Love Island’s Priscilla Anyabu: “They’re going to think I’m too dark, too skinny and no one is going to pick me”

The Love Island 2020 star opened up about her experience on the show

love island 2020 priscilla now

by Eden-Olivia Lord |
Updated on

It feels like forever since the Love Island 2020 series aired on our TV and that's probably because we've been in three lockdowns from then to now.

During that series, the first (and last) winter edition of Love Island, viewers saw the arrival of twins Jess and Eve Gale and we saw Mike Boateng make 'mad moves'.

We recently caught up with Casa Amor bombshell Priscilla Anyabu, who was coupled up with Mike, and spoke to her about life before Love Island, how she found the reality TV show as a Black woman and how inclusive things are inside the villa.

You probably won't be surprised to hear that Priscilla was one of the many Islanders that were 'scouted' by the producers.

"I didn't apply for Love Island. I went to Miami had a hot girl summer and was living it up. I posted a load of bikini pictures and as soon as I got back to London I had a DM," she exclusively told heatworld.

"In my DM it was just like 'Hey, we're from ITV. We'd love to consider you for a show, we think you'd be amazing'.

"I was like 'Huh?' because summer Love Island had already gone."

love island priscilla and mike
Priscilla was coupled up with Mike ©ITV

Fast forward a few weeks and she was heading onto the show but when we asked Priscilla if she was cautious about being one of the few Black people on Love Island she admitted, "Yeah.

"I know with history and the show you know there's always the one token Black girl. So going in there I was like 'I'm the token Black girl, I have to make it work for me' kind of thing.

"I was very cautious that I'm probably not going to get picked so I need to make the most of my time while I'm there."

love island casa amor girls
priscilla alongside the other casa amor girls ©ITV

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She continued, "I'm darker than most, I'm a lot skinnier that most and I saw [viewers] say something about Sophie like 'You're always getting skinny girls, why can't you get normal sized people,' and Sophie is bigger than me.

"I think I had a panic attack because I was like 'Am I really going on this show? Am I really about to do this? They're going to think I'm too dark, think I'm too skinny and no one is going to pick me'.

"It's so crazy, I literally thought 'Why am I doing this?'"

However after having a pep talk with herself she managed to convince herself to go on the show and "represent".

Luckily Priscilla had a following before her time on Love Island due to her career as a model and that helped her prepare for her time on the show.

"I only really started putting on a lot of make-up for Love Island. I literally had make-up classes," she admitted.

love island mike and priscilla
priscilla opened up about the inclusivity on love island ©ITV

In the Love Island 2021 series viewers would often spot Fenty foundation in the background of the girl's make-up room but things were slightly different during the previous year.

We asked if the make-up and hair products were inclusive during the South Africa edition of the show and Priscilla confessed, "They try but... I love Love Island, I don't want to bash them or anything but in terms of the products and the make-up that they had it didn't cater to my skin type.

"My hairdresser and make-up artist literally gave me a list of things to get. I had to do extensive research, I made sure everything was covered."

She went on to reveal that she took in a darker shade of foundation for when she got tanned, and her glam team helped her prep by testing her make-up and hairstyles in different lighting settings.

"We did so much work so I didn't go in and embarrass myself or embarrass Black girls because we've had so much slate on Love Island."

Following her time on modelling sets and Love Island, Priscilla has now found her go to foundations and they're from Bobbi Brown, Fenty and L'Oreal.

WATCH: Priscilla opens up about her time on Love Island, crying in the airport and how reality TV can become more inclusive

Luckily before her stint on Love Island, Priscilla was fully prepared however she recently went through an uncomfortable incident while taking part in the show The Challenge.

At the airport her make-up was confiscated because it went over the hand luggage limit and it left Priscilla in tears.

Check out: Love Island 2020 cast - where are they now?

Gallery

Love Island 2020 contestants - where are they now? - slider

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Leanne Amaning

After failing to find love in the villa (she famously got the 'ick' whilst with Mike Boateng), Leanne's time on the island was cut relatively short in a cruel dumping.

