going to be doing during the summer.”
However, Gemma went on to note that it was not a wholly easy decision, given that she had “a few concerns” about appearing on Love Island.
She continued: “One was how will it affect my riding? If I go on a show like that, am I going to be taken seriously again back in the dressage world? Am I going to get back to international level?
“Secondly, going on a show like that, sometimes you can have a bit of a stigma and be labelled with a certain kind of thing, which I didn't want to be labelled with.
“I wanted to keep my image very clean and come across very classy. Sometimes I felt, am I going to be able to maintain that, especially in some of the challenges and things like that.”
She conclude: “They were my concerns about going on but in the end I thought the positives outweigh the negatives.
“I'm glad, obviously, that I went on. It was the best summer of my life and I wouldn't change a thing.”
Gemma also revealed that she and Luca Bish have yet to make things official more than three weeks after the pair left the Love Island villa.
The couple were runners up in the latest series on Love Island, which wrapped up at the start of this month.
