A reality star has been inundated with messages of love and support since “being himself” on TV.
George Bebbington, from Runcorn, appeared on MTV’s Ex on The Beach: The One That Got Away - where he met his ex-boyfriend in real person for the first time. The 22-year-old said since the show aired he has received hundreds of messages from other LGBTQ+ folk thanking him for being so visible.
The Body Shop retail assistant, who is bisexual, was scouted to go on the show through Instagram and within a week was flown out to Gran Canaria to come face-to-face with his previous partners.
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During filming, he met Alessandro who he split with in 2020 because of the distance between them - with George spending most of his time just outside of Liverpool and Alessandro living between Ireland and Italy. Although the two never worked out their differences, they remain good friends with George thankful for the experience.
He told the ECHO: “Life has been really overwhelming since the show. I didn’t expect it at all - when people reach out to me to talk about their experiences and how they can relate it is a really nice feeling to have.
“Going onto the show I just saw it as a dating show experience but when you're on a TV screen you don’t realise the impact it can have on someone. My message requests have been filled with people thanking me for just being open and honest about who I am.”
George’s series was filmed in May last year. However, he said it felt appropriate for the show to come out in May of this year as it acts as a positive representation of the community in recent times which have been filled with homophobic and transphobic rhetoric.
He said: “It’s a shame the community has to face this backlash and how it has almost become normalised. So to have so many queer people on MTV, a huge platform, was a great step forward for the community. It showed there was more than just one way to be gay and not just the stereotype people place on us.
“With the show showing so many ways of what it means to be gay, I noticed more people respect me. I’m no longer shy when it comes to hiding my sexuality and I think it has made people a lot more comfortable in approaching me.”
Whilst in the villa, George did admit to feeling some attraction towards his ex Alessandro but realised he couldn’t be in a “full-blown relationship” with someone he had only just met.
He added: “Obviously, we had spoken for a long time, but to actually meet in person, it's very different than online. It was a very short time, I don't think it was a fair amount of time.
“I don't think it ended negatively with either of us. He was very upset and I was upset because I just felt like the worst person on the planet, but neither of us thought it was in a bad way, negative way, whatsoever.”
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