Greg O’Shea has hit back at claims Love Island contestants “have no brain cells”.
The 27-year-old, who won the 2019 series alongside Amber Gill, recognised “a lot of people have a bad kind of perception” of the hit dating show.
Speaking to The Independent at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Festival on Sunday, the former rugby player said: “They think it’s silly people going around in bikinis and swimming togs and they have no brain cells between their ears.”
Greg argued against this, name-dropping season 4 contestant Dr. Alex George, who recently became the UK mental health ambassador in the Department of Education.
He also mentioned his fellow Irish contestant Yewande Biala, who appeared on Greg’s series, who is a scientist with a first class honours degree and a masters in pharmaceuticals.
The Limerick native himself has also completed his law exams, and said it was his “back-up plan” to become a solicitor.
Greg acknowledged that a lot of his career opportunities have stemmed from his rise to fame following his stint on the show.
“The only reason I’m getting all these opportunities, let’s call a spade a spade, is because I was on the TV show,” he said.
“I have a lot of presenting gigs on Virgin Media, I have social media brand deals and I do a lot of stuff on Instagram and things like that, which never would have happened without Love Island.”
Just five weeks after winning Love Island and splitting their £50k winnings, Greg and Amber called it quits.
At the time, Amber accused Greg of breaking up with her over text, which he’s always firmly denied.
The 27-year-old said the pair still follow each other on social media and “respect each other” but are “in completed different worlds:.
He said: “We contacted each other a couple of times. We only knew each other two weeks. We had the maddest experience together that nobody can understand other than other winners.”
On Sunday, Greg also revealed his plans to enjoy his summer as a single man, following his split from British influencer Kate Hutchins at the end of 2021.
However, fans think he should “couple up” with RTÉ star Doireann Garrihy, with many saying they look “cute” together.
