Furious Jacques O’Neill accuses Love Island producers of ‘setting him up to cheat’ in Casa Amor
JACQUES O’Neill has opened up about his time on Love Island after quitting the show for his mental health.
The rugby player, who was coupled up with Paige Thorne in the telly villa, claimed producers "got into my head" before he kissed Cheyanne Kerr and Mollie Salmon in Casa Amor.
Speaking to his friend and former Love Island star Scott Thomas on the , an emotional Jacques said: "Before Casa Amor I was saying to Paige I’d happily leave. I'd found what I wanted. I'd been here long enough with people telling me what to do.
"We found out it was Casa Amor in a few days, so we decided let’s stay. It’s weird because Luca slept outside the first night. And I was prepared to do that as well. I didn’t want Luca being by himself and I thought it was respectful anyway.
"And what really got into my head, because the first day the girls got in, people have said this, I was like a live switch, I literally changed.
"And I’m so glad I’m being able to speak about it because I want people to know. They (producers) come on the tannoy, and they go ‘Jacques you look silly’.
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"I’m like 'pardon, what do you mean, come on tell me?' And they say 'no you’re fine, we don’t mean that go to bed'.
"So I go straight to the beach hut and say 'tell me why I look silly, what’s happening?'
"They say, 'no we don’t mean it like that, it just looks like you’re following Luca,' and I’m like 'no no no it’s deeper than that and I don’t want to be mugged off.'
"So I thought if I’m looking silly I’m going to wake up and crack on. And that’s where I changed.
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"I literally woke up the next morning and because they were then saying in the beach hut 'do you not think you need to test your connection?' And I’m like, well, after last night if I’m looking silly then yeah I do, I do need to test my connection, let’s go."
Jacques claimed he told producers he wanted to remain faithful to Paige, who is now dating Adam Collard, but was reminded that he "looked silly".
"I went into the beach hut and I was like, ‘I don’t want to kiss (Cheyanne), I don’t.'
"And they were like, 'Jacques…' and then I thought, oh right yeah I look silly."
Scott asked Jacques if he believed he was "influenced" and the 23-year-old continued: "I’m old enough to make my own mistakes and deal with the consequences.
"No disrespect to Cheyanne, she’s a lovely girl and very good looking but I was always going to stay with Paige. So it was so strange to go out, and they made it look like I was going to get with Cheyanne."
'THE HARDEST THING'
Jacques cried while talking about the death threats he received on social media from Love Island trolls following his time in the villa.
Jacques said as his voice cracked and he wiped away tears: "The hardest thing was... sorry, mate.
"Just seeing my mum, how she was. Seeing her in a state. I couldn't even leave the house..."
When asked exactly what his mum Janet was struggling with, Jacques replied: "The death threats, man."
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Jacques, who suffers from ADHD, said he wants to use his newfound fame to raise awareness of the condition and help young sufferers.
The Sun has contacted Love Island for comment.
