Owen’s girl... from dressage to undressage!
Daughter of former England striker joins ten other toned singletons searching for TV romance in Love Island villa
GET ready for your TV screens to be awash with skimpy swimsuits and fake tan.
Love Island is returning for its eighth series with a new batch of 11 singletons looking for love in a Majorcan villa.
The line-up, announced yesterday, includes an ex-professional footballer’s daughter, its first deaf contestant and a paramedic.
Gemma Owen, 19, the eldest child of former England striker Michael Owen, 42, is an international dressage rider from Chester and has been competing for Great Britain since the age of 11.
She said she is ‘open to finding love’ on the hit ITV2 show as her recent romantic encounter didn’t work out.
When it comes to relationships, Miss Owen said: ‘I will always go for what I want. But at the same time, I’m not going to mess up something for someone who is in a proper relationship or get in the way of a couple if they have a genuine connection.’
Tasha Ghouri, 23, from Thirsk in North Yorkshire, is the reality show’s first deaf contestant.
The dancer and model made headlines last year when she modelled earrings for fashion brand ASOS, showing off her cochlear implant. She said her family and friends would describe her as a ‘party animal’, but she feels she also inspires others because she is open about her hearing troubles.
Paramedic Paige Thorne, 24, said she has struggled to find a partner in her hometown of Swansea.
‘I need to break out and broaden my horizons,’ she said. Other contestants are a business owner, a nanny, a waitress, a student, a fishmonger, a microbiologist, a salesman and an estate agent.
This year, the contestants will enter a new Majorcan villa near Sant Llorenc des Cardassar, in the east of the Spanish island.
Laura Whitmore returns as host for the new series, which starts on ITV2 next Monday at 9pm.
THE ESTATE AGENT
Andrew Le Page, 27, from Guernsey, now lives in Dubai and says he is ‘very loyal’
THE BUSINESS OWNER
Davide Sanclimenti, 27, is from Rome, lives in Manchester, and is known as the Italian stallion
THE STUDENT
Liam Llewellyn, 22, from Newport, South Wales, says he loves to give compliments to girls
THE NANNY
Amber Beckford, 24, from London, says she is a ‘wild child’ and doesn’t like ‘flashy’ men
THE HOTEL WAITRESS
Indiyah Polack, 2 , from London, admits she has commitment issues
THE PARAMEDIC
Paige Thorne, 24, from Swansea, loves to cook but is described as ‘a princess’ by her mother
THE MICROBIOLOGIST
Dami Hope, 26, from Dublin, is being pestered by his mother to find himself a wife
THE SALESMAN
Ikenna Ekwonna, 2 , from Nottingham, works for the drugs firm AstraZeneca
THE FISHMONGER
Luca Bish, 2 , from Brighton, has been told to lower his standards when it comes to dating
THE DEAF MODEL
Tasha Ghouri, 2 , from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, is Love Island’s first deaf contestant