John James Parton
John James Parton opens up about his relationship with ex Josie Gibson, dating in his thirties and doing reality TV
He’s best known for his stint on Big Brother back in 2010, but John James Parton recently returned to the spotlight after appearing on Love Island Australia. The series was first aired down under in
2018, but was broadcast in the UK this summer – and John James tells us the two reality shows are very different experiences.
“I went in there with the mentality that it was going to be the same sort of structure as
Big Brother,” he tells us. “But with Big Brother, what you see is what you get.”
While he struggled to connect with anyone and quit the villa after just a week, John James is no stranger to sparking up a romance on TV. He famously dated his Big Brother co-star Josie Gibson for nine months, with their relationship documented in her spin-off show
There’s Something About Josie, before their frosty split in 2011.
The pair lost contact, but were involved in a public spat in 2018 when he claimed she’d been “sexting” him – something she’s denied. Speaking over the phone from his home in Melbourne, John James tells us while he doesn’t think they can ever be civil, he regrets how their romance ended.
Here, John James, 34, opens up to new about what went wrong with Josie, his hopes for a Big Brother reboot and whether he’d ever return to the UK…
Hi John James! How did you find Love Island Australia?
I went in there thinking it was going to be like Big
Brother, but Love Island
is completely different.
You get days off in
Love Island. You get to go to the beach, you can get your hair cut, you can talk to the other housemates off camera and you can talk about strategies, whereas Big Brother is so raw. For me, it wasn’t really a testing experience, it was more like a luxury experience to go on Love Island.
That’s probably the real reason I walked. I was like, “I’m not here to just f**k around and gain Instagram followers,” or whatever it is other people’s purposes were.
So did you genuinely want to find love?
Yeah. I mean, your chances of finding someone is probably just as likely as it would be through friends or work or going to a club, but I was definitely open. I’d obviously found a connection with someone in the Big Brother house, so I know what it’s like to find that with somebody on a reality TV show. So when they threw the idea of Love Island to me, I was open to it. At the same time, I was never going to force myself to be put in a position and to try to stay in the game as such.
Are you still single now?
I’ve learnt lessons in the past to try to keep your relationships as private as you can, especially with the Josie situation. It definitely takes a toll. We’ll leave it at that!
Why do you prefer to keep your love life private?
It depends on the sort of personality you’ve got. Some can work in the public eye, but for me, it’s hard. Relationships are hard enough as it is without people having opinions.
Fair enough! You mentioned your relationship with Josie. Do you have any regrets?
I have regrets in the way that Josie and I handled things outside the house. I’m not saying the relationship would have continued.
We’re both stubborn people. If you sat us both down now, it would still be intense. But deep down we both know we handled it in the wrong way. It got heated and nasty towards the end. So I regret that, but at the same time I don’t think you could sit us in the same room and have a civil conversation.
Why not?
There are too many things that have been said. And we’re both very different, but very alike in certain ways. If you ever saw us again in the same room, there would be fireworks.
Why do you think the relationship went wrong?
We had separate managements at the start and it didn’t help that they were working towards the same goal, but working against each other as well. So then we decided to go with the same management. I don’t think that worked either because if I ever had a fight with Josie, or she had a fight with me, our manager would come over. I remember him coming over all the time – it was like he was our counsellor. He’d be coming over at 3 in the morning.
That doesn’t sound fun…
We’d have photoshoots the next day and we were recording a TV show at the time, and we never got
a chance to have an argument and get over it in a proper way like a normal couple would. It’d be like, “OK, you two are basically wanting to kill each other and now you’re going to do a photoshoot and smile.” We had problems every relationship has, but we weren’t given time to resolve them.
Is that why it ended?
I think the TV show is what broke us in the end, which is when I left halfway through the series. We had a camera crew living with us and we were arguing all the time. I was doing club appearances as well, which now I can understand would have been difficult for Josie to handle, but I didn’t understand back then. She’d go on TV shows and would say things and then I’d feel like she was mugging me off. We couldn’t even go for dinner together. Even if we went out for dinner, it was being filmed or it was a meeting about something. It was never just me and her. To be honest, I did pick up and leave too early. I should have stayed and given it time. Instead, I just threw my toys out of the pram and I couldn’t handle the pressure. I was so far away from family and friends – all I had was Josie, so as soon as something went wrong I felt like my whole world was over.
Is she the one who got away?
I’m not that sort of person. I try not to live and regret too much. If we were in the same room again, it would be an explosion. I don’t think we’d get along. There are definitely personality clashes.
Like what?
In Big Brother, I was very forthright.
