I know how Michael Owen feels – my girl went on Love Island, seeing her kiss on TV was awful & she was brutally trolled
WHEN Ian Hart’s daughter Amy arrived, bikini and all, at the Love Island villa three years ago, he found himself torn. He wanted to cheer on the then 26-year-old as she followed her dream — but he knew there would be scenes he would rather not witness. So Ian hit on a solution. He says: […]
WHEN Ian Hart’s daughter Amy arrived, bikini and all, at the Love Island villa three years ago, he found himself torn.
He wanted to cheer on the then 26-year-old as she followed her dream — but he knew there would be scenes he would rather not witness.
So Ian hit on a solution. He says: “I would watch it an hour after the show went out so I could be warned if there were bits I might want to fast-forward.
“That worked well — until someone forgot to tell me.”
Grimacing, he recalls: “In a quiz, one question was: ‘Which girl has slept with 11 blokes but only remembers the names of nine?’ It was Amy.
“I went to the pub that night and my best mate, who has known Amy since she was little, came in, put his drink down and said: ‘Right, have we established who these two blokes are?’
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“You have to take it on the chin. Amy’s a good-looking young lady, she’s got a lovely personality and I never expected her to live like Mother Teresa.”
With that in mind, funeral director Ian, 56, has one piece of advice for the dads of the latest Love Islanders — who include Gemma Owen, 19, daughter of footballer Michael.
“Don’t watch!” he says. “Seriously, though, just make sure you’re there for them when they come out.
“Seeing Amy kiss on camera was a bit like being eight again and watching Dr Who and the Daleks from behind the sofa!”
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So far Gemma has been busy.
There was one coupling with “Italian stallion” Davide Sanclimenti, 27, and the teenager is now in a love triangle with fishmonger Luca Bish, 23, and her ex-boyfriend from the outside, rugby player Jacques O’Neill, also 23.
But amid all the fun, Ian knows how crucial support for contestants can be.
Amy was put through the emotional wringer on the show in 2019 then later had to face abuse and even a death threat from online trolls. She now campaigns for tighter social media regulations.
Ian says the aftercare from the ITV2 team has been exceptional, and Amy checks in with them.
But with three suicides linked to the show, it has been criticised for failing to protect its stars.
Sophie Gradon, 32, from the 2016 series, Mike Thalassitis, 26, from 2017 and host Caroline Flack, 40, all took their own lives.
Other contestants have spoken out about trolling they later face — Zara Holland, who was stripped of her Miss Great Britain title for having sex on the 2016 series, slammed Love Island for “putting people’s mental health at risk”.
In response to the tragedies, ITV2 introduced protocols to support participants before, during and after filming.
But just one week into the latest series, Gemma, the youngest ever contestant, has been picked apart online for her “rude” attitude.
In a quiz, one question was: ‘Which girl has slept with 11 blokes but only remembers the names of nine?’ It was Amy. I went to the pub that night and my best mate, who has known Amy since she was little, came in, put his drink down and said: ‘Right, have we established who these two blokes are?
Ian Hart
Ian believes nothing could have prepared Amy’s family for the online attacks, which have often focused on her looks and weight.
MOUTHING OFF IN PUB
He says: “Amy had a woman who would post something abusive at 6.30 every morning, knowing she would wake up and it’d be the first thing she saw. We’d report it but she would start another account and then another one and so on.
“Until legislation makes people accountable, it’s going to happen.”
He adds: “When the death threat came through, ITV got the police involved and kept us in the loop, which was reassuring. They deserve a lot of credit for that.”
But when he heard recently a local lad had been lined up for the show, he warned him off. He says: “I said to him: ‘Please don’t do it. You’re a lovely lad but I don’t think you’re mentally strong enough.’ Thankfully, he didn’t go in.”
When Amy told Ian and his wife Sue that she was going into the villa, neither were that concerned.
He says: “It was her ambition and you can’t stifle that. Over the last 35 years doing my job as a funeral director, I’ve talked to a lot of families of people who never had the chance to realise their dreams, so we supported her.
“I’ve always told my children that providing it’s legal, tasteful and you don’t upset anybody — go for it.”
Amy, who went to the Love Island villa in Majorca having never had a boyfriend, coupled up with Curtis Pritchard, only for him to break her heart when he had his head turned by new girl Maura Higgins.
So Amy decided to leave the villa. Her distress was hard for her family watching back home.
Amy had a woman who would post something abusive at 6.30 every morning, knowing she would wake up and it’d be the first thing she saw. We’d report it but she would start another account and then another one and so on.
Ian Hart
But Ian says: “Amy went with dignity and class and I was proud.”
Another contestant who had her heart publicly broken was Amber Gill, who won in 2019 with Greg O’Shea. She was dumped by Michael Griffiths after he hooked up with villa newbie Joanna Chimonides.
Amber’s dad Leon says: “People say it’s just a TV show, but when you see your daughter in tears, as a dad you’re going to react.”
Estimating manager Leon, 63, was so upset that when Michael later approached him at a Love Island families event in London, he refused to shake hands.
He also recalls hearing a bloke in a pub mouthing off about Amber. He says: “I’m not going to repeat the words but it was all, ‘That Amber is a such and such’.
“I went over and said: ‘Amber is my daughter and you’re very lucky I’m an easy-going type of guy because if I wasn’t, you know what would happen.’ He said sorry.”
Leon chuckles now but there was a time — particularly before Amber, 24, won viewers’ hearts with her strength over the Michael debacle — when she was subjected to awful abuse online.
There were racist DMs to her Instagram which her mum Vanessa reported to ITV’s welfare team. The family had constant contact from producers and felt supported.
But Leon adds of Love Island: “The biggest downside has been the trolling. And my mind goes back to Caroline Flack, who Amber was close to.
“We were having a meal out when Amber got the call to tell her what had happened and she was distraught.
People say it’s just a TV show, but when you see your daughter in tears, as a dad you’re going to react
Leon Gill
“If it can happen to Caroline, who had the world at her feet, it can happen to anybody. It’s cowards that do it. Cowards hiding behind anonymous accounts.”
So what advice would he give Gemma’s dad Michael and the other fathers? He says: “Try not to get too annoyed. It’ll be hard when you see some of the conversations your daughter is having with guys, but you can switch off and just be there for her on the outside.”
Despite everything, neither Ian nor Leon regret their daughters going on the show.
Ian says: “Love Island put Amy in the public eye. It gave her an opportunity and she’s making the most of it.”
He is not wrong. Amy is a vocal campaigner for tighter social media regulations and has spoken before a parliamentary select committee looking at influencer culture.
Ian adds: “She went in there for the right reasons — to fall in love — and she left on her own terms.”
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She’s now found love with model Sam Rason, 33, and Ian approves of the relationship.
“Curtis was a lovely lad,” he says. “But if he is a bottle of Prosecco, Sam is a bottle of Veuve Clicquot.”
