Paige Thorne admits she feels guilty about quitting her job as a paramedic to star on Love Island – but vows to return to the NHS once her ITV2 stint is over.
The Welsh Islander, 24, who qualified as a paramedic six months before the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘didn’t want to risk her chances’ of landing a spot in the TV villa, so resisted giving her bosses longer than three weeks’ notice before jetting to Mallorca.
Speaking ahead of the series launch on Monday, Paige said she left things ‘up in the air’ with her current employer though insists working for the NHS is her only career aspiration.
‘I didn’t tell my bosses’: Paige Thorne admits she feels guilty about quitting her job as a paramedic to star on Love Island – but vows to return to the NHS once her ITV2 stint is over
Paige said: ‘I didn’t tell my bosses in advance, I probably gave them nowhere near enough time that I should have.
‘But you don’t find out until really close to the time if you get on the show. I didn’t want to risk my chances and start saying stuff beforehand.
‘I gave them three weeks’ notice, which left it all a bit up in the air because I didn’t give enough time but yeah.
‘I will 1000 percent go back to being a paramedic. I love my job it gives me everything I could want from a job. I’m too much of a peoples’ person to not go back to something like that.’
‘It’s all a bit up in the air’: The Welsh Islander ‘didn’t want to risk her chances’ of landing a spot in the TV villa, so resisted giving her bosses longer than three weeks’ notice
Paige became a pandemic six months before the global pandemic hit and says she had to ‘switch off’ after working intense days on the front line.
She explained: ‘For my career and me I have only ever known the pandemic.
‘I was supported and there was a lot in place to make sure I was protected but Covid is the norm for me. I feel like I don’t know any different.
‘When somebody is suffering from Covid it is really difficult to see because there’s not a lot we can do for it. It’s one of those things you have to switch off from and not take home with you.’
‘I don’t know any different’: Paige became a pandemic six months before the global pandemic hit and says she had to ‘switch off’ after working intense days on the front line
Paige’s father needed some convincing after learning his daughter had signed up to Love Island – and will refuse to watch the show as she cracks on this summer.
‘My mum was super, super supportive and she was like ‘no way.’ My dad on the other hand was like ‘no way’ but in a bad way’, Paige explained.
‘He was like ‘you’re not really going on there are you?’
‘He’s never watched the show so in his mind he’s made it out to be something that it’s not and he doesn’t want his little girl going on there and doing all these bits, so he was really apprehensive.
‘My mum gave him a bit of a telling off and told him to pull himself together and be supportive. He came round in the end and is excited for me bless him, but I don’t think he’ll be tuning in I’ll be honest.
‘I can’t imagine my dad sitting there, he’s too much of a proper dad, dad.’
When asked what she fears most about going on Love Island, Paige admitted she feels unprepared for the rejection she could face from being on a dating show.
She said: ‘I am most nervous about going in and not being anyone’s type and only getting on as friends and not finding any sort of connection whatsoever.
‘That is my most nervous thing – rejection. I don’t know how I’ll cope with the rejection I don’t know where to start. Surely, I’ll have to laugh it off and pretend I didn’t fancy them either and play them at their own game at friend zoning.’
- Love Island returns for its eighth series on Monday 6th June at 9pm on ITV2 and ITV Hub
