Greg O’Shea has lifted the lid on how his love life ‘died’ during the pandemic - but told how he’s ‘figuring things out’ at the moment with a new flame.
The Irish Love Island star has been romantically linked to popular UK influencer Kate Hutchins in the past, and ignited rumours again this week as they both shared similar photos from a trip to Mykonos.
As fans speculated on social media, with one asking “Who is on holiday with you Greg?”, the rugby star remained tight-lipped on the identity of the holiday companion, saying, “Travel buddy.”
But some eagle-eyed followers made the connection that Greg and Kate were both holidaying in Mykonos at the same time, with one writing: “He’s dating Kate Hutchins.”
Quizzed on the rumours surrounding his ‘travel buddy’, the Olympian told Irish Daily Mirror: “There was a travel buddy that I'm figuring things out with at the moment.”
The Limerick native, 26, who boasts one million followers on Instagram alone, said he’s weary of sharing too much information about his dating life online early in a relationship.
He said: “Basically, the pandemic was really tough on my personal love life, the same as other people.
“So I'm basically trying to figure out where I'm going with that before letting a million know what’s going on.
“Because I don’t even know what I’m going to do yet, so it needs to get, personally, the right thing before I let everyone know.”
Since leaving the famous Love Island villa as the champion alongside Amber Gill in August 2019, Greg has gone on to continue his law studies, and represent Ireland at the Tokyo Olympics as part of the Rugby 7s team.
This left little time for his love life, which according to the star took a nose dive when the pandemic hit.
He said: “I did get recommended to go on Raya but I never did. I never did any Tinder or Hinge or any of that because I just find it really impersonal.
“It’s just like he’s hot or she’s hot, but I never did it even before Love Island.
“But dating died during the pandemic. It was just me, myself and I and probably most people were like that.”
Greg and Kate were first rumoured to be dating in April 2020, when they both shared similar photos from a trip to Dubai.
The pair posted photos of themselves in the desert with the same backdrop and footprints in the sand, similar to their trips to Greece last week.
Kate, who is based in London, is a lifestyle influencer and boasts 482,000 followers on her Instagram account.
And whilst Greg says his next step is making the move to London, to embark on a new chapter in life in the UK, he insists it has nothing to do with his budding romance.
Speaking at Move at the Manor this weekend, after a week away in the Greek sun with his ‘travel buddy’, he said: “No, the reason I want to go to London is to try to tap into the UK market.
“I love Ireland and have done a few bits here, and always want to have a place here, but I want to see if I can do that as well.
“It’s a new challenge for me. My challenge over the past two years has been to try to get to the Olympics, and I did that.
“So now i’m like ‘ok so what is my next challenge’.”
Greg was speaking as the ‘At The Manor’ festival series at Palmerstown House Estate, Co Kildare announced a final weekend of events due to popular demand.
Picnic At The Manor will take place from 3-5 September with tickets on sale now via the At The Manor website.
