READY TO RULE
Love Island 2021’s first contestant revealed as civil servant Sharon Gaffka
LOVE Island has revealed its first contestant set to crack on this summer - civil servant Sharon Gaffka.
The Sun exclusively revealed the government official - who is also a beauty pageant queen - was snapped by producers five years after Zara Holland lost her Miss GB title for having sex on the show.
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Multi-lingual lawyer Sharon, 25, told ITV ahead of the show launch a week today: "It's been a bit of a running joke between my friendship group for a while that I should apply, probably because I’m the most outrageous one out of the group.
"But also because of Covid and the lockdown, I’m the only single one in my friendship group. They’re either married or planning on getting married. I don’t want to be the only one in the group chat that is single anymore!"
Revealing what she looks for in a romantic partner, Sharon added: "I have this thing where if something doesn’t work out with one person, I’ll try and go for the other extreme to see if that works out.
"I tend to date someone who is taller than me, even though my last long-term partner, he was actually someone who was shorter than me. I’m quite an intellectual person so I want someone who can kind of match that."
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Sharon was revealed on Love Island's Instagram page this morning, with ITV saying: "Sharon has conquered beauty pageants, worked on government policies and is now ready to take on the villa!"
She won Miss International UK in 2018, and represented Britain in a worldwide tournament.
Now she's following in the footsteps of former Love Island contestant Zara, 25, who appeared on the show in 2016.
She was dramatically stripped of her Miss Great Britain title when she had sex with co-star Alex Bowen.
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Since Sharon's 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.
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.
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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.
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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 - Meet this year's contestants as show returns to light up summer
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