I was called aggressive, whereas I feel like Josie did very well. I’m not saying she faked her personality, because she definitely didn’t, but Josie’s got a side of her that is similar to me. We’re both very stubborn, argumentative and opinionated. I have changed now, but back then we could both get quite nasty. I didn’t really see that side of her until I left the house. She was a very loving, caring and kind person who’d do anything for anyone. And she still is and still was when we left, but that was the only side I saw of her. Then this other side came out and I had no idea it existed. She won and she played the game. She will sit here
and to this day say I was jealous of her winning, but anyone watching would have seen that wasn’t my goal. She played the game well and that was fine, but for our relationship, it was almost like I was being played as well. There was no way I was backing down back then and there was no way she was either.
Do you think it would still be like that all these years later?
I think so, yeah. I saw the Instagram video she did after I came out of Love Island. I could see the anger and frustration and I was like, “Yeah, Josie’s back. She’s ready to rumble!”
You’re referring to the public spat you had in 2018 after you revealed in an interview she had been “sexting” you. Do you regret that?
I regret how it came out. The spat was over pictures that had been sent. What I said was true, but the timeline hadn’t been included about when the certain situation had happened, and it looked like I’d implied it was more recent than it was. By the way it was worded, I can understand how it looked from her point of view. I came out [of Love Island] to all this heat and this hatred and I was angry at myself because I should never have spoken about it. So I went in to defend myself because I was basically being called a liar, but at the same time, I was like, “You idiot. You should have said nothing.” For that reason, I regret anything coming out. It was something that was between me and Josie.
Josie is a mum and TV presenter now. Are you proud of her?
I heard about her having a child, only because of his name – I was getting tagged a lot because it’s Reggie-james. And as far as her career, I wasn’t really aware. It’s not like I stalk her Instagram or anything. It’s good to hear she’s doing well. She’s a hard worker and I’d never take that away from her. She’s one of those people who will probably never stop, and people like that become a success. She had goals and by the sounds of things she’s achieving them. Just because we don’t get along on a personal level, it’s good to see she’s successful.
Who’s your type nowadays?
When I was younger, I was a bit more shallow. I remember thinking if I could find a girl I was attracted to, I could mould them into having the personality I wanted, or me moulding to her. As you get older, you realise it’s easy to find someone you’re attracted to, but finding someone you’re compatible with is extremely hard. I do believe a lot of people settle in relationships, but I’m not one. It’s a massive decision who you want to spend the rest of your life with, so I won’t take that lightly.
What’s the most important thing to you in a relationship?
Someone you can laugh with. It’s something I’ve not even thought about up until the last few years. If you’ve got the same sense of humour, that can go so far.
Are you romantic?
No. If I said that you’d get a lot of ex-girlfriends saying it’s bullshit! I’m not an old-fashioned romantic. I’m not the sort of guy who’d cover a bed in rose petals or anything like that. But at the same time, I do like going out and doing dates. I like beach walks and that sort of stuff. But I’m not going to come home with a rose in my mouth or anything like that!
What’s the longest relationship you’ve had?
Probably four years. And a couple have been two years. I’ve been in relationships more than I’ve been single, so I can’t be that bad! As I’ve got older, it’s harder to find somebody because a lot of people, especially my age, are already taken.
Do you want to settle down?
Yeah. If you meet a girl and you’re interested, you’re sort of probing at that straight away. You want to be with someone who has the same goals. If you’re with a girl who doesn’t want kids or marriage, and that’s what you want, obviously you’re not going down that path.
Coming back to Big Brother, there was a 20th anniversary special recently. Would you like to see it return?
It’s the hardest show to keep fresh – especially when Davina [Mccall] left. She was such an icon. It’s one of those shows that needs a break every couple of years because people get bored. To bring it back successfully, Channel 4 would have to be interested and Davina would have to return. And get Russell Brand for Bit On The Side!
That would be amazing! Would you ever do an all-star version?
I can only imagine who’d join me! I don’t know. I definitely would have to think about that one.
Do you have any plans to come back to the UK?
England always feels like home to me. My family were born there and I have friends there. When I go back, it’s so hard to come back to Australia. It’s tough because deep down I do want to be in the UK, but I’ve got my mum here and I’ve created a life here, so it’s hard to make that move. It’s always something I’m thinking about.
You’re focusing on your music now. Can you tell us about that?
I’ve been working hard on my music over the past six months after coming out of Love Island. I’ve got a song coming out, then two others to follow. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.
John James’s debut solo record Some Day is set to be released in August and is available to stream and buy on Spotify and Apple Music