Former Love Island contestant Brett Staniland has revealed that he received homophobic abuse after appearing on the show.
The 28-year-old - a qualified doctor and a model - had a brief stint on last year's series, exiting the villa having failed to hit it off with any of the girls on the cast.
As a result, Staniland says that he encountered some unsavoury comments from members of the public when he arrived back in the UK.
"There were a few bad situations at parties I went to and a lot of homophobic abuse against me," he told The Sun.
"The say don't read or engage with the negative stuff online, but it's really hard to escape when it's on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and everywhere else.
"Nothing prepares you for someone coming up to your face and calling you a c*** or a f*****. It's really challenging, but now things got better."
Staniland has previously spoken out in defence of gay rights, telling his Instagram followers: "Calling me gay will never offend me.
"It does not affect me one bit. But when you choose words in a way so that being gay is deemed as wrong, that is when I have an issue with it."
The new series of Love Island begins Monday at 9pm on ITV2.
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