Love Island contestant Jacques O'Neill has told how he walked out of the villa before he quit the show following a heated moment over bombshell Adam Collard. The rugby player said he left the villa following the row in order to remove himself from the situation.
Jacques, who was coupled up with Welsh paramedic Paige Thorne, also said he was left "broken" by the hit ITV2 dating show and turned down the show's attempt to convince him to reconsider. "I was ready to break down," he explained to The Sun. "I was feeling so mentally drained, I just wanted to go home and get myself right."
The 23-year-old also opened up about his ADHD and said doing the series was "the worst decision of his life".
Read more: Love Island fans quiz whether they're 'watching the wrong show' as new episode airs
Tensions rose in the villa last week after Jacques learned that Adam had been talking about him behind his back after setting his sights on Paige. "If he wants to f**king go, I'll go, mate," Jacques was heard saying before pressing Paige for the details.
And now Jacques has confessed he feared he would get physical with Adam if he didn't get out. Jacques told the publication: "I thought if I don't get myself out things could go horribly wrong and I could get physical.
"At home you can remove yourself from situations, but in there you had to deal with every situation, and in that moment I took my microphone off, and walked straight through the front doors because I just wanted to get out of that place.
"Producers tried coming to me, they were like, 'Jacques, are you OK? I was saying, 'I don't want to speak to you or anyone. I want to be left to myself.' It was too much.
"I was saying to them, 'This is more than a TV show to me', it was genuine feelings involved and my headspace wasn't right to be in a TV show. I dealt with stuff in there that I've never dealt with in my life."
Jacques also said that he left the villa last Sunday night, although viewers only found out on Tuesday that he had gone. He said: "That morning, I spoke to Mike, the big boss, and said I wanted to leave, 'I'm ready to go, I want to get out of here.'
He added: "He calmed me down a bit and was like, 'mate, we don't want to see you go, you're doing great in there, you'll be fine.'" Jacques then says he had a "welfare chat" and was "getting called to the Beach Hut to speak to producers."
He explained: "In the end I couldn't deal with it, I wanted to get out of the place. I was crying, saying to them 'I'm ready to go home'."
On the situation, Jacques added: "Any little thing in the villa, in the end, started bothering me and I was just getting in so much of a rut.
“I know the way I spoke to Paige was wrong. I tried to apologise and she kept asking why I did it. ADHD isn’t just about not being able to concentrate. It’s also about feeling anxious quite a lot, being on edge a lot."
An ITV spokesperson said: "We cannot comment on any individual's medical records owing to confidentiality and our own duty of care towards the Islanders, however we have rigorous and extensive checks in place to assess Islanders' physical and mental health in advance of being cleared to enter the Villa. This is something we take extremely seriously.
"As we said at the time, Jacques made the decision to leave and we respected that decision. Islanders are welcome to leave should they choose to do so and we would never put pressure on someone to stay in the Villa." For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
READ NEXT:
Inside Welsh Love Island contestant Paige Thorne's Swansea home
- Love Island: Where are the Welsh contestants now?
- Jacques O'Neill quits Love Island 2022 as ITV issues statement
All the Love Island couples who got married or had babies together
Winter Love Island will return in 2023 as ITV announces two series will air
