Reality TV stars who went back to day jobs – from Andy Abraham, Greg O'Shea to Ray Quinn

Getting on a reality TV show can mean a passport to fame, riches and a luxury lifestyle.

Just look at Molly-Mae Hague who used her appearance on Love Island to launch a fashion career and recently signed a mega seven-figure deal with online retailer PrettyLittleThing.

But others end up back in the day job, such as Georgia Townend who this week went back to her job at Lidl.

The blonde, who entered around halfway through the most recent Love Island, failed to find love and was booted from the villa just two days later.

Now she’s back working as a marketing executive for the budget supermarket, joking: “Yes I work for @lidlgb and yes that’s likely a contributing factor as to why my time in the villa was so short.

‘It’s been instilled into me my entire career that checkouts should be as speedy as possible.”

Daily Star has taken a look at other reality stars who went back to their day jobs.

Greg O’Shea

The Irish rugby player won Love Island in 2019 with Geordie Amber Gill and amassed a whopping one million Instagram followers but found he wasn’t keen on the showbiz lifestyle.

Instead he chose to concentrate on sport and made the Tokyo Olympics with Ireland’s rugby sevens team, just missing out on a quarter-final place.

Greg, 26, said: “It is common knowledge you don’t get paid a lot in sevens.

“I could have easily gone down the celebrity route, moved to London and make my hundreds of thousands like everyone else does. I was like, ‘No, I am coming home.’

“I couldn’t sit over in London on my high horse and watch the boys training and maybe getting to the Olympics. This is the pinnacle of sport and we did it.”

Anna Vakili

Anna starred on 2019’s Love Island, where her romance with Jordan Hames came to an abrupt end after he tried it on with India Reynolds.

After the show she became a successful social media influencer but when the pandemic hit, the Londoner decided to go back to her old job as a pharmacist.

She has previously spoken about facing prejudice in her job because of her looks but used her new-found platform to speak out.

Anna, 31, urged Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to back “pharmacy heroes” with greater financial support and more PPE.

Theo Campbell

The 400m runner caused trouble in the Love Island villa in 2017 when he stole Tyler Carr from a fuming Johnny Mitchell.

Theo, now 30, entered the show after being injured but later returned to athletics – despite a freak champagne cork accident which left him blinded in his right eye.

He revealed the show rekindled his love for sport, saying: “It was only after living the high life for a certain amount of time I realised that I had put five or six years of work into this…what was the point of giving up?”

Andy Abraham

X Factor’s Singing Binman was runner-up to Shayne Ward in 2005 and went on to land a record deal, sell out the Royal Albert Hall and represent the UK at Eurovision.

But Andy was dropped from his label and declared bankrupt in 2012.

He was performing in panto and working as an event singer until last year when he decided to go back to life as a binman when Covid struck.

Andy, 57, said: “I’m literally singing out there as I was during the X Factor show. I’m back to being the official singing binman, which is kind of cool.”

Ray Quinn

After finishing runner-up on the X Factor to winner Leona Lewis in 2006, Ray went on to win ITV’s Dancing On Ice in 2009.

He later landed a role in Hollyoaks and became a regular on stage.

But another victim of the pandemic, all his work dried up last year and he took a job as a Hermes delivery driver, quitting after three months because he found it too overwhelming.

Now Ray, 33, has joined the family business and become a carpet fitter alongside brothers Robin and Darren.

He said: “It’s good to have another trade under your belt – especially during these times.”

Dr Alex George

Dr Alex starred on Love Island in 2018 and went on to gain 1.3million Instagram followers and dish out medical knowledge on Good Morning Britain.

But five months after leaving the villa, he went back to his job in A&E.

He said: “Love Island was the experience of a lifetime, but ever since I left the villa I’ve genuinely missed working for the NHS.

“I trained for years for the opportunity to help people, and I can’t wait to get back to doing what I love.”

The 30-year-old now combines frontline work with his role as the government’s Youth Mental Health Ambassador.

Rachel Fenton

Rachel, 29, was on Love Island in 2016 but chose to turn her back on fame and return to normal life as an orthopaedic nurse.

She said: “I have no regrets at all and I will always be happy with how I acted in there.

“I love my job. It was nice to go back to it after the show. People always ask me about my time in the villa and I will always happily talk about it.

“But I am proud that I have a career in nursing too. It’s much more important to me. We’re helping people and saving lives.”

Chloe-Jasmine Whichello

X Factor’s Chloe – best remembered for dating fellow contestant Stevi Ritchie – had previously appeared in modelling show The Face, where she was mentored by Naomi Campbell.

She was on the singing show in 2014 but was booted out in the second week of live shows.

Chloe went on to do Celebrity Big Brother in 2015 with Stevi but they split the following year.

Since then, the 31-year-old has gone back to modelling and walked the runway for designers including Vivienne Westwood.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk