Love Island All Stars winner Gabby Allen has spoken out after fans of the ITV dating programme have called for the show to be rested for a period of time
A Love Island winner has spoken out amid calls for the show to be “rested”. Gabby Allen, who won All Stars with Casey O’Gorman last year, has revealed ahead of the launch tonight, she will be cancelling her plans and sitting in front of the TV.
The series was due to start earlier this week, but it was delayed due to ongoing wildfires in South Africa, which had caused road closures surrounding the villa. Bosses were left “scrambling” when they were forced to postpone the first day of filming over the weekend.
But on Wednesday, it was revealed that filming had started and the show would air tonight. “They say that every year,” Gabby said of people calling for Love Island to be paused. She added: “I think every year, the show is different. I don’t think they should pause it. I look forward to it – even in the summer – we don’t get a lot of sun, but I’m at home watching it at 9pm every night.
“Everybody talks about Love Island all the time.” And although Gabby has been on the show twice, she’s still a huge fan of the programme. “I’m a super fan,” she said. She added: “I couldn;t believe that it couldn’t start on Monday but I’m so excited, I’m going to be there with my feet up at 9pm.”
“I’m just glad everyone’s ok though,” she said of the wildfires. Last year, her second time on the show was extremely different to her first stint back in 2017 when Caroline Flack was helping singletons look for love. And not just with the new format and a new host, but fans also saw the real Gabby.
“It felt different this time,” Gabby explained, adding: “I was just authentically myself, and I just thought I was being myself, and it made the whole experience more pleasurable. I wasn’t worried about what everybody else was thinking all the time.
“I think that comes across well when you can tell that somebody is just being themselves. It’s the better way to make connections, and I don’t even mean with guys, but also with friends. It makes your experience so much more fun if you can let that guard down.”
Gabby split from her boyfriend, Casey O’Gorman, in May last year, just three months after they won All Stars. But since then, the TV star has been dating, although she’s ruled out a full relationship. She said: “Last year was such a career-driven year for me, you know, doing Celebrity SAS and also working on my own fitness brand, I was so focused on that, dating was on the back foot.
“I hadn’t met anybody who really blew my socks off. When it happens, it happens, I’m not in a huge rush.” But with the rise of apps including Tinder and Hinge, Gabby admits that dating can be a “minefield”. Instead, she wants to meet her next partner in an organic way.
“When you’re in the same setting, you automatically have something in common,” she explained. Gabby continued: “If you go to a music night or something, you have the same interests.” But, she’s not put off by dating apps, having seen first-hand how successful relationships formed after swiping can be.
“I’ve got friends who met their partners on apps, people have married and everything – it does work, it takes a lot of energy and scheduling,” she laughed. This year, fans saw yet another side to Gabby on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
But going into the show, she had no idea how the show would be edited. “It was so rewarding, I didn’t know how it was going to be edited or shown,” she said, adding: “When it came out, watching it back has been amazing. I’m so grateful that they’ve shown what they have of everybody; everybody’s been able to tell their story.
“It was really challenging and difficult, but amazing. I’d do it again.” However, Gabby was nervous to open up on camera, given that she had never shared some sides of her life on screen. During one episode, she opened up about the death of her dad, Mike. Gabby was just 20 when her father died from a form of brain cancer at the age of 54.
While becoming emotional on the show, she explained: “It was a very quick turnaround from him just being normal to passing away.” “I knew that going in there, I was ready to put myself in that position to show people that everyone’s got more sides than what they already know – it was scary but rewarding,” she told us.
Speaking about being so open and reflecting on her mental health in the mirror room, Gabby said: “I spoke about my scoliosis and losing my dad to brain cancer – I’ve had so many messages from people saying how they relate to my story, from either scoliosis to the brain tumour.
“To know that other people are going through the same thing, you’re not on your own, and it brings peace to know other people are going through it. It’s nice for people to see that side of me.” This year, though, Gabby is focusing on her own brand – a female-only community, with women from all walks of life focusing on their fitness.
She explained: “I want as many women as possible to feel healthy. It’s not about anything else; it’s just about feeling healthy and fit. We’re not getting any younger! I’m. going into this year with as many strong women as possible.”
Love Island: All Stars launches tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Source: Mirror
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