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Leanne Amaning

Fast forward a year and Leanne has admitted that she was at her 'happiest' before going into the villa. In a Instagram Q&A in 2020, Leanne told fans that appearing on Love Island has taken a toll on her mental health, '[it affected it] more than I thought, more than I could imagine.'

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Siânnise Fudge

After a few failed romances, Bristol babe Siânnise Fudge found her Aladdin in the villa in the shape of boyfriend Luke Trotman.

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Siânnise Fudge

A big believer in fairytale endings, Siânnise and Luke have since moved into together, survived a global pandemic, are parents to puppy Nala and even founded their own fashion business @conqrstore.

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Eve and Jess Gale

A Love Island first, identical twins Eve and Jess caused fireworks when they walked into the villa. Although Eve's journey was cut short, Jess managed to make her way to the final and finished in fourth place with now ex-boyfriend Ched Evans.

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Eve and Jess Gale

Since the show ended, the pair still do everything together, from travelling the world to posing together in sexy shoots. They're still very much joined at the hip.

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Shaughna Phillips

Leaving with her head high after the whole Callum/Molly Casa Amor drams, Shaughna is still one of the stand out stars of the winter series in South Africa, and has since gone on to star on Celebs Go Virtual Dating.

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Shaughna Phillips

Always keeping it real, Shaughna bravely opened up about suffering from an eating disorder and the results of liposuction surgery on her legs.She's full of LOLs of Twitter and is still the Shaughna we all fell in love with. Has she found love yet? Not yet, but only time will tell...

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Sophie Piper

Will we ever forget Sophie's infectious laugh and infamous put downs in awkward situation? The beauty, who is the sister of pop star and TV presenter Rochelle Humes, became the seventh Islander to be dumped from the villa halfway through the series.

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Sophie Piper

Since the show, Sophie has racked up 800k Instagram followers. She has continued to work as a model and influencer for the likes of Pretty Little Thing, Boux Avenue and JD Sports.

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Paige Turley

The winner takes it all! Scottish babe and aspiring singer Paige walked away the winner of Love Island 2020. She well and truly found her prince!

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Paige Turley

Despite enduring a hard period over lockdown they're still madly in love a year later. Aww! And despite EVERYONE wanting another Love Island wedding, the pair recently admitted that they want to do things in their 'own time'.

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Mike Boateng

Hunky police officer Mike Boateng left the Love Island villa with a smile as he confessed his love for Priscilla Anyabu, but it took a while for him to find his princess.

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Love Island 2020 where are they now

The pair instantly made things official when they left the villa. They're still very much together and now live together in London.

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Connor Durman

Jet-setter Connor went into Love Island to settle down, but after a six-month-long romance with Sophie Piper he is now single again.

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Connor Durman

However, he's still got a smile on his face (how could he not) as his coffee business is booming - even through lockdown - and his Instagram following is bigger than ever. That's what we like to see!

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Callum Jones

Scaffolder Callum become a little bit of a Love Island villian when he dramatically dumped Shaughna and chose to return from Casa Amor with Molly Smith.

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Callum Jones and Molly Smith

However, it looks like his risky move was worth it as the Manchester duo survived the lockdown and have moved in together - he even spoke to exclusively to us about marriage and babies. Adorable. Talk about proving everyone wrong!

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Nas Majeed

After a few pies and a brief snog with Demi Jones, Nas got his Love Island wish granted when he walked in Casa Amor and met Eva Zapico.

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Nas Majeed

Even though they left very soon after they returned to the main villa, Nas and Eva are still stronger than ever and are another couple to survive any sort of Love Island curse. They even sassily hit back at split rumours in the funniest way last year.

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Ollie Williams

Oh Ollie! His time on Love Island was very brief and surrounded in controversy. From those pictures of him hunting to rumours that he was only on the show for exposure as he left after three days after realising he was still in love with his ex-girlfriend Laura.

