Controversial Love Island star running as Reform UK candidate 5 years after backlash-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro

Ollie Williams was embroiled in scandal during his brief Love Island stint (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Former Love Island star Ollie Williams has announced he’s running for office as a Reform UK candidate, five years on from his controversial stint on the dating show.

In 2020, Ollie, now 29, shocked ITV viewers as social media posts of him bragging about hunting emerged.

After just two episodes of series six, Ofcom’s complaints about his casting doubled from 231 to 467.

Ollie then only spent three days in the villa for Love Island’s winter series before leaving the show completely, realising he still had feelings for another girl on the outside.

Now, having shrugged off his reality TV persona, the aspiring politician will stand in the Lostwithiel and Lanreath ward in an upcoming local election.

Taking to Instagram as his campaign commences, he wrote: ‘I am proud to announce I will be running in May’s local elections for @thereformpartyuk in Lostwithiel and Lanreath.

The keen hunter received hundreds of Ofcom complaints when he was cast in 2020’s Winter Love Island (Picture: Joel Anderson/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

‘Our freedom of speech and society has been eroded for far too long and it’s time to act.’

‘I am not prepared to standby and hope someone else sorts it out while I watch it all burn – so I’m taking my first baby steps into politics [sic]’, he declared.

‘If you’ve followed me thus far I hope you’ll trust my judgement, when I say I believe this to be the best course of action for the protection of your free way of life. ’

Ollie’s caption was accompanied by an infographic listing why he believes people should vote for Reform UK.

Arguments include ‘freedom to believe in our history and our country’ and ‘freedom to feel safe and free to be who we are’.

‘Remember, political policies can be negotiable, but our FREEDOM is not,’ it also reads.

Ollie eventually got engaged to the girl he left Love Island for and they married in 2024 (Picture: Instagram)

His post urges people to ‘Reform our country and return it to its original strength and glory’.

Opposition-wise, Liberal Democrat councillor Colin Martin was victorious in the 2021 election, securing 42.1% of the vote. He beat the Conservative candidate by 38 votes.

The reaction from Ollie’s 41.5k followers has been pretty mixed, with some telling him ‘well done’ and wishing him ‘good luck’.

Meanwhile, others have commented on his previous political posts, in which he voices support for Nigel Farage, blasting the Reform Party head as not ‘informed’ enough to lead a country.

As for how he’s selling himself, Ollie’s campaign poster brands him a ‘countryside steward and farmer’ whose focuses are ‘community-led projects’.

Ollie has never made a secret of his hobbies, having come under fire since leaving Love Island for sharing photos from hunting trips.

These have included him posing next to dead animals, such as bloody deer, generating major backlash and stern words from animal rights group Peta, who previously slammed him as ‘cold-hearted’.

After departing Love Island’s South African villa, he issued a statement to say: ‘I did not shoot any of the animals shown in the photographs, nor have I ever shot as a trophy hunter.’

Animal rights organisation Peta previously branded Ollie ‘cold-hearted’ (Picture: Instagram)

Despite denying being a trophy hunter, Ollie’s hunting content has often been described as ‘traumatic’ by social media users, and he allegedly listed a stuffed buffalo mount on eBay in 2020 after buying it at an auction for £648.70.

With regards to romance, Ollie was briefly coupled up with eventual winner Paige Turley on Winter Love Island.

He then got back together with his ex-girlfriend, and they announced their engagement in March 2023.

On July 18 last year, they confirmed they had tied the knot, with Ollie declaring it ‘the best day of my life’ with an Insta post.

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