Jacques O'Neill has confessed to watching himself on Love Island after 'breaking a rule' to discover some of the harsh things written about him over the last few weeks.
The rugby player and ex of fellow Islander Gemma Owen spent over a month in the villa for the latest series of the ITV dating show, before leaving in emotional scenes earlier this week. Sitting down love interest Paige Thorne to break the news to her that he had decided to quit, Jacques said he was leaving to 'be a better person,' in the hope that they could have a few future away from Love Island.
In his final weeks on the programme, Jacques came under fire for some of his behaviour towards Paige, with his family urging viewers to be kind and his sister revealing that the 23-year-old had been diagnosed at a young age. Jacques has now described the choice to do Love Island as 'the worst decision' of his life, saying, that while he enjoyed the first few weeks in the villa, the last few were the 'worst he'd felt,' in his whole life.
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After walking out of the villa, Jacques was put into an apartment before flying back to the UK and, late at night he managed to access the internet using a firestick to read things on a TV set. Talking to The Sun, he said: "They (the producers) went to bed and I stayed off watching TV and there was a fire stick there and I thought I’ll just search my name.
"And I wish I didn’t because the way I felt googling my name and seeing everyone hating me I didn’t know what to do with myself."
He added: "I didn’t sleep that night I just stayed awake, because I was so scared of going out that villa and going home and even facing people in the street.
On Sunday, Jacques opened up on his Love Island experience in a lengthy Instagram post, in which he revealed to fans he'd watched some episodes of the show, with certain bits proving to be a tough watch.
He wrote: "I’ve watched back the episodes that I got the most hate for and listen I understand why I did. I’ve got a lot of work to do for myself to become a better person. I know my family come out and said about my ADHD while I was in the villa but that is no excuse for me. Yes, I might find certain things a lot more difficult than others but at the end of the day I need to take responsibility for my own actions and I’ll hold my hands up.
"I sometimes couldn’t watch how I was speaking and acting in certain situations but I’m actually glad I’ve watched it because now it’s really opened my eyes up and it’s time to work on myself for myself."
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