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Ollie Williams

Since reuniting with his ex-girlfriend Laura soon after the show, Ollie has enjoyed the quiet life. It's not known if Ollie is still loved up with Laura, they last posted a Insta snap together in September 2020. Hmmmm.

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Finley Tapp

Oh Finley! As well as bagging true love in the form of girlfriend Paige Turley and WINNING the show, the whole nation fell a little bit in love with this cheeky chap.

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Finley Tapp

After spending a whole year together, Finn recently revealed to heat that his relationship with Paige went from strength to strength during lockdown because 'he was already used to the intensity of spending every minute with Paige. When you put it like that!

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Connagh Howard

Connagh, 27, dumped from the Love Island villa. The hunk, 27, bid a sad farewell to South Africa on Friday's show after just a few weeks despite sharing a kiss with Rebecca Gormley days earlier, who chose Luke Trotman over him.

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Connagh Howard

The model's career as a model and person trainer has rocketed since appearing on the show as he has used the exposure to his advantage. He's also gained a HUGE following on Tik Tok AND found love with girlfriend Beth Dunlavey.

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Rebecca Gormley

The Geordie babe was a little bit picky in the Love Island villa, but finally found her man, fellow Islander Chris Biggs, after leaving the show.

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Rebecca

The pair are still loved up and Rebecca has gushed that he's just 'an amazing man'. However, the past year hasn't been completely plain sailing, as she recently underwent surgery after damaging her right arm in a horror fall back in January.

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Luke Mabbott

Justin Bieber lookalike Luke managed to reach the final of the show with Demi Jones, and although we all thought they were the real deal, the pair parted ways at the start of lockdownafter living apart for months.

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Luke Mabbott

Despite being locked down, Luke soon moved on with another Islander, Lucie Donlan, and have been together for just over a year. Luke recently revealed a huge tattoo tribute to his girlfriend after almost a year of dating and the pair have just adopted an adorable rescue dog called Bunny.

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Luke Trotman

Student Luke walked out of Love Island hand in hand with girlfriend Siânnise and start their fairytale together.

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Luke Trotman

Since leaving the show, Luke decided to head back to university to finish his Banking, Finance, and Management degree. We love a guy who thinks beyond the PAs and hashtag ads.

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Demi Jones

Even though she was super unlucky in love in the villa, Demi's infectious personality has made her a stand out star in her own right.

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Demi Jones

Since the show, she's landed deals with Missguided and is a brand ambassador @tatti_lashes. However, in May 2021, Demi revealed to the world that she has thyroid cancer and announced that she will have to undergo surgery. Ever the optimist though, Demi has been updating fans of her surgery progress, admitting that she's a 'tough cookie'. She sure is!

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Wallace Wilson

Scottish personal trainer Wallace entered Love Island towards the end, but he still made an impression, although not quite enough to leave with a lady on his arm.

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Wallace Wilson

Outside the villa, Wallace in focusing on his personal training back home, is he still on the lookout for love? Who knows, he likes to play it coy.

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Ched Uzor

Beefcake Ched left the villa arm in arm with Jess Gale, and things were going swimmingly until the coronavirus pandemic hit and they wenttheir separate ways in an 'impossible situation'.

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Ched Uzor

Since the split, Ched and Jess haven't reconciled and it looks like he's currently still single.

"Because the woman - who was a fairer skin white woman - was like 'Oh you can just go in the airport and buy make-up'. I literally burst in tears because I was like 'You don't know. They're not going to have my shade'.

"Especially when you go into airports they don't have the extensive range and when it's not summer time either they don't tend to include the darker shades."

"I was literally in tears and the woman was like 'Calm down it's fine,' but I was like 'No. You don't know my struggles.

"I can't even walk out and just buy make-up."

You can watch Priscilla's full interview on heat's YouTube channel where she also discusses how she managed to break one of the Love Island rules when she kept changing her hair style.

You can watch the full interview on heat's YouTube channel.

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