Ellie JacksonAppearing on reality television and being watched by millions of people often brings with it dreams of fame, fortune and a glittering career in the spotlight.
Some who appear on shows such as Love Island – including influencers Molly-Mae Hague and Maura Higgins – use their time in the villa as springboards to far greater success.
But what happens when your time in the sun comes to an end?
Ellie Jackson, 24, from Cardiff, spent nine days on Love Island after entering via Casa Amor in 2024, and has opened up on what it is like going back to the 9-5.
“I’ve watched Love Island since it started, I’m seeing the likes of Molly-Mae and Maura Higgins, the really top sort of influencers, and I just thought, ‘oh my gosh this could really change my life, I could become one of them’,” she said.
“This is a perfect opportunity going and having a bit of fun on telly, having a flirt with a few boys and get my way into like a different lifestyle.
“But I don’t think I realised it is just only like a select few that actually make it.”
The success of fellow Welsh contestants certainly gave her cause to dream.
Amber Davies, who won the show, is currently on Strictly Come Dancing and performs in the West End, while Liam Reardon and Dr Alex George have both had huge success post-Love Island.
It was Ellie’s friends who encouraged her to follow them into the villa.
At the time she was working for an accountancy firm, and added: “I love the corporate lifestyle, but I’m someone that’s always wanted a little bit more.”
After leaving the villa, she felt huge pressure to do well, with a lot of people assuming she would become a big influencer.
But she was only able to stay self-employed for a year through a few brand deals.
“They were really, really fun but I found myself entering kind of like a toxic state, my success measure just being completely off, and I was measuring success with the amount of followers that I had, with the amount of brand deals that I had,” she added.
Ellie said her mental health suffered, and some months she would make lots of money, the next, nothing.
There was also negative comments online from people who didn’t know her. She added: “I think after a while, you kind of learn how to cope with them, the block button is free.”
Ellie said she “completely forgot” how successful she was in other ways.
“I just forgot about that part of my life where I’d got an English degree, I got into a really big accountancy firm,” she said.
“I’d forgotten about that and just solely just made my life dependent on my followers and my social media, which was wrong.”
Looking back she realises this was “really toxic”, adding: “I applied to get back into my old job and thankfully they had me back.”
She now has her full-time salary again, with her social media work “a bonus”.
“I’m just really busy and I feel fulfilled now because I’m able to do both things that I love which is being successful at my corporate job and fingers crossed being successful with social media on the side,” she said.
Katie Lloyd is a researcher and lecturer at Cardiff University, and sees a culture among young people where many want to become influencers.
“It is the desired thing. It’s the dream career. Society perceive it as something that is an easy occupation,” she said.
But she said many have a shock, especially those that are “propelled into the starlight” very quickly, which is why she welcomed Ellie being open and honest.
“I think definitely from an audience perspective, people really value that authenticity and openness,” she said.
Jenkin EdwardsJenkin Edwards, 27, from Bridgend was part of the revamped Big Brother series in 2023, which was a “dream” of his since he was a teenager.
Not looking to become a influencer when applying, Jenkin said he initially “struggled” going into social settings after coming out of the house.
” I didn’t know how to navigate being in them situations, it was so wild that it only took six weeks [in the house] to sort of reset it all, but then as time was going on, it was hard to kind of go out and do stuff for the first three months, but I got there in the end,” he said.
Jenkin’s social media content is now filled with videos from his job as a barman.
He added: “I remember not wanting to post that I was back in work because in some way it felt like I’d failed, even though that was my goal.
“I never wanted to be anything other than live a normal life.”
When he left the show, he described being very aware people following him on social media were fans of the show, not necessarily fans of his.
“I’ve got to a place where I’m posting myself and doing my funny videos or whatever I’m doing and I’m getting more followers now as Jenkin instead of Jenkin from Big Brother,” he said.
Dr Howard Fine is a psychologist and founded Mindzone Media, which works on shows such as Big Brother, The Traitors and Hunted.
His team works with cast and crew, and as well as managing the social media aftermath, he reminds people why they appeared on the show in the first place.
“It’s very likely that there’ll be those armchair critics out there that will criticise them and feel that they could have done a better job themselves from the comfort of their armchair,” he said.
“But the reality is that this particular contributor is the one that’s applied for the programme and was selected because of who they are.”
