Love Island winners Kai and Sanam say they’re rejecting huge brand deals to keep day jobs

Love Island 2023 winners Kai and Sanam have spoken out about how they’ve rejected huge brand deals since the show, and have instead both gone back to day jobs. The pair said in an interview that they prefer “normal” life, over the influencer lifestyle the show can offer.

Kai and Sanam won winter Love Island in 2023. They were the first ever Casa Amor coupling to win the show. They were drama free, and to this day remain the most wholesome winners the show has ever had.

Now, the couple have said they’ve opted out of fame, and have instead been turning down offers of huge brand deals, to return to jobs they had before the villa. Usually, all you hear of is Islanders ditching their day jobs, and churning out six-figure fast fashion and beauty brand deals, trying to cash in as much as possible, as quickly as possible.

Kai and Sanam previously said they were ditching fame, and now they’ve told MailOnline all about that choice. Kai has returned to work as a PE teacher, and Sanam is back as a social worker.

“I went to uni for five years to do something I’m very, very passionate about,” Sanam said.  “It didn’t feel right giving up what I’d learned, what I’d gained a passion for. Also knowing that you’re making a difference in very many young children and adopted parents’ lives is a massive sense of fulfilment. I love my job and it just didn’t feel right to just walk away from it all when I work so hard. I wasn’t ready to give up.”

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She shut down the idea that if you go back to work after Love Island you’re “unsuccessful” and said for her she feels the opposite. “I’m really grateful for the opportunities and experiences that Love Island has brought our way but also waking up every single morning and feeling like you’re actually being impactful in some way,” Sanam said.

“We both work directly with children and the fact we can do that makes us feel like we’re making a difference in our world. That’s what’s important to me.”

Kai added that he enjoys his job too much to give it up, and said he went on Love Island to find a partner, not for a career change. He also said opportunities after Love Island can be “amazing”, but said: “What I really wanted to do is go back into education in some sort of capacity.”

Kai and Sanam said they have turned down a bunch of big money deals since Love Island. The couple said they would rather stick to being their authentic selves, over chasing money. A year ago, the couple said they hadn’t had many opportunities since Love Island. They said they felt they “weren’t what they [brands] wanted”. However, they’ve now said they did get work, that they turned down.

“There was a fashion one I turned down because the requirements for it was so much. It was basically going to take over my whole social media so it wasn’t going to be me,” Kai said. “You had to like post like three times a week. Do reels. Basically just churning out that concept of this fashion brand. With the amount of content that I’d have to make I couldn’t be myself in my own platform.”

Sanam added: “I would rather work with a brand for a lower pay and it be 100 per cent me than get a six figure deal and have to be sort of unhappy about it.”

Kai continued: “Since winning Love Island I’ve not bought anything extravagant or expensive. I’ve not bought any designer clothes or anything. It’s mad because when I was younger I used to be quite materialistic. I’d go out and  spend £500 on a t-shirt. But as I’ve got older I’ll happily go shop at Primark.

“I’ll wear a £10 t-shirt and still feel a million pounds. As long as I look smart, clean and neat I don’t mind. Materialism doesn’t matter to me anymore.”

Sanam added: “I have always been a saver. The money we had [from the Love Island prize] was helpful in terms of me and Kai moved in together. It was also going towards my family and supporting my mum. I’m very much the same as Kai, I don’t do designer stuff. I’ve nothing against it but if I buy things it’s very much within high street prices.”

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