WhileLove Island contestants may be known for their incredible looks, the show has become notorious for its official pictures of the Islanders. Over the years,fans have been left baffled time and time again when the show has released a picture of a new contestant, only for the snap to look completely different to the person’s Instagram profile.
And season seven starAbigail Rawlings knows the feeling all too well. After appearing on the show as a bombshell in 2021, which saw her couple up with Toby Aromolaran, the star has opened up about what actually happens behind the scenes of those Love Island pictures. From shipping containers to cringe-inducing poses,tattoo artist Abigail reveals all to OK!…
“I was never that desperate to go on Love Island. It was always something that felt like something fun to do, but I wasn’t someone who’d always dreamed of going on the show. As a result, when I was told that I’d be entering the villa as the first bombshell I was over the moon.
But 23 days later, I was still in my holding villa. I was only interested in going after Toby but he’d been in a solid couple, so up until that point there hadn’t been a good time for me to enter. As I’d been waiting for so long, it was suggested that I enter during Casa Amor. I said that I’d rather go home than continue to wait, so I started looking at flights back home until my chaperone told me I was entering the villa that day.
That morning, I was taken to Love Island HQ and got myself ready and packed all of my belongings into a branded Love Island suitcase. I did all my hair and makeup myself but I didn’t end up entering the main villa until 3am the next morning, so my look was far from fresh.
Five minutes before I was put into a holding villa prior to making my entrance, I was taken to a room inside a shipping container where a photographer said that they were going to take some photos. I changed into a bikini, did my best to touch up my hair and makeup and the photo was taken.
The photographer told me to smile and gave me some poses to do which included me making a love heart with my hand. As soon as they told me to do that I was like ‘oh, great’ because I knew that’d be the shot that would get used — it did. I then made some GIFs for Instagram and was told to wag my finger and blow a kiss. In less than 10 minutes it was over and I put my clothes back on. It was a hot, sweaty mess and wasn’t very enjoyable at all.
But the worst thing was that I didn’t get to see the photos after they’d been taken. In the villa, everyone’s phone background is their Love Island picture, so that’s the first time I saw the picture and I couldn’t believe it. The saturation was so high that my eyes looked bright blue and my skin looked orange. As soon as I saw the picture I just thought ‘why have you done that to me’ and I imagined loads of people saying that I’d been Tangoed.
My experience turned out to be a bonding exercise with the other Islanders as we compared how our pictures looked against what we looked like in person. We were all crying our eyes out about it, saying how we looked nothing like the actual photos.
Luckily for me, my VT never made its way into the final cut. I get super nervous doing pieces in front of the camera and the producers had to keep telling me to use certain words, repeat something I’d said or even say something they’d suggested. I was so stressed that I couldn't remember what came out of my mouth as soon as I’d said it, so their prompts didn’t prove all too helpful. To this day I get embarrassed over what happened.
Whenever I see new Love Island pictures released, I know now to take everything with a pinch of salt. The promo pictures and videos happen so quickly that you don’t have time to think about the lighting or the angles. The people who comment their Instagram handles under the images really are life-savers.”
Abi is helping Blue Cross to spread the word and keep pets safe this summer www.bluecross.org/summer
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