One woman who auditioned for a number of reality TV shows has opened up on how the application and interview process goes before contestants find their place on Love Island.
TikTok star Summer Fox claims that she first applied for the widely-watched ITV2 series via an online form when she was 22 - and initially feared that she wouldn't make it very far.
However, she was left completely bamboozled after receiving a phone interview, before being asked to attend an in-person audition weeks later.
Read more: Love Island's Olivia and Zara 'rumbled' by fans for 'past' outside of show as row erupts
The Mirror reports that Summer explained the audition process put a lot of focus on gauging her personality, as well as asking several questions about her dating history and even getting her to dish on some of her best-kept secrets - which she believes would have been used against her on the show if she had made it to the final cast.
In a video posted to her @summerfox___ account on TikTok, she said: "I applied via the website and sent in a two-minute video of myself in like 'Hi guys. I'd be good for Love Island because...', [it was] so cringy, you wouldn't want anyone to see that video.
"They actually called me like three weeks later. We had an hour-long conversation on the phone. I just walked them through my dating history and told them a couple of stories. They just want to get a gauge of your personality.
"These producers have a way of making you feel very special and very confident that you're gonna get very far. They're like 'wow, you are amazing', and it brings out more confidence in you, which is the whole point. But it does inspire a lot of false hope.
"So anyway, I then got an email from ITV officially like asking me to come into the ITV Studios. They told me when and where to be there, what to wear - like a dressing for a date night kind of thing. And they said 'have a couple of stories prepared, we want to get a good gauge on your personality and stuff.'"
Summer confessed she was told not to tell anyone about her audition, but she ended up spilling the gossip to everyone she worked with - who were all "really excited" for her. She added: "I was so excited. Not supposed to tell anyone, I told everyone.
"I told my whole work. I worked on a construction site at the time and I was telling my construction manager, the toilet cleaners, I was telling everyone and they were all really excited for me."
And when she attended the in-person audition, Summer was shocked to find "50 girls" also waiting for their chance to impress the producers, as she had initially thought she wouldn't see her competition until much later. After filling out a questionnaire, the time came for Summer's official audition - which she found "intense".
She explained: "Anyway, I turned up and I thought it was just going to be me, I didn't think I was going to see anyone else who was auditioning for the show because that'd be f***ing awkward. I walked in and there were like 50 girls just standing in the lobby and I was late so everyone just turned to look at me. It was so intimidating because everyone was so gorgeous.
"We had to fill out these questionnaire forms, and the questions are like, 'tell us a secret about yourself that no one knows.' That's what they're going to use against you later on in the show.
"Then they call my name to go into the audition room. You go in alone, and it's literally like a three-minute audition but it's intense. There is a massive camera in your face, there's a producer next to the camera and you have to look him in the eye and speak in full sentences, so I'd be like, 'Hi I'm Summer, I'm 22 and I work on a construction site.'
"The man would just keep asking me questions to build on my storyline, and I told them my crazy date stories. I thought I did sick. The man even nudged me at the end and was like 'that was the best audition of the day.' Why gas me up just to let me down?"
Summer didn't make it through the in-person auditions, and confessed that if she had made it onto the show, she would have appeared in the 2019 series alongside the likes of Molly-Mae Hague - whom she joked 'stole her job'.
She said: "It actually turned out to be the year Molly-Mae was on it, she stole me f***ing job. I was her in another life."
Have you ever auditioned for a reality TV show? Share your experience with us in the comments below.
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