Love Island star Jacques O'Neill could take a very long time to recover from the emotional stress of appearing on the ITV2 dating show this summer, a professional therapist has suggested.
The rugby star, 23, spent several weeks in the famous villa and found a connection with Welsh bombshell, Paige Thorne, before eventually deciding to quit due to emotional stress.
Jacques, 23, has since admitting that appearing on Love Island was 'the worst decision of his life' after the reality TV stint 'broke him' following Adam Collard's unexpected comeback to the ITV2 show.
Following Jacques' shocking revelation that producers coaxed him to stay in the villa despite him insisting that he was severely struggling on the show, Gladiators star Diane Youdale has suggested that Jacques will take a long time to recover from the emotional damage and trauma of entering Love Island.
Diane is now trained as a psychotherapist and has shared her thoughts on Jacques' concerning admission following his stint on the popular reality TV series.
The former TV star has revealed that she believes it could take significant time for Jacques to fully recover from the experience.
"What he will have now, post-production, for him, he will have the support he needs, thankfully. How he personally chooses to deal with... and if he chooses to read all the comments will be up to him," she told The Sun.
"I learned very early on when I was famous 30 years ago, we didn't have social media, thank the Lord, but even then I didn't read my press. Unless you really want to, just don't. It's hard. It's a discipline, some people are like 'what are they saying about me?'
"If you compartmentalise and jog on with your life even better, but a good therapist would be able to help him with that, but it may take a long time for him to shake off; but he could make a lot of positives out of it."
It comes after Jacques bravely admitted that he feared he would 'attack' fellow contestant Adam Collard before his sensational exit.
Jacques left the Spanish villa following a heated discussion between him and Paige after he clashed with Adam, 26.
As Adam entered the villa, he set his sights on the 24-year-old paramedic which caused a problem for her and Jacques, after Gemma Owen told him Adam had been " proper s****ing you off ".
Things then got emotional for Jacques as he made the tough decision to quit the show.
Jacques has since spoken out about his choice and said the show 'broke' him and left him feeling like things would 'go horribly wrong' between him and Adam.
Revealing he couldn't take a step back and 'had to deal with every situation,' Jacques said he was scared he would attack Adam but added producers tried to convince him to stay.
Speaking to The Sun, he said: "I thought if I don’t get myself out things could go horribly wrong and I could get physical.
"At home you can remove yourself from situations, but in there you had to deal with every situation."
Jacques said he removed his microphone and walked through the front doors because he "just wanted to get out of that place."
He added: "Producers tried coming to me, they were like, ‘Jacques, are you OK? I was saying, ‘I don’t want to speak to you or anyone. I want to be left to myself.’
"It was too much."
He claims ITV bosses tried to coax him back after offering him a welfare chat.
An ITV spokesperson has since told The Mirror Jacques was not coerced into staying and said they respected his decision to leave.
"As we said at the time, Jacques made the decision to leave and we respected that decision.
"Islanders are welcome to leave should they choose to do so and we would never put pressure on someone to stay in the Villa."
Jacques flew back to the UK on Tuesday night and was met by his mum at the airport.
