Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Kyle O'Sullivan

What Love Island stars got in their A-levels - brainy Priya and bragging Hugo

Love Island contestant have a reputation for not being the sharpest tools in the box.

Piers Morgan has consistently referred to the Love Island stars as "brain dead zombies", despite some of them having careers as engineers, doctors and scientists.

There have been countless instances of Islanders demonstrating a lack of knowledge in certain departments over the years.

This series has been no different, with Toby claiming he "manifested" his shoe size with the power of belief, while Lucinda found it weird how they were in a "different country to everyone".

One of the main culprits was Hayley Hughes, who questioned whether Brexit was about not having any trees and asked if Spain was in Britain.

So it may come as a surprise to discover that Hayley is actually quite a smart cooking and achieve some very impressive grades.

Here is a look at what some of the past and present Islanders achieved in their A-levels.

Priya Gopaldas

New girl Priya is a medical student (Instagram)
Priya has already turned some heads (Instagram)

Get the n ews you want straight to your inbox. Sign up for a Mirror newsletter here .

The newest Islander on the block, Priya is the latest bombshell to get heads turning in the villa.

It will come as no surprise that Priya is a bit of a clever clogs as she is a fifth-year medical student at University College London.

We'll see her in a bikini and glamorous dresses in the villa, but she's normally in scrubs and worked on the Covid-19 Intensive Care Unit earlier this year.

According to the UCL Medical School's website, to get accepted onto the course you need to achieve A*AA in your A-levels.

In addition, two of those subjects must be Chemistry and Biology along with a third of the student's choice other than General Studies or Critical Thinking.

So Priya definitely has brains and beauty.

Hugo Hammond

Mr Hammond spent this year pushing his pupils to achieve top grades.

The PE teacher studied sports coaching at Oxford Brookes University and would have needed BCC in his A-levels.

According to those who knew him at uni, Hugo considered himself a "BNOC" – Big Name On Campus - and put partying before his studies.

A friend told the Mail Online: "Hugo really thought he was the bees' knees and aimed to make a name for himself at university.

"He's bragged about his female conquests but they certainly weren't the ones bragging afterwards.

"Hugo was a divisive figure to say the least, some people liked him, while others thought he was just a posh k******d."

Before going into the villa, Hugo spoke about the students he helped with their A-levels watching him in the vila,

"My older ones finished at half term with their GCSEs and BTECs and A-levels and I haven’t seen them for a month or so, but I imagine they will be very shocked seeing their PE teacher on TV in the evenings," he said.

"Hopefully, they will be supportive and back me all the way."

Tyler Cruickshank

Tyler works as an estate agent now, but he actually got a 2:1 in Law at St. Mary's University in Twickenham

According to their website, the grades needed to be accept onto the course are CCC-BBC.

After graduating, Tyler wrote: "Officially a Law graduate, it’s been a crazy journey but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world, I don’t really post much about my personal life but just know I’m not just a pretty face”.

Sharon Gaffka

Sharon is another clever Islander (ITV/Shutterstock)

Sharon studied some serious subjects at sixth form - Political Science and Government, Citizenship Studies, Economics and Sociology.

While it's not known what her A-level results were, Sharon was clearly successful as she is taking a part-time Law degree at the University of London.

Since November, Sharon has been an Operations Lead in the Department of Transport.

During lockdown, the government worker was an NHS test & Trace Service Operations Manager then EU Exit Senior Policy Advisor

Aaron Francis

Aaron quit his finance job to work in events (aaronfranciis /Instagram)

Cheeky Aaron works in luxury events - but he was on a very different career path before.

At school he studied A-levels in Economics, Maths and Art, but it's unknown what grades he achieved.

Aaron went on to study International Relations and Politics at University of Birmingham and he had planned to carve out a career in finance.

However, after doing a placement in his second and third year, Aaron decided finance wasn’t for him and he switched to become an events host.

Camilla Thurlow

Camilla is one of the smartest Islanders ever (Camilla Thurlow/Instagram)

Camilla is probably one of the island's smartest contestants to have ever entered the Love Island villa.

The 2017 contestant, who went on to have a baby with fellow Islander Jamie Jewitt, was working in Explosive Ordnance Disposal helping clear mines for the charity Halo at the time.

While her work baffled many of her fellow islanders, it was something she spoke passionately about during her time in the villa.

Camilla boasts a very impressive three As in her A-levels, proving she has brains and beauty.

She also got nine A* GCSEs and a First Class honours degree in Sport and Exercise Science at Loughborough University.

Michael Griffiths

Michael's results were anything but childish (ITV/REX)

Firefighter Michael was starting fires when he arrived into the villa in 2019, but his A-level results were anything but "chaaaaaldish".

During his time in the villa Michael spoke about his degree in Biomedical Sciences, which did at Liverpool John Moores University.

To get onto the course, which is either three years or four if the student decides to add a sandwich placement year, you need 112 UCAS points.

An A gets you 48 points, a B 40, a C 32 and a D is worth 24.

