I was on Love Island and now run a clinic – celebs come in but don’t realise I’m a reality star too, says Rykard Jenkins
LOVE Island star Rykard Jenkins rose to fame on the hit dating show after starring on the second series – but he admits he’s now not even recognised by fellow Islanders who come into his aesthetics clinic for treatments.
The series Rykard starred in saw the show really take off but after leaving the villa he opted to swap the spotlight for a new career entirely, as an aesthetics practitioner, and he treats Love Island stars galore at his highly sought after Rejuvenation Clinic.
Rykard’s recent clients include Love Island’s Paige Thorne, who received PRP skin rejuvenation to reduce acne scarring, and Nathalia Campos who visited for a consultation.
And he’s also regularly seen treating series two winner Cara Delahoyde, who went in recently for the glow package.
But many of his Love Island clientele don’t even know he became famous off the back of the show.
Rykard told The Sun: “I have a lot of clients in the public eye. I’m like the Love Island Uncle, and we’re the Love Island clinic!
“We have season two coming in, all the way through to season ten. But what is interesting is some of them don’t even realise I was on the show.
“So they’ll come in and be like ‘Rykard? Oh you were on Love Island too?’ and I’ll be like ‘yeah.’
“They don’t realise before they come in.”
Rykard, who has owned the clinic for two years, spoke to The Sun alongside his new girlfriend Dr. Nora, who he has been dating for around six months.
The dynamic duo work very busy days at the clinic together, and appear to have built a trust with Love Island stars and celebs alike.
Dr Nora said: “These celebs and influencers have got so much pressure taking photos of themselves every day and doing videos so they just want to be more confident and camera proof.
“They come to us because we offer good advice and we’ll be honest and tell them if they should or; shouldn’t have something done.”
Rykard added: “They’re actually really vulnerable. There’s so many people out there basically begging them to come in for a free treatment. No one really knows who these people are. And actually some of them come to me and said I stupidly went to this clinic and got lip fillers or got this and that done, and I didn’t really want it, or they got tricked by Tick Tock.
“Some of them feel really insecure and just go to the first person they see offering something for free. So then they end up contacting me and asking ‘actually, can I just come and have a chat with you?’ And I’ll offer advice and a very honest consultation.”
And the pair admit there’s actually been a decrease in reality stars looking to get fillers, and instead skincare is the next big thing.
Rykard’s right hand man, his girlfriend Dr. Nora, is an NHS doctor who specialises in cosmetic and medical dermatology, as well as being the Medical Director for Rykard’s clinic.
They met after she watched him on Love Island way back when, and followed him on social media ever since.
She then noticed Rykard had embarked on a similar career path to her and decided to slide into his DMs.
Dr. Nora shared: “I was a junior doctor in my first or second year of being a doctor and I remember my all the doctors were living together around the hospital and we became Love Island super fans.
“We would watch the show and all debrief in the morning. And then when lockdown happened I got more into aesthetics and cosmetics, and then I saw randomly Rykard, who I had been following for years, did the same.
“I remember I just slid into his DMs and said ‘let me know if you need any help.’”
Rykard explained that he tried unsuccessfully to take Dr. Nora for a coffee for a few times, and they ended up going on a date with one of his friend’s in tow after chatting online for some time.
And despite working together they admit they don’t get competitive, and have instead “learnt a lot from each other.”
The couple said they’d love a fly on the wall style TV show where they can show off their clinic, after admitting there’s “never a dull day” with big transformations and clients sharing their life stories.
Rykard said he’d prefer to do that than return to reality TV, admitting all the shows “feel the same” nowadays.