Love Island’s Alex George might’ve only been out of the Mallorca-based villa for a little over a week, but rumours are already rife as to what the former A&E doctor might do next.
While some are speculating that the 27-year-old will join ITV’s flagship daytime show, This Morning, as the programme’s resident TV doctor, others report that George is set to front a new Public Health England campaign on STI awareness.
The rumours broke after “an insider” told The Sun that George would be the face on a series of advertisements warning against the dangers of chlamydia and gonorrhoea, however, Public Health England has denied the existence of any such deal.
“Public Health England have not offered any sum of money to Dr Alex George for working with us on any of our campaigns and have not discussed any detail of our Protect Against STI campaign with him to date,” a spokesperson tells The Independent.
That’s not to say that George won’t be making any lucrative deals in the near future, given that he has just signed with James Grant management, the same agency behind Tom Daley.
Former Love Island winner, Kem Cetinay, is also signed to the agency and has gone onto release a grime single with fellow contestant Chris Hughes in addition to starring in other reality TV shows since leaving the series in 2017.
However, speaking on This Morning, George revealed that he does in fact intend to return to his NHS role “once the time is right” and balance additional projects on the side.
“I absolutely love my job,” he said, recalling how he enjoyed speaking about his medical career in the villa and confessing it even made him miss it.
However, after celebrity agent Matt Nicholls revealed that George could be making up to £5,000 from a single post on Instagram, a fate he predicted for series winner Dani Dyer, the young doctor teased he might reconsider his decision.
In addition to social media partnerships, other common sources of revenue for ex-Islanders include clothing deals, TV and radio appearances and club appearances.
Nicholls said that while female contestants tend to make more money from their Instagram accounts, the men tend to do better from club appearances, citing Adam Collard as an example, who is rumoured to make more than £300,000 from a 61-date club tour.
Despite confessing that club appearances weren’t “his thing”, Nicholls stressed that George’s medical background and expertise could provide him with an earnings advantage over his fellow contestants in terms of longevity and credibility.
While club appearances might not necessarily be the route for him, he speculated that George could earn up to £15,000 from corporate appearances.
However, George maintained that he wanted to pursue a more educational route that capitalised on his public profile and his medical experience.
“I would love to do TV doctor work,” he told hosts Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, “I am passionate about my job and I really would love to make that [knowledge] accessible to all audiences.”
