Too Hot To Handle star Nicole O'Brien has lifted the lid on shooting to fame on the Netflix dating show and turning down Love Island.
Nicole was a contestant on season one of the show which challenges 10 contestants to keep their hands off each other in a bid to win a $100,000 (£80,000) cash prize.
The more shenanigans that go down in the exotic Mexican resort, the less money is left in the pot.
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Contestants, hosted by a cone shaped virtual assistant called Lana, are banned from physical contact.
Following the show Nicole, from Cork in southern Ireland, has embarked on a singing career and goes by the name 'Kole.'
She recently launched her latest single Call I Love at Menagerie in Manchester and her debut single Irish Eyes rocketed to number one in the Irish charts.
But before Too Hot To Handle she rejected the chance to go on the second series of Love Island in 2016.
Speaking with Manchester's Naked Beach star Jsky on his podcast Jsky Chat - The Podcast she told how she regretted turning down the ITV2 dating show.
"I was literally kicking myself for years," she said.
"I was so annoyed because I could see how well everyone was doing.
"But everything happens for a reason.
"I would say to my parents 'look how well these people are doing.'"
But the decision came back full circle for Nicole who in the meantime went on to earn a degree in commerce in 2018.
She explained: "It was so annoying, but the same producers asked me to do Too Hot To Handle.
"My parents were like 'look, you've finished your degree. Now you can do what you want.'"
Nicole studied at University College Cork for four years because her parents wanted me to get a degree 'to have something under my belt.'
And when Nicole first told her parents she was going to be Too Hot To Handle they were sceptical.
"When I told them I was going to do the show, at first they were like 'hmmm' because I was meant to do Love Island in 2016 and my parents said 'no you have to finish university'" she recalled.
"We didn't know what the premise of the show would be.
"We thought it was going to just be like Love Island. When we found out we weren't allowed to do anything or else we lost money I just thought 'my Catholic Irish mammy back home is going to be delighted with this concept.'
"They're very proud and they are amazing parents. They are so supportive."
Asked how she's coped with the pressure of being on a dating show, she said: "It's been crazy. We filmed Too Hot To Handle around two and half years ago and then we had to wait a full year for it to come out.
"We didn't know how big it was going to be.
"It was season one on Netflix so we didn't know if there would be loads of promo around it. But it was just mad.
"The pressure that we went under, like straight away, when it first came out was just so different because none of us had ever experienced anything like that.
"There has been a lot of pressure, but I love what I do so it's been worth it."
Nicole lived in Chicago for a few months back in 2016 while working for a yacht company and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Kanye West and Justin Bieber during the summer.
"I used to have a 9 to 5 office job so that's completely different to what I do now," she said.
"I've always wanted to do TV and music so I do feel very, very blessed.
Asked if she prefers Love Island or Too Hot To Handle, which is now streaming its second series on Netflix, she said: "I prefer Too Hot To Handle because it's a different concept but I do think there should be more than eight episodes.
"We were filming for a month, 12 hours a day for 30 days and only about six hours were shown in total.
"There's so much content that they could have used. They cut out a lot of stuff.
"People really love the show so they should definitely put more episodes out."
She added: "I went in without a game plan or anything but I've learned if you want to do TV you do need to have a bit of a plan, as bad as that sounds."
And Nicole will be back on our screens soon after signing to appear on a new reality dating show in the near future.
"I can't say much but I'm going away in July to film it. It's for an American network and it's a dating show.
"Hopefully I'll find someone because I'm sick of being single. I wear my heart on my sleeve and over the last year the people I've been dating have not been nice or good to me.
"I'm going in with an open mind."
Jsky Chat - The Podcast Episode 14 with Nicole O'Brien is out now.
