Love Island runner-up Gemma Owen has admitted that her feelings for her partner Luca Bish were constrained while she was on the show.
The 19-year-old daughter of former England striker Michael Owen was one of the original contestants on the eighth series of the ITV dating show and came second with 23-year-old fishmonger Bish.
Speaking on Monday’s episode of Good Morning Britain, Owen admitted by the end of the show she wanted to leave to start experiencing “normal life” together.
What is it really like in the @loveisland villa?
'For 6 weeks, it was the best time of my life.'
Luca Bish and @gemowen_1 reveal all about their time in the Love Island villa.
Watch GMB on ITV and on ITV Hub 👉 https://t.co/6iQ6ebeOEQ pic.twitter.com/UOmEtRCuiT
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) August 8, 2022
Asked if she felt constrained by the show, Owen confirmed she did saying: “Yeah, absolutely.
“I feel like in the villa, for me, there was only a certain amount of feelings I could get for Luca in that environment because you’ve got nothing to do with the outside.
“So I got to that point in the last week or two left and I was like ‘I kind of just want to get out now start experiencing normal stuff, have a normal life’.”
Bish revealed that he feels Owen has changed since they have left the villa “for the better”.
He said: “She’s come more out of her shell, like when I saw you with your mom and stuff and when we were in the hotel.”
Owen also revealed that her father Michael was “proud” of how she had conducted herself on the show.
“He just says, ‘Oh you know, so proud, you didn’t do anything to disgrace us’ so he’s happy,” she said.
They also revealed that Bish has not yet met the football star as they have both only had one day at home so far since the show ended last Monday.
Bish and Owen secured 14.5% of the public vote in the Love Island final, putting them behind the show’s winners Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti who triumphed with 63.7%, according to ITV.
The couple confirmed they still are not boyfriend and girlfriend yet but Bish added that he does plan to ask her officially.
Reflecting on their experience, Owen also said that she would encourage future contestants to just “go for it” on the show as she feel she held back at the beginning.
She said: “I’d just say absolutely go for it because at the start I was actually quite unsure whether I wanted to go for it.
“But yeah, it’s the best experience, you meet some amazing friends, hopefully find a guy. Just be yourself, ignore the cameras, it wasn’t unrealistic.”
Bish added: “You’ve got to go in there and enjoy yourself. I think towards the end I started to decline a little on how I felt in there and it showed.
“I think you literally need to remember, you’ve got eight weeks in there and enjoy every minute of it. Once you come out, you are going to miss it.”
Indiyah Polack and Dami Hope, and Tasha Ghouri and Andrew Le Page also made it to the final of the dating series, coming third and fourth respectively.
Good Morning Britain is broadcast weekdays from 6am on ITV and ITV Hub.