Paige Thorne has revealed she was “devastated” when she had to quit her paramedic job to go on Love Island.
The 24-year-old from Swansea said she “tried all the ways” to keep the job she loved.
But despite having the support of her boss, higher management thought it would reflect badly on the struggling NHS if she was allowed time off to go on a dating show.
In the end the only option the Welsh beauty had was to resign as she didn’t want to miss the “once in a lifetime” opportunity to enter the famous villa.
Speaking to Sharon Gaffka – who appeared on season seven of Love Island – on her Girls Know Nothing podcast, Paige said: “I tried all ways to keep my job and do Love Island at the same time.”
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She explained: “When I did tell work I needed time off to go in [the villa] my manager was so supportive and she 100% backed me every step of the way.
“I tried taking annual leave, unpaid leave, a career break, I tried every single avenue possible to keep my job as well as do Love Island.
“But I think they were worried that if I went in and it’s like ‘Oh, the NHS is struggling this much and paramedics are struggling this much and you’ve let one have time off to go into Love Island’.
“It might have created more bad press and bad backlash that they just didn’t need, which I totally understand.
“So the only option I had was to resign, which I was devastated about.”
Paige shocked fans when she exclusively announced to The Mirror she wanted to return to her job as a paramedic.
This is despite having the world at her feet as one of the most popular contestant’s on this year’s series of Love Island.
And she has now amassed an epic following of 1.3 million on Instagram, meaning brands will be flocking to work with her as an influencer.
But as deals look set to roll in and her romance with Adam Collard hots up, Paige remained as down to earth as ever, which is probably why the public love her so much.
“I will one thousand per cent go back to being a paramedic. I absolutely love my job,” said Paige.
“It gives me everything I want from a job. I'm too much of a people's person to not go back to something like that."
Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine, Paige revealed she had a meeting to go back to paramedic work, which is “exciting”.
She said: “I saw an ambulance the other day with a siren and I had serious FOMO. I’m going to go back into that a little bit.”
Boyfriend Adam, who she met on the show, added: “I think people would be surprised about how much she talked about it in the villa as well. I loved that.”
Paige and Adam came fourth in this year’s Love Island, while third place went to Dami and Indiyah.
Michael Owen’s daughter Gemma and Luca were runners up, while fiery couple Ekin-Su and Davide were crowned this year’s winners.
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