Love Island’s Jessica Shears says sex with Dom Lever is the best she’s ever had… despite being too tired to try anything ‘wild’
The reality TV star also opens up about her plans to halve the size of her boobs and how she had to work to win over Dom's family after those rumours she'd bedded "Muggy" Mike Thalassitis.
FLASHING her whiter-than-white smile, Jessica Shears arrives at our shoot apologising for looking “rough” despite being anything but.
Her hair is blow-dried and bouncy, she’s sporting a sun-kissed glow and is tottering on eye-wateringly high Louboutins while hand-in-hand with adoring boyfriend Dom Lever.
Devon glamour model Jess definitely has plenty to be happy about. A key player in the TV phenomenon of the summer, ITV2’s Love Island, the 24 year old didn’t just leave the villa with a decent tan and a man on her arm, but also the opportunity to seriously increase her bank balance.
Despite not making it to last month’s final, which was watched by nearly 3 million people, she’s been branded the show’s most bankable star and is predicted to make £2million in the next year – more even than the winning couple Kem Cetinay and Amber Davies.
“It’s mind-blowing,” she says.
“I hope it’s true! No one is going to say: ‘I don’t want to earn £2million,’ but I don’t need that much money. I’m happy if I have a nice house and am with Dom. That’s all I want in life.”
Nevertheless, it hasn’t all been hearts and flowers. The pair have come under attack from trolls and been blasted for shamelessly cashing in on their fame by plugging huge numbers of products on their social media accounts – sometimes posting up to 10 ads a day to their combined 2 million followers.
Jess was also branded “desperate” after she rather loftily tweeted that there were to be “no meet and greets” at a Manchester club night they attended.
“I didn’t expect the hate to be this bad,” she says, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Some of the things are awful. I’m lucky I have thick skin now, because in the past I’ve struggled with myself. You’re given this platform from the show and you would be silly not to make the most of it.
“If I can make money so we can have a nice life and I can see Dom every day then why wouldn’t I? People tweet me: ‘You’re plugging everything!’ But if you were in my position you would do it, too.”
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And she insists they only endorse stuff they believe in.
“I genuinely have used everything I promoted. If I didn’t believe in it I wouldn’t do it. I rate everything I post. People slag me off, but I try everything, and if something is s**t I would just say no – and I have.”
During the shoot, Jess gets Dom to take a quick snap of her pretending to work on a laptop and making a fake phone call to promote a watch. The picture pops up on Instagram a few hours later. She also does a Boomerang video with some hair products – although she gives them to her manager moments later saying she “doesn’t want them”.
Meanwhile Dom, 26, is about to set off on a money-spinning, month-long tour of personal appearances, but Jess barely bats her fake lashes at the idea of women in clubs throwing themselves at him. Even though he’s admitted to cheating in the past, she trusts him implicitly.
“I have no doubt women will try it on with him,” she says.
“He’s gorgeous, but he stuck by me when I wasn’t in the villa. I’ve got so much trust for the boy. Even if they try it on then good luck to them, because I know he will be coming home to me. I don’t worry about the fact he cheated before. We’ve all made mistakes and it wasn’t me, it wasn’t our relationship.”
Indeed, they’ve already sealed their two-month-old courtship with matching love-heart/palm-tree tattoos.
“I’ve never got a tattoo with any other guy and I don’t take it lightly,” says Jess.
“Even if it does end, which I don’t think it will, he’s been such a massive part of my life so I wouldn’t regret it anyway.”
The pair are currently inseparable, with Dom even forsaking a lie-in to keep her company all day on our shoot. He makes the most of his time while Jess is in hair and make-up, getting their manager to snap him in various outfits for scheduled paid-for Instagram posts. After his initial interest in the photo shoot wanes, he goes to a sofa in the corner and promptly falls asleep.
But the course of true love doesn’t always run smooth, and Jess and Dom’s romance certainly got off to a rocky start.
When she entered the villa, she was offered the chance to “steal a man” from one of the girls. Dom was coupled up with Montana Brown, but despite him begging Jess not to pick him, she did it anyway.
Sure enough, after their first date he was smitten (isn’t love fickle?), and although Jess vowed she wouldn’t have sex on screen, they became the first couple to go all the way.
“I was adamant I wasn’t having sex, but I definitely made him wait,” she says of the six days she made Dom hold out.
“I don’t regret it at all. It wasn’t a one-night thing. But in the future I won’t let my kids watch that show. I even worry my little sister saw it.”
However, after just two weeks they were torn apart when Jess was dumped off the show along with “Muggy” Mike Thalassitis. After the pair looked cosy leaving together, stories emerged they’d had sex back at the hotel – something they both deny.
“I’ve always got on with Mike regardless of the rumours. I gave him a hug at the wrap party. I’m friendly with him but there is nothing between us. I don’t have one-night stands. My friends all said it was ridiculous because they knew it wouldn’t have happened. Dom knows the truth and that’s all that matters.”
