Love Island star Jacques O'Neill has shared a message with his thousands of newfound followers following his first TV appearance since leaving the villa. The rugby player exited the ITV2 dating show in emotional scenes aired last week, saying he needed to "get back to himself".
His decision to leave came amid the fallout from the show's annual relationship test Casa Amor. Viewers were in the midst of watching Jacques try and win back Paige Thorne's affections following the most dramatic recoupling yet but it all become too much for the 23-year-old who has since revealed that he was left 'mentally drained' by the experience.
He told The Sun in his first interview that he 'couldn’t cope' on the show, which pairs-up singles in the sunshine with the winning couple scooping £50,000, and said: "Doing Love Island was the worst decision of my life."
On Sunday night (July 17) Jacques joined some of the show's dumped islander on Love Island spin-off Aftersun where he spoke to the programme's host Laura Whitmore. "I needed it, I needed to see the rugby boys and my mum," he told the Irish TV star in his first TV appearance. "It got way too much for me in there, it was one of those situations where I didn't want to be there anymore."
Prior to his appearance on Aftersun, Love Island viewers saw Paige and returning bombshell Adam Collard share their first kiss since coupling up. Speaking of Paige, Jacques said to Laura: "I said to my mum before I went in there that I just wanted to be myself in my next relationship. Literally, I told her everything about me, I wanted a girl to like me for who I am. I wanted a best friend and I found that in her.
"She's doing what she's doing now and I said she needed to do that before I left. I f**ked up in Casa, fair enough, I hold my hands up and I regret that. Even after the night of madness with Cheyanne, I woke up the next day and felt sick thinking what had I done. In there it was more than a TV show for me, I had genuine feelings and that's why I wanted out because it was all a bit too much."
Viewers were left 'concerned' over Jacques' appearance on the programme while also sharing their support and hopes that he'll get the right help in order to get back to himself. He then took to Instagram himself to share a message to his new fans.
Sharing a collage of images of him on Aftersun created by a fan page, the former islander said: "Thank you for all the support & love last night! I really appreciate it."
And he appears to be getting back into the swing of the outside world again as he reunited with Antigoni Buxton. He re-shared some videos to his Instagram Story as he and his mum, Janet, joined the singer and her famous chef mum Tonia out for breakfast on Monday (July 18).
Sharing a video of him with Antigoni smiling as the sun shone down, Jacques tagged his new friend, calling her his 'bestie' before adding a heart emoji.
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