Life After Love Island: Fame Isnt Guaranteed Anymore

With the Love Island 2026 final around the corner, there's set to be a new group of wannabe influencers leaving the villa on Monday. 

Yet while appearing on the show was once a guaranteed pass for instant fame, with the relentless turnover of reality stars of late, it takes more than just a couple of weeks on TV to make it big. 

Far from focusing on love, one former Islander has revealed that the days following her exit were filled with agency meetings, brand deals and Instagram targets.

Khan proved to be one of the most in-demand contestants in recent years, catching the eye as much for her wardrobe as she did for her on/off romance with Harry Cooksley.

So far, the 2025 finalists have surpassed the odds, and Shakira has now shared that like so many stars before her, the decision to apply for Love Island was more of a career move than a romantic one.

She admitted that hours after returning home from the villa, she was booked into meetings with 20 agencies, and dismissed the idea that her only goal was to land a 'fast fashion deal'.

Shakira's career is going from strength to strength, but she warned that some of her success came thanks to her experience in marketing, and hopefuls shouldn't pin all of their work prospects on a spot on the villa. 

Shakira told the Managed podcast that the process to sign with an agent is far from a smooth one, and she was booked into six meetings a day until she found the perfect one.

The chaos to choose a manager echoed a sentiment made by season three star Chris Hughes, who shared that after leaving the villa in 2017, he and the finalists were sent into a hotel where they mingled with agents vying to book them. 

Shakira said: 'A silly amount, I'm talking like 20 agencies. I had to do a lot of Zoom calls as I didn't have time to meet everyone, I met a lot of them at ITV, and I think something that's really interesting that I probably would warn people about... when you first come out, there are agencies that are pally pally with the people at ITV, and that is how they contacted me, is via ITV. 

'So then they were like "oh we've got a few here that I think would be really great for you"... red flag agencies. 

'If you spoke to any ex-islander, anyone in the industry, they'd be like "don't sign with them," but I think some of those agencies are people that they actually put forward.

'So if you've signed with that agency previously, they're like "oh we've got someone who we think would be great on Love Island," so they've got these ties.'

Shakira said the competition to sign Love Island stars is fierce, sharing: 'I had a meeting with six agencies in one and this would be over a period of days, six, back to back at ITV like little slots, and Toni was doing the same so we were rotating, because some agencies had reached out to the both of us. 

'So we were like "OK, they want to meet us, let's do it all in one day, I'll do this one after you, you do this one after me, vice versa." And I think it was so nice, because I had such close friends, we would compare notes.

'We would compare what decks they'd put together. We'd show each other our decks. 

'They had literally copied and pasted, changed out the front picture and changed out our names. 

'There was no thought put into it, no strategy, they'd not even looked at what brands we're wore in the villa, what produces we used, there's huge sponsors in the villa, like Boots for example, eBay, all the clothes the Islanders take in.'

For years, prospective Islanders would have left the villa with the hope of landing the coveted fashion contract, with the so-called 'PrettyLittleThing (PLT) deal', regularly referenced by stars on the show.

But the decline of 'fast fashion' seems to have had an impact, as Shakira said the prospect of emulating stars like Molly-Mae Hague is now a thing of the past.

She said: 'There's not much to go off, except what's out there on YouTube, and obviously the biggest role model in this industry is probably Molly-Mae. Molly-Mae's experience of brands and things work post-Love Island is completely different to what the normal person would experience.

'I didn't anticipate this, but people associate coming off Love Island with "everyone's going to sign six, seven figure deals with fast fashion brands," and I think the industry's evolved so much that that doesn't happen anymore.

'It doesn't happen anymore, PLT rebranded, did a bit of luxury and were like "no more influencers," but I just don't think it's actually financially viable for the brands anymore, and it doesn't have the same pull, which is just something we've got to accept and pull in on.

'I think our strategy and the way we've worked, we'd rather have long-term partnerships with brands that really do feel natural and natural partnerships, and do things that are organic rather than signing with some of these big fast fashion brands I've never word in my life.

'The money's ridiculous with some of these brands, but they're not my favourite, they're not the brand I've worn for years. 

'It just wouldn't feel right for me to go and tell my audience "go and buy this, go and buy it," when I can't find a single picture on my Instagram wearing it.'

Shakira said she carefully crafted the image she wanted to present in the villa, with the hope that she could appeal to brands she wanted to work with in the future.

Even her Instagram following came into play, as the star said she had a target she wanted to hit when she left the show. 

She said: 'I sort of applied for Love Island on a whim, and it was a two-year process for me to actually get on the show. 

'So you imagine, in these two years, I have obsessed over this. I had plans, mood boards. 

'I knew exactly what brands I wanted to work with, even to the point where every brand I wanted to work with were the clothes that I took into the villa, the accessories I took into the villa, the products I used in the villa, again brands I wanted to work with. 

'So I had it all planned out, because I knew if they were going to see organically wearing, doing things etc. they were going to want to use me. So I think that definitely came into play...

'I'd sort of looked at everything from micro-influencers, macro-influencer, looked at how much followers you have actually converts into rates, so I'd done a lot of research on anything, and I was like "OK, coming off, I need to hit 500k followers for it to be a lucrative career."

'I knew now people don't have that much pull with the followers. That's a fact, I think especially since they stopped allowing people to have their socials ran, islanders don't come off with that many followers, which also can then translate badly for when you want to come off and have a career.

'So I knew if I didn't want to go back to my job, I didn't want to do that and wanted to have a career in influencing, I needed to hit 500k for it to be profitable. 

'And then I came off and I was like "thank the Lord!" I was absolutely laughing, which I'm so grateful for obviously, because it doesn't always go that way for people. 

'So I knew I had to market myself whilst I was in there, and that's from my marketing background. I knew I had to have a sick fit every night. I needed people to tune in and be like "what's Shakira wearing" on Twitter today.'