NO one wants to be the first person dumped from Love Island – especially after all the preening and prepping they put themselves through for their shot at fame.
But George Fensom was the latest reality show hopeful to receive the dubious honour of being first to get the boot from the villa.
George Fensom was the first person to be dumped from this year’s Love Island
The Alberti Twins were the first ever people to be dumped from Love Island
Back in 2015 it was John and Tony Alberti, AKA the Alberti Twins, who said an early goodbye after they were dumped first in week one.
However, far from falling off the face of the earth, the 37-year-old brothers are now TV chefs in the States, seen on The Today Show, with over 300,000 followers on Instagram.
And in an exclusive interview with HOAR, they’ve got some advice for George if he wants to stay in the spotlight – as they hint they may even make a return to the villa…
‘The original Italian stallions’
Former property developers John and Tony had no idea Love Island would blow up when they applied for series one.
But the reason they went on was to make a name for themselves.
“We were the original Italian Stallions, and we always knew it was a good platform for us to go on,” John says.
“We obviously didn’t go on there to find love. We never had trouble getting the girls, and it was just a good opportunity, and a lot of fun.”
Tony adds: “Obviously the show has got even bigger now, but we knew, in our mind, that our goal was to come off there and start doing what we wanted to do, which is cooking on TV.”
John and Tony are now TV chefs
John and Tony Alberti on the Today show
Famous in the States
After exiting the villa John and Tony started up a blog and their YouTube cooking channel, where they whip up Italian favourites.
“That’s when we were spotted by an NBC producer in New York for the Today Show,” John explains.
“And it just escalated from there, and we went straight out to America!”
Tony adds: “If you want to do something afterwards, and if you’ve got a passion and talent, you can do it.
“Love Island is a good platform but, once you come off it, you have to do everything yourself.
“We always say everything we’ve done now, we’ve done it ourselves. We were in there the least amount of time but we’re now on TV in America doing what we love.
“You’ve got to work hard at it and you can achieve it.”
‘Thick skin’
The twins even have their own Italian cookbook
The twins have one piece of advice for axed Love Islander George, 24.
“When you’re going on to shows like that, you have to have a thick skin,” says John.
“We got a lot of stick coming off it and I think everybody does.
“We’ve got a thick skin, nothing really bothered us, so it didn’t affect us at all.”
Tony adds: “I liked [the trolling]… The attention was funny. I found it hilarious.
“You’ve got to know, going on to a show like that, the repercussions from it and the reactions from the public, but you’ve got to take it with a pinch of salt.
“There are trolls in any walk of life but you’ve just got to have thick skin.”
‘Islanders won’t be friends’
While George and his fellow islanders were seen crying and hugging as he walked out of the villa, the twins reckon he’s unlikely to remain friends with most of them.
“The thing is you always think you’re going to be friends afterwards, but you all just go your separate ways,” says Tony.
“You all live in different parts of the country.”
John adds: “We’re still friends on Instagram with some of them, and DM some of the girls now and again, but the thing is you’re thrown into a villa, and you don’t know these people.
“You are complete strangers, so to build a friendship long-term is very difficult.
“I think a lot of people in years to come probably won’t be speaking to each other, but that’s just the way it is.”
Cheeky return?
The twins teased a return to the villa
The Alberti twins still get recognised to this day – but more so Stateside for their cooking rather than their Love Island antics.
“Obviously we’re twins anyway, so when we’re walking down the street, people have always looked at us and we stand out,” says John. “But people do still recognise us because of Love Island.”
“We’re a vision!” adds Tony. “The funny thing is we get recognised a lot in America for the cooking but over here for Love Island.
“We’ve been on the Today Show in New York, went on NBC, the Hallmark Channel in LA. We do a lot of cooking over in Toronto too, and we’ve got our cookbook out.”
Tony and John have been recently working with Foodies festival, travelling the UK and cooking for audiences there.
They’re also in the middle of writing their second cookbook, which will be out by the end of the year, or early 2024.
Tony says: “We want to do more food festivals in the UK, more cooking, more TV in the UK, and eventually, we want to open our own Italian restaurants, start creating our own products and getting them into supermarkets.”
“We might even make an appearance on Love Island again,” adds John, with a wink.
“But we’re both taken, so we’ll be teaching them cooking!”
