All the Love Island 2023 cast’s desperate attempts to get famous before the villa

Every year we become more and more aware that Love Island is a stepping stone for people to get famous, and the 2023 cast are more than demonstrating they’ve been after this life for a long time.

After the villa, Islanders often become influencers, packing in their day jobs and swapping them for swanky events and branded Instagram posts. But for some, the villa was just one of their many attempts to get close to a taste of the celebrity lifestyle.

From attempting to be influencers on their own, to TV show and film appearances, and going to newspapers about their exes – this bunch have pulled out the stops. Here is a solid rundown of every time a cast member of Love Island 2023 tried to get famous before the villa.

Mal went to The Sun and dished the dirt on her ex when he was in the villa

When Mal was announced as a bombshell for this season of the show, it was revealed she was the ex of 2022 Islander, Jay Younger. Back when he was in the villa, Mal and another of Jay’s exes went straight to The Sun newspaper to share their stories of their relationships with him.

At the time, Mal said she dated Jay for six months and described him as “brutal, cutthroat and selfish”, warning the Love Island girls to watch out. She described how he had a “pristine and structured” lifestyle, comparing him to Joe Goldberg from YOU – all but the bit where he murders people, of course.

“He falls quite fast and is 100 percent very jealous,” she said, adding the way he dumped her was “brutal”. Mal and another ex found out they were both former flames of Jay’s and met up in London for drinks and to “compare notes”.

Jess had been trying to get on the show for years

Before she was accepted into the cast of 2023, Jess Harding had been trying to get on the show for years. She got so caught up on the idea of being a cast member, she contacted Alexi Eraclides, who appeared in Casa Amor on the show back in 2020, and asked him exactly how he got on.

Alexi told The Sun: “She reached out to me a couple of years back. She wanted to know how I got on Love Island, if I was scouted or applied. She was obviously really keen to get on the show and very much had it at the forefront of her mind. I’m happy she got what she wanted. She wanted to change her life and get that exposure, which she has now.”

Ella was in a music video, for about one second

When asked ahead of her time in the villa what her biggest claim to fame was, Ella replied that it was being in a music video. She was in the video for Siberia, by Headie One and Burna Boy.

The video is set out on some mountains, during the winter. She very, very, briefly appears about two thirds of the way through, on a ski lift with Headie One. I think “claim to fame” is a bit loose.

Ella was also an extra in a film

As well as being in a music video, Ella was once an extra in World War Z. “I was 12 years old when I filmed it and got to meet Brad Pitt which was cool,” she said of the film appearance.

Molly visited the Love Island villa, and fangirled so hard

Molly really did try to get famous before Love Island 2023. Before the show, she and a bunch of other influencers went on a visit to the villa, and Molly was pretty shook up. She shared the video on her TikTok and YouTube channels, which Molly has been building up for years.

“Oh my god we’ve arrived,” Molly said in the clip, stood in front of the silver heart entrance. She said it was “ace” they got given a goodie bag on arrival and referred to herself as a “content creator” when staff asked why they were on the tour.

Molly was in a Christmas short film with Britain’s Got Talent’s Twist and Pulse

When Molly was 18 she performed alongside Britain’s Got Talent’s Twist and Pulse in potentially the most cursed Christmas short film ever created. Cast as one of Santa’s helpers, Molly danced and sang as Twist and Pulse took jobs as temporary elves for the festive season to earn some extra cash. It’s about as good as it sounds.

Action shot!

AND Molly helped promo Olivia Attwood’s Getting Filthy Rich documentary series

Molly has previously met ex-Islander Olivia Attwood and as part of promoting Olivia’s doc, Getting Filthy Rich, they did a “quick fire questions” video together.

Leah was already an influencer

Leah has been making a name for herself way before Love Island. Being a 2023 Islander isn’t the first run-in with the show Leah has had – her ex is 2019 Islander Danny Williams, and she counts Maura Higgins and Tasha Ghouri among her closest friends.

Plus, she’s been trying to crack the influencer world for ages. She had over 30k followers before even being announced as part of Love Island this year, and had made connections in all the right places.

Ella’s tried her hand at influencing before, too

Ella is an award-winning model, so it should come as a surprise to nobody that she’s attempted to break the influencer scene too. She has a TikTok with a backlog of loads of videos, some of which include ads with brands.

“Gifted from my fav,” is the caption of one video, where she is styling some bits from Oh Polly.

Kady has literally been on the show before

Ok, this isn’t so much an attempt at fame, because it literally made her famous. However, we can’t ignore that Kady tried her luck on the show before. Kady was a bombshell during the second season of Love Island, in 2016, and had a whole host of iconic moments.

She left the show with Scott, who she finished in third with, but they split up around a year later.

Surprise! Abi’s trying to crack the influencing and YouTube world, too!

Abi already had well over 20k Instagram followers before Love Island 2023, and she has done some sponsored posts with brands before. She’s worked with brands such as Green Chef, Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing, Supreme Tan and Beauty Works.

Abi also has a big following on TikTok, where she describes herself as an ambassador for Boohoo, who posts all things fashion, travel and lifestyle. She does lots of online shopping hauls, get ready with me videos and product reviews with brands.

Over on YouTube, Abi’s made over 50 vlogs, all following her life and what she gets up to, including one video where you can come with her as she gets lip filler.

Love Island 2023 is on ITV2 and ITVX. For all the latest Love Island news and gossip and for the best memes and quizzes, like The Holy Church of Love Island on Facebook. 

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Brand deals and dating: Everything Kady McDermott has been up to since Love Island 2016

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• They’re here! Introducing the jilted and very angry exes of the Love Island 2023 cast