LOVE Island producers take great pains to shield the cast from what goes on outside the villa walls.
But former contestant Rykard Jenkins – who was on series two with this year’s returning bombshell Kady McDermott – claims he had secret access to the real world.
Rykard Jenkins was on series 2 of Love Island
Kady McDermott was originally in Rykard’s series too
The Islanders are given phones to message each other on, but producers ensure they aren’t connected to the internet.
However, Rykard claims he managed to “hack” the system and would read up on what the public thought of him and his fellow contestants, and keep up with the news.
Speaking to HOAR, the personal trainer-turned-aesthetics practitioner recalls: “Every night before I went to bed, I’d get my phone out and Google ‘Love Island’ and see all the articles online, talking about us – including myself.
“I didn’t tell anyone. I read when Muhammad Ali died and I was just there like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I got quite addicted to it.
“People would be like, ‘Rykard, why are you still in bed?’ And I’d just be like ‘I’m still sleeping,’ and put my head under the duvet. It was crazy!”
He claims producers eventually rumbled him after he accidentally pressed play on a video within an article he was reading.
“I pressed it, and it was Zara [Holland]‘s voice going, ‘The person I want to couple up with is…’ and it was so loud, everyone heard it,” Rykard chuckles.
“I tried to cough over it, but the producer came up straight away because there was a microphone on the bed, and they were like, ‘Give me the phone!’”
Kady’s ‘Psycho Nights’
Kady’s behaviour on Rykard’s series coined the phrase Psycho Nights
Recalling his time with Kady – who caused a stir when she entered the villa last week by stealing Zachariah Noble from Molly Marsh – Rykard put her so-called “psycho” antics down to her age.
Kady was just 20 when she first starred on the show in 2016.
Rykard says she inspired the cast calling the evenings when new singletons entered the villa “Psycho Night”.
“All the girls – and the boys – would go absolutely crazy,” he says.
“They get really protective, and start running up to the boys going, ‘Babe, do you love me? Do you want to be with me?’
“And then the arguments start happening and the boys are just trying to talk to the new girls, and everyone starts going crazy.
“Kady used to go mental because we all used to go mental, but she kept going mental even when everyone else calmed down.
“Two or three people had come in and we were like, ‘Right, we need to stop doing the Psycho Nights now,’ but Kady was young at the time, so she would still have her little spurt out.”
Why Zach didn’t leave for love
Rykard quit Love Island when Rachel Fenton was dumped from the villa
Rykard isn’t shocked Zach didn’t leave with Molly
In a cruel twist, Molly Marsh was abruptly dumped from the island on Friday when Kady chose to couple up with Zach. Despite saying he had feelings for Molly, Zach chose to stay put.
And he didn’t appear heartbroken for long – he’s since tried to snog Kady on the terrace, but she rejected him.
Rykard was the first person to voluntarily leave Love Island for love when his girlfriend at the time, Rachel Fenton, was dumped.
But he’d now be more surprised if someone left for love over choosing to stay.
He says: “When someone doesn’t leave, and they’re like, ‘Oh yeah I really care about them but I just want to stay here and feel out the process,’ it’s like, you’re staying to meet someone else or staying for followers. Pick one.
“If you really like the person, then you don’t need to be there, and that’s the way I saw it.
“Imagine building a little mini relationship, and getting to know someone, and then the moment they get booted off, you’re just like, ‘Well, see you on the other side?’”
He continues: “When people don’t go, I’m just like ‘of course you didn’t go.’ It’s kind of expected.
“Everyone’s there for their own opportunities and they’ve got to fulfil them to the fullest.”
Intense filming and set-up conversations
Rykard found the amount of filming and conversations that were set up intense
Despite breaking up with Rachel a year and a half after Love Island, Rykard doesn’t regret leaving.
In fact, he claims he found the filming quite intense due to producers coming in and “interrupting” conversations to make them repeat themselves.
He says: “Imagine you’re having a proper, genuine conversation with someone and, as you’re about to get deep, someone comes in and says, ‘Wait, don’t say nothing. Do not speak right now. Wait, wait, wait.’
“Then someone will ask, ‘Is the camera set up? Can we hear the mics alright?’ and then go ‘Right, can you start that again please? But can you sit over there?’
“Tthat’s the only thing that used to jar me a little bit because I’m having a genuine conversation and I’ve actually got feelings here and I’m being told to start again.”
He continues: “It becomes like you’re in a classroom being told what to do, and you kind of get set up to have a laugh.
“And when I felt that energy a little bit, sometimes, I was a bit anxious thinking, when’s the downtime coming? When can we crack on and have a bit of banter?
“I’d only really start having a laugh when it was dinner time because everyone in production would come out and change your mics up, so no one was filming and none of the crew were really telling you what to do.
“They were more relaxed, and would just banter with you. And it was actually really fun.”
Love Island declined to comment.
