Kai Fagan and Sanam Harrinanan have revealed the reason why they returned to work after being crowned Love Island champions.
The couple - who are set to tie the knot on August 1 of this year - won the ninth series of Love Island in 2023.
Since then, the pair have chosen to slowly return to their normal careers. Kai is continuing to teach in a secondary school part-time, while Sanam is a social worker in the process of training to be a theraplay practitioner.
Now, ahead of their wedding later this summer, Kai and Sanam have opened up about how winning Love Island affected their careers.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan, Kai admitted that he felt “nervous returning to the classroom” after appearing on the hit reality show.
“I quickly learned that the kids love it – I’m still respected. Some of them have seen the show and my social media, and actually, it feels like they have a better understanding of me,” the 26-year-old praised.
‘When you come out, especially when you win it, you’re offered so many opportunities. You have management companies pressuring you to sign up, making you feel like you’re going to miss out on things,” Kai explained.
“People need to realise that you can’t go on to Love Island and expect the world. It’s probably only the people who get to the final who can make a career of it, if they want to, full-time. You have to go there for the experience and to meet somebody,” he insisted.
Reflecting on her experience, Sanam noted that she returned to her old career seven months after she left Love Island.
“I contacted my old team and went back into social work a year after I left the villa. I felt like I’d lost my purpose; supporting young people and families. That’s what I trained for the majority of my life to do,” the 26-year-old praised.
“If people recognise my name from an email, I respond by saying, ‘If this might be an issue for you, let me know and I can inform my manager.’ But in most cases, it’s a help, not a hindrance,” