SIXTY SECONDS
THE MODEL TURNED LOVE ISLAND STAR, 27, TALKS ABOUT GETTING HIS BALLS OUT, MALE FERTILITY AND HIS FEAR OF ALL THINGS FEATHERED
You had a testicular inspection live on This Morning but balls are a ticklish subject for most blokes – did you have any qualms coming out about your own issues?
I’ve had a number of operations over the years on my balls because I had a varicocele [an enlargement of veins] on one, so I’m used to getting them out. There’s a stigma around getting your balls checked we really need to overcome. After I had my inspection on This Morning, my brother, Ben, got checked and they found cancer. That’s why we made a documentary about the issue.
Do you think men associate fertility with being ‘real men’?
A lot of men put a lot of pressure on themselves because they think it’s the male’s role to create a family. There are people we meet in the documentary who have been down that road and you can see that it can really mess with your head. If you look on the internet it’s 90 per cent about women having issues with fertility, there’s very little about men with the same issue, but it’s a 50/50 split and if men would talk about it and open up about their worries it lifts a huge weight off the shoulders.
In the documentary you and girlfriend Jesy Nelson of Little Mix talk about having babies together but you’ve since broken up – did that make finishing the report difficult?
Yes it did, but me and Jesy have always been very supportive of each other and at the end of the day, it’s a documentary about health that hopefully will help other people. Her involvement played a significant part in what was going on, so she was fine to keep it in.
She catches you wearing special ice-pack underpants to keep your testicles cool. Have you still got them?
I’ve still got them. I don’t wear them every day but they’re really good. Something like that can really help with fertility, a simple thing like keeping your testicles cool. Men don’t realise there are so many factors at play in giving yourself the best shot – keeping off drugs, alcohol… you need to do anything that can raise your chances.
I don’t have a name for my semen but I do call my balls my Space Hoppers
I was tickled by your mate’s ‘a little drop of David’ nickname for his sperm – do you have a name for yours?
Ha ha, no! It took me about 30 seconds to catch on to what he meant but that’s him all over, it’s really funny [it’s a reference to ex-England goalkeeper David Seaman]. I don’t have a name for it, but I do call my balls my Space Hoppers. We do a size test in the doc where they use a kind of necklace thing to measure the size and mine are right up there.
Did making the doc bring you and brother Ben closer together?
We’ve always been a close-knit family but everything that happens brings you closer together and this was a journey that we went on together. We’re always there for each other.
It’s touching – and it’s not every family that can talk about testicles over the breakfast table…
True. That’s quite a conversation in the film. Not sure Mum was too happy with that!
You’ll get your testicles out on TV but you’re funny about touching turkeys. What’s that about? Didn’t you grow up on a farm?
Yes I grew up on a farm but I’m really wary of anything that clucks. It freaks me out. What I really love is being around horses. I haven’t handled that many birds to be honest!
Can you imagine what your life would be like if you hadn’t done Love Island?
That’s a good question. I pretty much know I would be doing something that I didn’t want to be doing. I just didn’t know what I wanted to do as a career, it was aimless. So Love Island was the best thing that could have happened.
So what’s the best thing to come out of Love Island for you?
I’d have to say it’s the fact that now I can get involved with things that really help other people, particularly when it’s to do with mental health. Like being involved with CALM [The Campaign Against Living Miserably]. It makes you realise you really can make a difference.
You and Kem Cetinay had a big bromance on Love Island. Are you still an item?
We’re still best mates, for sure. We’ve both had other stuff going on recently but I know we’ll work together again.
What’s one thing you’ve done that you’d like to keep on with?
I really loved presenting the horse racing on ITV – I mean, that’s a proper job isn’t it?
And are kids still part of the plan?
I’m a family man and I really hope to have kids one day. Fingers crossed it works out for me – and for Ben.
Me, My Brother & Our Balls is on BBC3/iPlayer and BBC1 at 9pm tonight