Love Island’s Amy Hart would like to do the fandango with Curtis’ brother AJ
Golden girl Amy sits down to chat with Katie Holloway about life after the famous villa
It’s 30ºf in London and heat is sitting in a rooftop bar, sipping an Aperol spritz with Amy Hart. Is this what life’s like for an ex-love Islander? It might seem that way if you scroll through their Instagram feeds – but the 27-year-old former air stewardess is keen to point out that it’s not all free Champagne and parties.
“I’m absolutely knackered,” she tells us. “I’ve been so busy. In the first 14 days after coming out of the villa I did 37 interviews.” Even when someone interrupts us to announce the playground classic, “My mate really likes you,” she’s polite but professional and tells him she’s a little busy doing an interview.
Amy didn’t have the easiest ride on Love Island – coupling up with Curtis Pritchard early doors, only to have her heart broken by him just a few weeks later. But deciding to leave the villa early seems to have been the best choice she could have made, winning praise from viewers for walking out with her head held high. Coming out alone has made Amy stand out – in both good and bad ways. Whispers of a feud between the Worthing native and her female co-stars have surfaced recently,
‘All the stuff about the “rivalry” with Maura is absolute rubbish!’
but Amy assures us it’s all rubbish. Instead, the musical theatre obsessive is focussed on what’s next for her, career-wise – and she’s got it all planned out… What’s next for you? What I want to do is presenting – but in my own way. I’m good at talking! I’m going to start my own Youtube channel – like my own online TV show. There’ll be a theatre section to it – I’ll go backstage at a lot of the shows, interview the cast. There’ll be a travel section, too, so I’ll film my trips away. That way I can do it my way, on my terms. Your “love rival” Maura has also had a go at presenting, on This Morning. Did that bother you? No, not at all. What’s been amazing is that everything has been really tailored to all our personalities. That was really perfect for Maura. If I was on This Morning, I’d want to do “What’s On The West End With Amy Hart”. I was so pleased for her that she got to do it, because you want everyone to do well. All this stuff about the “rivalry” – it’s absolute rubbish. Have you seen Maura and Curtis since the reunion? No – we’re all so busy! There was all this stuff about my “absurd reason” why I don’t see the others [because she lives in Worthing], and how it was a baffling explanation, considering I drove to Norwich to see a show. Well, if any of the others wanted to come to Norwich to see Matilda with me, they would have been very welcome. You were so composed at the reunion when you sat next to them – did you make a conscious effort to be cool and collected? I think being cabin crew has set me up so well for post-love Island life. I don’t want to give anyone any reason to say I’m not a nice person. And I do wish them well! I wish everyone well. Love Island was such a crazy time in our lives. It feels like it didn’t happen. When I was in there, it was my real life, but now I’ve come out, when I talk about it it’s like I’m talking about an episode of Eastenders. It’s really strange. When you come out and see it everywhere, you do realise, “Oh, it is a TV show at the end of the day.” But I didn’t see it as going on to a TV show – I went in there “to find someone”. What an idiot! If someone in real life said to you – when they’d known you for nine days – “I don’t want anyone else,” you’d be like, “You’re insane.” And if someone, after four weeks, said, “I don’t want to see you any more,” you’d be like, “OK, that’s fine.” And then there’s me, SOBBING in the beach hut. It does stuff to you. Let’s clear up these “feud” rumours about you and the other girls… We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. I went to see Ariana Grande the other night [Amber and Yewande were also there]. We were sat 30 boxes apart, so we phoned each other, like, “How do we do this?” I said, “Let’s run and meet in the middle.” I open the door, there’s kids everywhere, because someone had said, “Amy from Love Island is in that box.” So I was like, “That’s fine – I’ll see you Saturday [at the girls’ sleepover].” Then everyone’s messaging me, saying, ‘”You’re out of order, you didn’t see Amber and Yewande.” I can’t say, “We couldn’t because we’d get mobbed.” Then people would say, “You think you’re so famous!” It’s not that at all. We were with different brands, there’s thousands of people, the O2 is huge… They’re my friends, I speak to them, and – short of screenshotting our Whatsapp conversations and posting them on Instagram – I don’t really know what else I can do to clear up this whole “feud” thing. I’m not going to meet up with them for the sake of it. Sometimes I’m not invited to the same events as them. You can’t invite all 36 of us. If you could go back and change three things about your time on Love Island, what would you do differently? I wouldn’t have lived on macaroni cheese and pizza in lockdown week [the week before the show].
I did eight weeks of a vegan diet and was in the gym every single day, and then laid in bed eating crisps, sweets, macaroni cheese and pizza for a week. Second? I would have moaned a little bit less! That’s a cabin crew thing – you sit around and moan all day. And third? I would maybe have tried to enjoy the challenges a bit more. I don’t like looking stupid. That kissing challenge – as soon as it was announced, I was like, “I don’t want to do this.” And then the Arabella thing happened [Curtis marked Arabella’s kiss a 10/10]. I wasn’t angry with Curtis, I was angry at the whole situation – the fact the boys found it hilarious. I don’t like being laughed at. But everything I did led up to what is happening now. I’ve been so lucky. I left because I wanted to leave. I didn’t have an exit strategy – I literally woke up one day and thought, “I’m not going to meet anyone else, might as well go home.” You must be getting offers left, right and centre. is it overwhelming? Yeah – my agent has a lot of stuff she doesn’t even tell me about. I’m big on responsible advertising, I know a lot of my followers are very young. I don’t want to promote bad things. Online casino company? I’m not interested. I could make a lot of money now doing everything, but for longevity, that’s not the way to do it. I get negative comments on my paid posts. I get it, I’ve been that normal person who’s seen those posts and gone, “Eurgh!” But secretly it’s because you’re like, “I’d love to be able to do that.” People love to hate Love Islanders. People comment underneath, saying, “You’re selling out.” But, if you got offered to advertise a lip gloss, and you really liked the lip gloss, you’d do it, too. Are there any other reality shows you’d love to do? I’d love to do Celebs Go Dating. I feel like my personality would come across better on it. When you’re in Love Island, you’re being yourself – but you’re homesick, you’re tired, you’re hot… you’re in a social experiment. It’s an alien situation. So, although you are being yourself, you have those things hanging over you that affect your behaviour. I missed my family so much that I wasn’t very bubbly. With Celebs Go Dating, you could see what I’m like on dates. Probably everyone would learn why I don’t have a boyfriend. How about Strictly? I’d love to do Strictly. They’ve had Jamie Laing this year – he is a reality star. Strictly would be my ultimate. who would you want to be partnered with? Kevin is really good, isn’t he? Obviously, I’ve met AJ [Pritchard, Curtis’ brother] – I got on really well with him, and Curtis says that he works his partners really hard, and that’s why he always does so well, so that would be good. Actually, I’d like to be partnered with Anton Du Beke. Forget the rest, I want Anton. How has dating been post-love island? The other day we were mucking around on dating apps and I made a profile, and literally within minutes someone messaged me to say,“just so you know, someone’s made a fake profile of you.” Do guys DM you? Loads of people send me the whole “I would treat you like a princess” thing – but you don’t know who they are, do you? But how will you meet someone, then? That’s why I think Celebs Go Dating would be good. I’d be safe! Everyone’s Dbs-checked. n