Dennis Wise breaks silence on daughter Amber’s Love Island tears over Sammy & says he wouldn’t be welcome at home
AFTER a glittering football career as both a player and manager, Dennis Wise will be remembered for many things.
But the lads of Love Island would do well to recall one thing in particular as they try to woo his 19-year-old daughter Amber: His role in Wimbledon FC’s boisterous Crazy Gang in the Eighties.
Hardman Dennis, 56, had to watch his girl reduced to tears this week by Sammy Root and he’s far from pleased.
In his only interview, Dennis told The Sun: “She’s never brought a boyfriend home so I’ve not had to bring out the Crazy Gang side just yet. But let’s just say Sammy wouldn’t be welcome at home at present.
“He’s not The One. Amber felt used I think and it’s disappointing to see as a father.
“There’s things I’ve looked at and gone ‘Jesus!’ but I’m doing all right at the moment.
“I am protective of her, all fathers are of their daughters.
“I saw Amber made a comment about ‘having lots of boys on the go’ and I was like, ‘I’ve not seen that.”
Amber joined the ITV2 dating show last week as part of its Casa Amor relationship test and immediately made a splash with the lusty lads of the villa.
Hours after strutting in wearing a red bikini, she took part in a Raunchy Races game where she had to act out sex positions and snog Islanders.
Dennis said: “The ten-second kiss was fine and then they did the sex positions and I thought ‘Oh my God’. I walked away from that.
“We told her, ‘Please don’t have sex, your nan, grandad and friends are watching’.
“She definitely understands that part of it. With Sammy I just think to myself, ‘Be careful, Amber, and be smart about it’.
“Only time will tell but she’s held herself well and hopefully it continues like that.”
Much has been made of Amber’s age, with viewers threatening to complain to regulator Ofcom over whether she’s emotionally prepared for the challenge of the show.
Others have pointed out that some of the men involved are six years older than her.
But Dennis says Amber is older than football pal Michael Owen’s daughter Gemma was when she entered the villa last summer.
Dennis said: “If I didn’t think she was old enough to cope, honestly, I’d have told her not to go in.
“Gemma [was] three months younger than Amber [is now]. Amber looks younger and the way that she is, but Amber has got her own mind.
“She’s a strong girl, she’s not silly and if I didn’t feel that she could deal with it we would’ve stopped it.”
Amber was approached by producers after Gemma, now 20, came runner-up with fishmonger Luca Bish, 24.
But it took Dennis a while to come round to the idea.
He said: “After Gemma appeared Amber was inundated with requests for various shows but when Love Island first got in touch it was about the winter one.
“But she’d just started uni so that was a no, then they asked again about the summer one.
“She didn’t tell me until she’d spoken to them a couple of times, and it was a ‘No, please’ from me.
“She came to me with all the reasons she wanted to do it and eventually I said ‘OK, fine’.
I saw Amber made a comment about ‘having lots of boys on the go’ and I was like ‘I’ve not seen that!
Dennis Wise
“When she made that decision, we fully backed her.”
Dennis and wife of 19 years Claire had calls with ITV but say there are no special conditions or agreements in place for Amber, as had been rumoured for Gemma.
Dennis went on: “I didn’t chat with Michael about it but I thought about it. Amber gets along well with Gemma, they have known each other a long time.
“I might call Michael and have a brief chat with him now — he wasn’t too keen, Michael, I don’t think.”
Amber is Dennis’s only daughter, with his eldest son Henry, 23 a midfielder for New York Red Bulls II soccer team and youngest George, 15, at school.
All their lives they have brushed shoulders with football royalty and Amber now even works alongside huge names Gianfranco Zola and Mark Hughes as a runner at Mola TV, an Indonesian sport streaming service.
Despite this, speaking to his daughter about potential fame, Dennis explained: “I said go and enjoy it, be true to yourself. But I explained certain stuff to her, you know, just be careful with people.
“Your circumstances are different to others in there, people know of Amber and me.
“There’s people going in there maybe to promote themselves so make sure you’re sure that someone isn’t with you for the wrong reasons.”
Dennis had his own taste of reality TV in 2017 on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! and was embroiled in a bullying row.
Reality TV can go many ways. Amber could fall in love with someone, she could do really well from a brand point of view or it could be a disaster.
Dennis Wise
He was accused of being unfair to campmate and radio presenter Iain Lee over a Bushtucker Trial and came out to a backlash.
He explained: “Reality TV can go many ways. Amber could fall in love with someone, she could do really well from a brand point of view or it could be a disaster.
“With Iain it was put a certain way. Iain and I were fine, I got him tickets for a Chelsea game and we met up after.
“Things can be portrayed in certain ways, people can manipulate certain things however they want.
“This is what I said to Amber, when you come out there’s gonna be certain people that are going to say certain things.”
Dennis played 21 times for England and for Chelsea from 1990 to 2001.
The combative central midfielder won two FA Cups, a League Cup and a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
But it was during his time at Wimbledon, where he began his career, that he rose to prominence after helping the club beat Liverpool to the FA Cup in 1988.
In March 1995 he was found guilty of smashing the glass partition of a cab and punching the driver, then in 2001 he punched his Leicester City teammate Callum Davidson in a bust-up.
It cost him his £3m contract.
For now Dennis will be hoping Amber, who wants to be an interior designer, finds a nice fella to bring home after her stint in Majorca.
For now, his vote is with Welsh goalkeeper Scott van-der-Sluis, who plays for Irish side Shelbourne FC.
He added: “All you can ask for is someone who is nice and kind and you’re happy for them to bring home.
“I’m sure there’s going to be some crazy things that are gonna occur but she’ll learn something from it.
“All our kids will make mistakes as they go along but we’ve all made mistakes.”
She could match Gem’s £1m earnings
GEMMA OWEN has forged an impressive path since becoming the first footballer’s daughter to join Love Island last summer.
Fresh out the villa she signed a six-figure deal with fashion empire Pretty Little Thing and added her own jewellery line with luxury brand Abbott Lyon.
The dressage rider also played to her strengths with a collaboration for equine firm Holland Cooper.
She is now thought to have amassed a fortune of more than £1million.
Her love life hasn’t fared quite so well, however.
She split from show boyfriend Luca Bish seven months after leaving the villa.