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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

ITV Love Island's Liam Llewellyn breaks silence on decision to quit

Love Island star Liam Llewellyn has spoken out for the first time since exiting the villa after only six days on the ITV2 dating show. The 23-year-old Welsh student had been coupled up Gemma Owen before she was put into a new couple with the series' first bombshell Davide Sanclimenti.

Liam was the first to leave this series, telling his fellow islanders: "I don’t really think I’ve been giving 100 percent Liam... I’m miles off that."

Liam has now admitted he couldn’t deal with 'not being in control'. Speaking to the MailOnline, he revealed: "I thought I was going to have the summer that everyone dreams of but now I’m living with no regrets, I took a chance but I realised I can’t live on TV.

READ MORE: Molly-Mae Hague echoes ITV Love Island fans as she's left confused by Gemma Owen's date with Luca

"I was expected to do things for a TV show and I couldn’t be myself. I didn’t want to do it. It is a TV show and it is produced. It’s not all natural." He went on: "In my head I was not in the right position to take part in a TV show because that's what you're doing. You have to go on dates, do challenges, and you're not in control of any of it.

"On my dates they asked me to repeat things because it didn't quite come through. I had loads of meetings with the execs, the series editor, and professional physiologists but after a couple of days of feeling the way I did, I made the decision on my own behalf that it wasn't right for me to carry on."

An ITV spokesperson said in a statement to the Manchester Evening News : "As anyone who watches the show regularly would know, Love Island is a combination of reality and produced elements that are reflective of what's happening in the villa, and is a fair and accurate representation of villa life.

"We have always been completely transparent about this and the way the show is made. This is often acknowledged in the voice over by Iain Stirling. The opinions they have and the relationships formed are completely within the control of the Islanders themselves. As we have said since series one, Love Island is a combination of reality and produced elements."

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