Jeremy Kyle offered Mike a huge fee to do a lie detector test, and Jess is so convinced of her innocence that she would happily do one, too.
“No one has asked me, though. Do you know what? I don’t feel like I need to. I could do one. I’ve been telling the truth the whole time and so has he. It’ll blow over at some point… hopefully.”
But while Dom never doubted her, Jess admitted it did affect her first meeting with his parents, who worried she had cheated on their son.
“Dom’s really close to his family. I wouldn’t say they gave me a hard time, but due to all the stories they were dubious about me. But then they saw us together, and I think I’ve got the seal of the approval now.”
When they were reunited after the show they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, and Jess claims today that he’s the best lover she’s had – although with Dom sitting next to her, she’s hardly likely to say otherwise.
“The first night outside the villa we were a bit tipsy. I’m not sure Dom remembers much. It was very much grabbing each other. Dom is the best sex I’ve ever had. I may not have been his first, but I’d better be his last.
“We haven’t even had the chance to be that wild yet to be honest – we’re always really tired. It sounds ridiculous because we are in these lovely hotel rooms, but we go to sleep. We’re a bit boring, like a married couple.
We’re a bit boring, like a married couple.
Jessica Shears
“We don’t really spend any time apart, and when we do we just text non-stop saying we miss each other. We do bicker. He does annoy me and I’m sure I annoy him. Sometimes I’m like: ‘Go away!’ and we’ll have a spat, but it’s nothing big. I’m not sick of him and I hope he’s not sick of me. Being apart for two weeks made us appreciate each other. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
In fact, the pair have already passed the ultimate intimacy test – breaking wind in front of each other.
“We are so comfortable with each other, it’s kinda worrying because this stuff usually takes months. I farted in front of him last night. We had coffee this morning and we were saying we needed a poo. It’s so gross and you shouldn’t be discussing it, but we do.”
It’s gone a bit TMI, but it’s true that they seem like they’ve been together years. Dom fusses about getting Jess drinks while she plates him up lunch from the buffet, and he expertly does up her bra in-between outfit changes.
When Jess worries that the clothes are too loose and don’t suit her, Dom endlessly compliments her, rushing to hug her when she shows any sign of insecurity.
“When I am having a bad day and look gross, Dom always tells me I’m amazing. When I’ve put on weight he says: ‘I love you just the way you are.’ He’s done wonders for the way I feel about myself.”
Jess was one of the curviest contestants on the show this year, with even show host Caroline Flack claiming that the super-slim girls portrayed an unrealistic body image.
“I was 100% one of the curviest in there,” says Jess.
“I’m not ashamed about it, but I do think that’s bad. The girls in Love Island were very slim. I think they should have girls who are bigger than me represented in the villa because we’re all beautiful. The only thing I felt self-conscious about was everyone borrowing clothes because I knew I wouldn’t fit into theirs.
“I will never be the skinniest girl – I’ve accepted it and I’m happy with it. For years, all I wanted was to be a skinny girl, then I was one of them, but I made myself ill. It doesn’t suit me. I’m at a healthy size now because I don’t starve myself.”
Jess is also keen to reverse the 32GG boob job she had when she was 20. Before signing up to Love Island, she was a glamour model and influencer who already had tens of thousands of Instagram followers.
“My boob job isn’t great. It was a bad decision made at a young age when my body confidence wasn’t what it is now. I’m going to have it fixed, and I can’t wait to have normal-sized boobs. I’m going to go half the size.”
And her enhanced lips?
“I’m open about having fillers,” she says.
“It’s worse to deny it and give the impression I look like this naturally. I do think it’s sad that young girls want to change themselves, but fillers aren’t permanent. It’s just like getting hair extensions.”
Fellow Islander Camilla Thurlow became a viewers’ favourite after her argument with Jonny Mitchell about who should pay for dinner prompted a much wider debate both inside and outside the villa on feminism – something Jess is keen to learn more about.
“I would hope that I am a feminist,” she says, a little cautiously.
“I do use my sexuality to get places and earn me money, but that’s my choice. I don’t know enough about the issues.
“I want to be as switched-on as Camilla is and I’ve asked her to have coffee with me because I’ve got so much to learn. I don’t think enough people realise [equality] is still an issue for women, so I’m glad that it started a conversation. Shows like Love Island can get a bad rap – that 20-somethings just want to get drunk or have sex – so I’m glad it’s brought up a deeper subject.”
Ask Jess what she hopes for in the future and the answer is quite surprising.“Everyone thinks I’m really fame hungry and I’m in it all for the money, but I’m not. The money is a bonus. I’d like to be a stay-at-home mum and take dogs for a walk and do yoga – that would be the goal. Dom is what I want. We want to get a house, but we’ve talked marriage and kids because I wouldn’t mind spending forever with him.”