This means Michael could have got an ABB, BBB, AAC, or any other combination that adds up to that all important number.

Despite his degree Michael didn't go down the science route instead picking a career as a firefighter.

Hayley Hughes

Hayley Hughes appeared on Daily Politics (BBC)

Hayley got a particularly bad reputation in the villa after demonstrating her lack of geography and politics skills.

The Liverpudlian model famously got slated for her vapid knowledge of Brexit - believing it meant cutting down all the trees and moaning it would be harder to go on her holidays ("I love me holidays!").

Although Hayley was actually vindicated when an industry official warned we might miss our target to plant 11million trees in the next 25 years, so maybe she was inadvertently onto something.

She also got confused about an earlobe and claimed not to know what 'superficial' meant.

But her pal unmasked Hayley as a secret cleverclogs, revealing she'd actually scored three Bs at A level and studied Childhood and Youth Studies at Liverpool Hope University before dropping out to be an actress.

"She's definitely not that stupid. I can't believe no one else has said anything," said the friend, who claims she bagged her Bs in ICT, Science and Health and Social Care at John Bosco Arts College in Liverpool.

"She did really well in her A Levels and GCSEs. She managed to get the grades to do that course, but she dropped out to pursue an acting career."

Dr Alex George

Some viewers were stunned in 2018 when hunky Dr Alex entered the villa due to his impressive career.

After failing to find love on the show, Alex headed straight back to work in hospital and has been posting educational health videos on social media while working on the NHS frontline during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Alex actually failed to get the grades he needed on results day, proving that there are plenty of other options if you miss out first time.

Sharing an encouraging message on Instagram in 2019, he wrote: "Good luck to everyone getting their results today!!

"Ten years ago I missed out on my place at medical school by 2 marks in chemistry and had to take a year out.

"It felt like the end of the world at the time but 6 years later I graduated with a distinction and got my dream job in London. Never give up and dream bit."

Dr Alex got a place a Exeter University which has a five-year accredited Medicine degree course.

To get accepted onto the programme, successful candidates must have a minimum of three As at A level - although most typical offers are made to people with one A* and two As in academic subjects.

After finishing his five years at Exeter, Alex became a junior A&E doctor at University Hospital Lewisham in London.

Jess and Eve Gale

Jess and Eve hit back at the critics (ITV/REX)

The Winter Love Island twins caused a stir when they rocked up in the South African villa with their platinum blonde locks and false eyelashes.

The pair were not happy with the boys for insinuating that they were 'stupid' because of their looks.

"We're a lot smarter than people give us credit for," said Jess.

While Eve added: "Yeah, we basically got all A's in our GCSE's".

The sisters both went to top universities and achieved some impressive A-stars and As at GCSE and A-level.

Eve studied geography at King’s College London, while Jess did psychology at University College London.

Some of the nasty comments on social media got so bad that their dad Brian started defending his daughters.

Hitting back at the trolls, he tweeted: "‘Love Island. Eve and Jess. For the doubters. It is possible to be a girl, look really good, wear make-up, dye your hair blonde and still go to a good university."

Scott Thomas

Scott's grades kept being mentioned (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Everyone knew Scott Thomas' results because they kept getting brought up in the villa by his partner Kady McDermott.

The Love Island series 2 star, who is the brother of Big Brother winner Ryan Thomas and former Emmerdale actor Adam Thomas, got three passes at the end of his studies.

Villa girlfriend Kady made a big deal of his school success on Love Island, claiming he thought he was smarter than her.

She was always muttering about his "three A levels" whenever she talked about him to the other Islanders.

And he did well in his GCSEs too, telling his Twitter followers in 2016: "Good luck with ur GCSE's peeps! I got 4 A* 5 A's and ended up throwing parties for a living and on Love Island! Who would have thought ey?"

Eva Zapico

Eva got some very good results (evazapico/Instagram)

Eva didn't last long in the main villa after she made that bombshell return with Naz during Winter Love Island last year.

Shortly after Demi was left standing alone, the pair were booted out after failing to get enough votes from viewers.

Somewhat surprisingly, Eva and Naz are actually still together and their relationship is going storng.

Eva worked in recruitment after graduating from a Business Management degree at the University of Nottingham.

She did very well in her A Level exams - getting an A in Psychology, Bs in Economics and French and A* in her Extended Project Qualification.

Yewande Biala

The 2019 Love Island stars got a shock when they found out a scientists was in their midst.

Clever Yewande swapped her lab coat for a bikini to go and find love in the villa, which didn't work out for a variety of reasons.

While she hasn't revealed her exact A-level grades, she did do well enough to earn a place at Athlone Institute of Technology.

She absolutely smashed it while she was there, leaving with a first class honours degree in Biotechnology.

Posting a photo to celebrate her graduation, she wrote: "I'm not going to say it was easy cause that would be one hell of a lie but I did it!

"And I couldn't have done it without the support and continuous words of encouragements from my family and friends so this ones for us. First class Honours in Biotechnology."

Do you have a story to share? Email webfeatures@trinitymirror.com.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.