I was dumped and sent home with £200, then my co-star took his own life and it broke me. All young women seeking reality TV fame must heed my warning, says Love Island’s ELLISHA-JADE WHITE

For some, like Molly-Mae Hague and Maura Higgins, stepping into the villa on Love Island has led to lucrative brand deals, social media stardom and overnight fame.

But for others, this began the darkest chapter of their lives.

In 2017, Ellisha-Jade White was a 22-year-old marketing graduate with dreams of working in broadcasting when the producers of ITV’s Love Island asked her to appear in the third series of the programme. He claims he was told it would help launch a career in show business And It provides the opportunity to find love.

For many of the season’s contestants, including Olivia Attwood, Chris Hughes and Amber Davies, life beyond the villa has indeed brought fame and fortune.

But nine years later, Ellisha-Jade, now 31, told the Daily Mail how the experience triggered her exhausting battle with agoraphobia and how difficult it was to rebuild a normal life when the cameras stopped rolling.

‘The dark truth is that no one prepares you for what comes next,’ he says. ‘These production companies are not educating young, naive contestants about the psychological cost of the reality TV meat grinder.’

He appeared in the show’s third season alongside Olivia Attwood, Chris Hughes (both pictured) and Amber Davies, who went on to have a successful career after leaving the villa.

Ellisha-Jade claims she was used as a “guinea pig” for Love Island’s famous “Casa Amor twist”.

For the first few seasons, all contestants stayed in a single villa for the duration of the show. To stay on the show, they had to ‘match’, meaning they chose someone to be their romantic partner. Meanwhile, bachelorettes were kicked out of the villa as new stars were introduced throughout the season to challenge existing partnerships.

However, in the third season, producers introduced the ‘Casa Amor’ element, where male and female contestants move into single-sex villas mid-filming. The newly singles then had to unite with existing contestants, many of whom were already in relationships, or face being sent home.

Ellisha-Jade says she felt like she was used as a guinea pig by producers because she wasn’t informed about the Casa Amor incident and was expected to join the regular villa. When he was sent home just a few days later he was given £200 compensation and no other support.

Before going on the show, Ellisha-Jade hoped it would change her life. Of course it did, but not in the positive way he had hoped.

He said: ‘My journey with the series started in 2016. An ITV producer found me on social media and then messaged me on Facebook asking me to move on to the second series. I said no. But when they got back to me in 2017, I finally said yes.

‘I thought my life was about to change forever. At that time, the basis of the show was not like it is today. Now people are getting into it to build their careers as influencers. At the time, it was framed as a genuine way to find a relationship and start your TV career. My dream was to become a television presenter. And it felt like the perfect way to break into this industry.

‘The producers told us we would be famous and the managers would be waiting for us. They don’t warn you about what will happen if things don’t go well.’

After a grueling application process, interviews and promotional days, Ellisha-Jade flew to Mallorca to attend her first Casa Amor as a ‘bombshell’; This is an attractive new contestant sent to disrupt existing relationships.

Ellisha-Jade said: ‘I was told I would be dropped off at the villa to shake up the story. I flew to Spain, but before I could even see the cameras, I was put in solitary confinement in a hotel for three days. None of us had any idea what was going to happen. We assumed we would enter directly into the regular main villa.

Ellisha-Jade explained: ‘I don’t think we get paid enough; Just £200 as compensation for the ten days I was away’

After a grueling application process, interviews and press days, Ellisha-Jade flew to Mallorca to enter the bombshell first Casa Amor. But he says he was used as a guinea pig

‘Then six of us girls got into a car and the moment we saw each other my heart sank. We noticed that six boys and six girls were spread out in two different houses. Everyone knew about the two villas from the fourth series, but we were the first guinea pigs. With so many people competing for such a tiny fraction of airtime, I knew things weren’t going to go well.’

At the end of the Casa Amor era, only two of the six new girls were chosen to go to the main villa, and the rest, including Ellisha-Jade, were sent home.

‘I don’t think we get paid enough; “Just £200 as compensation for the ten days I was away,” he said.

After returning to life at Southampton, his mental health deteriorated and he felt unsupported by the show’s bosses.

“You feel like you’re supposed to be rich and flashy, but you come back into the real world with nothing,” he continued. ‘The other girls from that season showed up with a million followers and exactly the presentations I wanted. I came out with 25,000 followers and my glow of fame faded within a month.

‘The emotional toll of this transition was extremely traumatic. ‘The sudden accident caused severe anxiety that eventually manifested as agoraphobia.’

Ellisha-Jade struggled with anxiety attacks for years after the show. He said: ‘I’ll never forget sitting in the back of a car with two friends when my arms started tingling and I couldn’t breathe. I was presented with a full-blown panic attack in A&E.

‘I had to go to hospital twice due to the attacks. I had to go through all kinds of intense therapy to train myself to get back on public transportation. To this day, I still carry a history of agoraphobia and anxiety, and I have a “pill in my pocket” agreement with my doctor to keep propranolol on hand. [a beta-blocker to treat anxiety] It’s on me just in case.”

Ellisha-Jade’s struggles are not unique.

After returning to her life in Southampton, Ellisha-Jade’s mental health deteriorated and she developed agoraphobia and suffered from anxiety and panic attacks.

A new documentary on Prime Video will revisit the tragic stories of former contestants who died after appearing on Love Island; including Mike Thalassitis (pictured), who took his own life

Love Island has previously been sparked by the suicide of three former contestants due to the lack of aftercare it offered contestants.

A new documentary revisiting the tragic stories of deceased former contestants will be released on Amazon Prime Video at the end of July.

Former Hollyoaks actor Paul Danan appeared in the first series to feature existing celebrities as contestants in 2005. He then struggled for years and died last year, aged just 46, after taking drugs at his home in Bristol.

Former Miss Great Britain Sophie Gradon, who participated in the program in 2016, committed suicide in 2019 when she was 32 years old.

Mike Thalassitis also committed suicide in 2019, at the age of 26, two years after appearing on the dating show.

Ellisha-Jade said: ‘This isn’t just about Love Island. ‘This is a warning to all younger generations desperate to find fame through modern digital channels, be it reality TV, TikTok or Instagram.’

ITV has responded to fans’ concerns by expanding the aftercare it provides before, during and after filming Love Island. Support includes psychological evaluations, a minimum of eight therapy sessions and 14 months of post-show support.

Although Ellisha-Jade says she has moved on and now works as a PR and social media manager, as well as studying psychology, she wants to warn other young people about the consequences of taking part in a program like Love Island.

‘When young people look at reality TV stars and influencers they see nothing but vanity, but this has a huge, hidden human cost,’ he said. ‘If you don’t end up super famous, you’re going to have to change completely, rebuild your mental health and find a way to survive in the real world.’

He wants to leave young hopefuls with this warning: ‘Reality TV is not a shortcut to a life of luxury. ‘For most of us this is a long and painful road back to normal.’