Love Island star Jacques O'Neill has turned down £60,000 to be on Celebs Go Dating, according to reports.
The rugby player entered the ITV2 villa as the bombshell ex of Gemma Owen, but ended up falling for Welsh paramedic Paige Thorne. Jacques, 23, left the villa last week after struggling with his mental health and chose to leave the show to focus on himself, writes the Mirror.
Reports have now surfaced that Jacques reportedly said no to the Channel 4 dating show because he wanted to wait for love interest Paige to return home.
During his stint on the villa, Jacques, who has ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) got into a row with Paige over comments made by returning bombshell Adam Collard before his exit.
Jacques has decided to "work on himself" rather than throw himself into another reality tv show, according to The Sun. The E4 dating show believes that they can help Jacques to have a shot at love, a source told the publication.
"An Islander always makes for a great signing and Jacques is a real stand-out, particularly because he's already shown that he's willing to put the work in and really change," the source said. "That'll make him a really credible candidate for the agency's help, never mind be someone that fans would tune in for. But Jacques wants to wait for Paige so it may well be too late by the time she emerges."
In an interview after leaving he said that joining the dating show was "the worst decision of his life".
He had only just started to win Paige over after he went rogue after the girls went to Casa Amor when Adam entered the villa. Adam, 26, who had been on the show in 2018, had made a beeline for Paige. But after struggling with the intensity of the show, Jacques feared that he would get violent towards Adam.
"I thought if I don’t get myself out things could go horribly wrong and I could get physical," he told The Sun. He explained: “It broke me and I was already broken. I was crying my eyes out. I couldn’t cope. I was literally feeling awful. It was the worst I’d ever felt in my life.”
The show's producers were made aware that he had ADHD and they came to speak with him after he walked out through the doors. He told them that he wanted to be alone and that it was "more than just a TV show" to him.
After the show's bosses tried to encourage him to stay following a "welfare chat", he sobbed to them and told them that he wanted to go home. After he left the main villa, Jacques stayed in a separate apartment with a security guard and two members of the production team.
Jacques has also been the victim of death threats since leaving the villa. He said that he has also been given huge support from fellow members of the ADHD community. The former Islander said how he had messages from other men who called him "inspiring".
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