Greg O’Shea has admitted he didn’t want to step away from his “first love” rugby last year.
The 26-year-old shot to fame when he won Love Island with Amber Gill in 2019, but returned to life as a professional rugby player once he left the villa.
Greg went on to represent Ireland at the Tokyo Olympics as part of the Irish rugby sevens team last year, but months later, the Limerick native announced his retirement from the sport.
Speaking to RSVP magazine, Greg explained that the need for a more financially viable career “kind of forced my hand”, and led him to make the decision.
“To be honest, I actually didn’t want to retire,” he confessed.
“Rugby is my first love and it’s why I threw everything away when I was getting handed these deals and money [post-Love Island] — I put all my life into it.”
“The issue was I’m 26 now. I’m not saying that’s old, but it’s kind of at the stage where you have to go, ‘what are you going to do for the rest of your life, Greg?’
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Greg continued, “I was like, ‘this has been unbelievable. I’ve loved every moment of it and I’ve gotten to the peak of sport, to the Olympics. And now it’s time to try something else.’
After retiring from rugby, Greg decided to turn his love for fitness into a business opportunity by launching his own fitness app called Bettr With Greg earlier this month.
Speaking about the app’s launch, he said: “It’s gone really well. It’s been scary, but it’s worked out. I’m looking forward to what the future holds.”
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Greg also said he stands by his decision to snub the celebrity lifestyle post Love Island to focus on his rugby career.
The 26-year-old said: “It was enticing. [After Love Island,] people were offering me so much money to do brand deals, turn up at this nightclub, do this and do that and go to the red carpet events. And I was like, ‘ah, that would be nice’.
“But in my heart and my head, I always knew I was coming home. I knew I wanted to be an Olympian and what I was going to do, so I was just like, ‘no, I can’t do it — I have to go train’.
“I remember that we got out of the villa on the first of August, or the second of August. I had training on the 26th. So I said to everyone, ‘you have me for 24 days and then I’m going home; I’m gone’. And that was it.”
“They didn’t really believe me and then it got to the time and I was like, ‘I’m going home, I’ve got training’. I went and I kind of took myself out of the limelight and I got absolutely killed for it,” he confessed.
“People were like, ‘you’re supposed to ask the girl to go out with you; you’re supposed to move to London; you’re supposed to do this’. But I was like, that’s not my dream. That’s not what I wanted to do.”
“It was really bad for a couple of months, but it paid off in the long run. I think people realised that I was doing what I said I was going to do, and I wasn’t full of crap — I achieved what I wanted to achieve.”
“Internally, I’m happier. But then I look back and I’m like, geez, I could have so much money right now but then I wouldn’t be happy — so I always just readjust my thinking. I’m like, ‘no, Greg, you did what you wanted to do and you are happier’.”
