Footballers on Love Island: What it's like trading the pitch for primetime TV stardom

For non-league footballers in need of a second income, there have always been plenty of options.

Whether it involves getting an office job, taking up a trade or something entirely different, players down the lower-end of the pyramid have been used to getting a day job alongside their football dreams. But, over the past few years, a new option has emerged - Love Island.

The ITV programme has been a huge hit since it relaunched in 2015. Those who appear on the summer show are catapulted into the limelight. One of the many things you can generally expect to see in the villa is at least one sportsman.

Cricketer Max Morley won the first season of the show, which also featured non-league footballer Luis Morrison. Since then, the villa has been graced by a wave of professional and semi-professional players, all of whom has experienced the same transition from the football pitch to a prime time TV slot and instant social media fame.

For some, like former Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Aaron Simpson, actually going on the show was something of a last resort after failing to earn a new deal at Sutton United after their promotion to League Two.

“The whole Love Island process started in January for me, and I was kind of just going along with it as a bit of a joke,” he says. “As the stage progressed I realised there was more and more of a chance of me getting on the show.

“At the end of the season, there was going to be talk at Sutton about whether they would offer me a deal or not. That was the make or break - if I’d gone into that meeting at the end of the season and they’d offered me a new deal, I probably wouldn’t have gone on the show.

“But it turned out I did’t get offered a new deal, so it kind of forced my hand a little