Making a splash
MEET THE WATER ENGINEER WHO’S HEADING FOR LOVE ISLAND
AWATER engineer from Weston-super-Mare is part of the new Love Island line-up, which also includes a contestant with a physical disability, a civil servant, a model and a luxury events host.
Jake Cornish, 24, is looking for love in the villa on the hit ITV show, which returns to our screens on June 28. He said he would ideally like to meet someone like reality TV star Billie Faiers.
He explained: “She is my dream woman. I think for a laugh once with the boys, I messaged her. I can’t remember what I messaged her. She’s a lady, she’s just lush”.
This year’s line-up also includes Hugo Hammond, 24, a PE teacher from Hampshire, was born with clubfoot and previously played cricket for the England Physical Disability team.
Speaking about his cricket career, he said: “I’ve actually played cricket for England PD (Physical Disability).
“I’ve been to Bangladesh, Dubai, I’ve been everywhere to play cricket.
“I was born with clubfoot. I had lots of operations when I was a kid. You can only really tell when I walk barefoot. I’ve got a really short Achilles heel. I walk slightly on my tip toes”.
He said of his job: “I teach secondary school PE. Absolutely love my job. I love all my sports. It’s great to be able to pass on that enthusiasm to be physically active to the younger generation and hopefully they feel the same about me teaching them.”
Also hoping to find true love in the villa this year is civil servant Sharon Gaffka, who is taking part because she does not want to be the “only one in the group chat that is single anymore!”
The 25-year-old from Oxford, who was previously an operations lead for the Department for Transport, said of taking part in Love Island: “It’s been a bit of a running joke between my friendship group for a while that I should apply, probably because I’m the most outrageous one out of the group.
“But also because of Covid and the lockdown, I’m the only single one in my friendship group. They’re either married or planning on getting married. I don’t want to be the
only one in the group chat that is single anymore!”
Talking about her job, the former beauty queen and Young Women’s Trust ambassador said she has been a civil servant since the age of 18.
She said: “I’ve worked in lots of different departments. I’ve been doing Brexit policy for the last year, I did a stint during the coronavirus pandemic in the Department of Health so I was helping deliver testing kits and managing the operations. It’s been an intense year!”
Another contestant in the line-up is 24-year-old Aaron Francis from London, a luxury events host, who said of his job, including ‘working at royal weddings’: “Yeah, Eugenie and Beatrice’s over the summer. I
hosted and chatted. It was nice and intimate. Everyone’s chill. In my job you meet a lot of famous people... unless you’re Beyonce, I’m not really interested.”
The line-up also includes fashion blogger Kaz Kamwi,
26, from Essex, model Shannon Singh 22, from Fife, and Nando’s waitress Liberty Poole, 22, from Birmingham.
This year’s series sees Laura Whitmore return as host and it will be the first time the ITV programme has aired since last year’s summer series was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Former Bristol contestant Siannise Fudge, pictured inset, shot to fame after starring in the 2020 winter series filmed in South Africa. Siannise and her boyfriend Luke Trotman landed a spot in the final before losing out to winners Paige Turley and Finn Tapp.
She recently told her 1.8 million Instagram followers that meeting Luke was the only good thing that came out of the show and their love had only grown since filming stopped.
The new series starts on June 28 at 9pm and airs on ITV2 and the ITV Hub.