Love Island's Olivia Hawkins has admitted that it's 'scary to leave the villa bubble' as she explained it 'takes weeks to adjust'.
OK!'s weekly Love Island columnist spent seven weeks in the Love Island villa in South Africa earlier this year, which is where the winter series of the show is filmed.
Speaking exclusively to us, Olivia, 28, dished on what it's really like to leave the show, and enter back into normal life. She told us: "Despite being ready to leave the Love Island villa when I was voted off, it's actually really scary – it takes weeks to adjust back to being in the normal world.
"I was in the villa for a really long time – seven weeks – so when I left and I got in the car to leave, I had to ask the producers: 'Can I actually take my mic off now and say whatever I want?'
"It's a strange concept going in the villa and then coming out and everyone knows you."
Olivia continued: "It was really nice seeing my grandparents and family, because it's like coming back to normality, but it's bizarre when you go into a shop and people ask you about the show and what it's really like in there.
"You do get sick of talking about Love Island after a while, but obviously, everyone is really interested in it, and I am grateful for that, and for the experience I had – I wouldn't change it for the world."
Olivia also gave a behind-the-scenes look at the recouplings on the show which, despite only being shown for around 10-15 minutes on TV, actually take several hours of filming – sometimes until the early hours of the morning.
She recalled one time when she discovered the time from one of the cameraman's cameras [Islanders are not supposed to know the time when in the villa] and she realised how late it was – six in the morning.
Liv described how the Islanders still had to wait another hour until filming had wrapped and they could go to bed.
Meanwhile, in this week's instalment of Liv's Love Island column for OK!, she said Ella Thomas needs to own her time in Casa Amor.
She said: "It's been very dramatic for Ella and Tyrique and I did feel for him when she came back from Casa Amor. I don't think it was nice for anyone to see Ella upset, but she needs to own what she did in Casa Amor and then move on from it.
"She got to know Ouzy, and now Tyrique knows, so she just needs to hold her hands up. Tyrique has matured so much in the villa, and it's nice to see. Watching him on the show has definitely changed my opinion of him for the better."
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