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Love Island 2021’s first OFFICIAL contestant revealed as Sharon Gaffka – UK’s Miss International beauty queen
LOVE Island bosses are repeating history by hiring another world-beating beauty pageant queen — five years after Zara Holland lost her Miss GB title for having sex on the show.
Producers have signed up multi-lingual lawyer Sharon Gaffka, 25, who won Miss International UK in 2018, and represented Britain in a worldwide tournament.
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Since her beauty queen days, she has worked in the Civil Service, most recently for the Department for Transport and worked on the launch of the doomed Test and Trace system.
She also has a law degree from the University of London and speaks Indonesian and French.
Former Love Island contestant Zara, 25, who appeared on the show in 2016, was stripped of her Miss Great Britain title when she had sex with co-star Alex Bowen.
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As well as finding the time to share stunning, bikini-clad selfies with her near 15,000 followers on Instagram, Sharon is an ambassador for The Young Women’s Trust — a feminist organisation working to achieve economic justice for young women.
Writing on her social media, Sharon, from Didcot, said: “It takes years as a woman to unlearn all the things you’ve been taught to be sorry for.”
The model is also an advocate for equal rights for women’s menstrual hygiene, working as an influencer for a tampon brand that endeavours to fight “period poverty”.
The opening episode of last year’s series reached 4.8 million viewers - but Sharon appears to be well-equipped to deal with being thrown into the spotlight.
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Speaking about her pageantry success, she said: “People are going to talk about you, no matter what you do.
“So you might as well do whatever brings you joy, and live your best life.”
The new Love Islanders will experience an increased “duty of care” from the show, ITV bosses announced this week.
They are hiring a new clinical psychologist, Dr Matthew Gould, in an ongoing bid to review their procedures and monitor stars.
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The Islanders will get mandatory therapy sessions, extensive social media training (including how to handle trolls) and receive financial advice.
It comes after Sophie Gradon, who featured in the 2016 series, took her own life two years later aged 32, and ex-footballer Mike Thalassitis was found dead in a park in North London in 2019 aged 26, having taken part on the show two years earlier.
The casting team have also aimed to have more diverse contestants appear this series - with Love Island set to have its first disabled star.
Love Island 2021 start date finally confirmed by Holly Willoughby on This Morning
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