A contestant on Olivia Attwood’s new ITV2 reality show is a convicted drug dealer, MailOnline can reveal.
Eli Topp, 43, made his debut on the series last week and is one of the eight unsuspecting ‘bad boyfriends’ the former Love Island favourite bids to reform in the 11-part series.
But the Leeds-based contestant, a CEO of a prestige car saleroom, was sentenced to three years in prison for dealing drugs in 2011.
Eli entered the series with girlfriend Anna Archer, who describes the businessman as someone who ‘says the wrong thing and puts his foot in it and without realising that can affect her confidence.’
A source close to Eli told MailOnline: ‘Eli knows he has made mistakes in his past and deeply regrets some of the choices he made when he was younger.
A contestant on Olivia Attwood’s new ITV2 reality show is a convicted drug dealer, MailOnline can reveal
Eli Topp, 43, made his debut on the series last week and is one of the eight unsuspecting ‘bad boyfriends’ the former Love Island favourite bids to reform in the 11-parter
‘He’s since worked hard to rebuild his life, having set up his own business and working alongside partner Anna.’
Eli is the CEO of Knightsbridge Autos Ltd and Anna serves as part of his sales team.
He was 30 when he was sent to prison, where he served half of his three-year sentence, before launching his own dealership of specialist cars.
His Instagram account is littered with photographs illustrating his glamorous lifestyle, including on holidays in Mykonos, Marbella and Thailand.
His social media is also packed with shots and videos of Eli working out in the gym and also luxury cars from his business.
He was coaxed onto Olivia’s show believing he was set to appear on a format about manhood and bromance set in the Greek Islands called Brotopia.
But unbeknown to him and the other male contestants taking part, it’s revealed they are actually on the show to learn how to be better boyfriends and go on to compete in various challenges.
Eli entered the series with girlfriend Anna Archer, who describes the businessman as someone who ‘says the wrong thing and puts his foot in it and without realising that can affect her confidence’
A source close to Eli told MailOnline: ‘Eli knows he has made mistakes in his past and deeply regrets some of the choices he made when he was younger’
Anna nominated Eli to take part in the series because she has trust issues and faced warnings from other women about his past.
She explains: ‘I put Eli forward because he constantly says the wrong thing and puts his foot in it.
‘His social media etiquette isn’t the best with Instagram DMs, liking, watching videos and even sending me videos of other girls.’
Speaking about appearing on Olivia Attwood’s Bad Boyfriends, Eli added: ‘I’ve never been on TV like this before, I haven’t been in the spotlight, so it’s a very new experience.
‘I went for the opportunity, though, and I’m glad I did it. I like to try new things and I threw myself into it wholeheartedly.’
Six episodes into the show, Anna and Eli decided to leave the show as it was becoming ‘too much’ for them.
The ITV2 series is Olivia’s biggest TV job to date having found fame on Love Island in 2017.
The reality star, 33, who is married to footballer Bradley Dack, has fronted several documentaries for the channel, including a series exploring the sex industry, but Bad Boyfriends is her first real hosting gig.
But due to the show’s major twist, there was a point she thought the series may never happen.
Six episodes into the show, Anna and Eli decided to leave the show as it was becoming ‘too much’ for them
Speaking on This Morning, Olivia said: ‘It was somewhat of a military operation getting those lads out there, keeping it all under wraps, making sure they actually believed in Brotopia.
‘They did, which then made it almost scarier because when I go out there to reveal the real show to them, I was nervous and I don’t really get nervous.
‘I thought, ‘I don’t know how they are going to react – what if some of them want to leave and we have no show.’
‘And all these things are going through my head.’
She continued: ‘You know what it’s like, you have to give people a cooling off period, you can’t make anyone stay. So it was a real thing of like, are they genuinely going to re-consent to this new show? ‘We had a 24 hour period where all we had to do was sit and wait. It was horrible.’