We left Love Island only for cosmetic firms to prey on our insecurities – they do the same to thousands of young fans

THEIR perfect tans and plumped up lips draw envy from thousands of adoring fans, but the life of a Love Islander can also be one of cruel and merciless pressure.

Now, as the latest batch of contestants prepare for life outside of the villa, former stars have revealed how they are constantly bombarded by “disgusting” cosmetic companies trying to prey on their insecurities.

Arabella Chi, 28, and Samira Mighty, 23, fear cowboy firms are also targeting young fans desperate to get the ‘Love Island look’, potentially “destroying someone’s face, someone’s future, their life”.

This is why they are backing Fabulous’s Had Our Fill campaign to make fillers illegal for under-18s, crack down on social media sites plugging filers and establish a government register to accredit all practitioners.

The stars warn that while they felt under constant pressure to look their best in the villa, the latest crop – particularly winners Paige Turley and Finn Tapp – will face just as much scrutiny on the outside.

Ex contestants quickly become influencers with thousands of Instagram followers and lucrative advertising contracts – where maintaining their perfect looks counts for everything.

‘Offensive’ cosmetic offers

Samira, who sensationally quit halfway through the 2018 series, was shocked to be bombarded online by clinics with offers of free treatments following her own exit.

“Coming out the villa, you get messaged a lot by [cosmetic surgery] companies saying ‘we’d love to do something to your face’,” says Samira.

“I find that so offensive if I didn’t ask for it — don’t tell people you should do this, do that, to your face.

“These companies are selling to lots of people — they want exposure. Even down to your teeth there’s always some sort of company in touch. They make you feel insecure.”

These companies are selling to lots of people — they want exposure. They make you feel insecure

Samira Mighty

Arabella, who appeared in the 2019 series, is also flooded with requests.

“On Instagram, I get inundated with requests from people trying to offer me free stuff including cosmetic treatments, ” she says. “They just sit in my request box and I never respond.”

Unlike the latest Love Island cohort, both Samira and Arabella preferred to rely on their natural looks to win them favour with the men in the villa and the public.

“It took me a while to grow into my looks,” says Arabella. “When I was younger, I used to have a ‘puppy fat face’ and everyone told me how young I looked.

“I used to wear completely the wrong shade of foundation, either too orange or too pale and I’d just blow dry hair into a frizz and go.

“I haven’t had any cosmetic work done and didn’t before entering the villa.

“My transformation has simply been about learning how to do my hair and make-up better.”

‘Love Island look’ epidemic

But Arabella is shocked at the huge influence celebrities and reality stars have on young girls.

“Nowadays, girls even younger than 18 look at these models or their favourite celebrities and get sucked into having work done, thinking it will give them body confidence and make them happy,” she says.

“It’s so easy to have the stuff put into your face but so much harder to have the damage reversed.”

The uncomfortable truth is that the ‘Love Island look’ is fuelling an epidemic of plastic surgery and a filler crisis for young Brits.

In fact the show has become so synonymous with body transformations that adverts for boob jobs and diet pills have been broadcast during the advert breaks, with cosmetics companies quick to cash in by promoting ‘Love Island’ packages.

Girls even younger than 18 look at their favourite celebrities and get sucked into having work done. It’s so easy to have the stuff put into your face, but so much harder to have the damage reversed.

Arabella Chi

“I’ve seen a huge rise in the number of 18 to 25-year-olds seeking lip fillers since the show began,” Dr Tijion Esho, founder of Harley Street’s The Esho Clinic, tells Sun Online.

“Many young women are coming to my clinic with pictures of the show’s contestants and asking how they can achieve that appearance.”

‘You get bad press no matter what’

Going into the villa, Samira admits she also felt she had to get the signature ‘look’.

“You do feel a bit of pressure — like everyone who goes in the villa is stunning so you want to look your best,” she says.

“I remember going for my Love Island glamour shoot and I was saying to the lady doing my makeup, ‘I might get a lash lift’.”

“There is a pressure,” agrees Arabella, who videoed herself having a Brazilian butt lift treatment last October.

She admitted at the time that she underwent the treatment because her body had begun to change shape following her appearance on the show, due largely to her not exercising as much.

If a Victoria’s Secret model walked into the villa, they’re going to get something bad said about them – that’s just the deal

Arabella Chi

She adds: “By now, the new Love Island contestants know what they’re in for when it comes to the public scrutinising their bodies.

“You’re going to get good or bad press no matter what. If a Victoria’s Secret model walked into the villa, they’re going to get something bad said about them – that’s just the deal.”

Unrecognisable transformations

But most former stars of the show don’t have Arabella’s thick skin and end up taking the cosmetic shortcut to bodily perfection.

One look at the before and after pictures of Love Island twins Eve and Jess Gale, 20, is enough to show the lengths some stars went to this year.

In their pre-show snaps, taken in 2015, the pair of VIP hostesses are slim redheads.

But in promo shots they are totally unrecognisable, miraculously sporting platinum tresses, bigger boobs and visibly plumper lips.

Meanwhile, in summer 2019, before and after pictures showed Maura Higgins entering the villa with bigger boobs, a perkier bum and a classic filler pout.

Her mum denied Maura had surgery but confirmed she’d had fillers injected into her lips ahead of the show, “because she had quite thin lips”.

That’s nothing compared to Megan Barton-Hanson who was reported to have spent £40,000 on having her ears pinned back, a nose job, boob job, jaw line surgery, veneers, cheek fillers and pumping her lips with filler ahead of her Love Island appearance.

But after leaving the villa, Megan revealed she “needed to work on myself” because going under the knife “didn’t fix all of my problems”.

It doesn’t stop others from trying though.

Amy Hart, from last year’s show, admitted to splashing out £7,000 on a boob job and £13,000 on a full set of veneers ahead of her appearance.

“I hated how I looked in clothes,” she said of of her decision to go from a 34A to a DD previously.

And 2018 islander Ellie Brown also asked her surgeon to “help her look her best” before she entered the villa, spending £7,000 on a nose job along with dermal filler in her lips and cheekbones.

She recently told Sun Online of the painstaking efforts she went to beforehand, “practically starving” herself by “eating nothing but fish and vegetables for months and spending hours sweating away in the gym each day”.

Filler firms’ shameless ads

Companies and brands are now blatantly capitalising on the show’s popularity to sell their wares, some even using pictures of Maura Higgins and Molly-Mae Hague’s before and after transformations to promote their treatments and using tags such as #LoveIslandLook to catch the show’s fans.

But, as our campaign highlights, these procedures aren’t taking place in high-end clinics and are often offered at at rock-bottom prices, without proper regulation, leading to horrendous reactions and infections.

Samira and Arabella are shocked that cowboy practitioners can take advantage of the show’s success in this way and fully support Fabulous’ campaign.

“The lack of regulation is absolutely disgusting,” says Samira.

“It’s awful — they could be destroying someone’s face, someone’s future, their life.

“It’s so sad that under-18s are getting it done. They should wait until they’re older as their face is changing.

“I’m 23 and my face is still changing. They may think they look amazing with fillers now, but regret it in the future.”

Arabella agrees, saying: “Body confidence comes from inside and is about finding something that makes you feel good about yourself — it’s not about getting horrendous duck lips.”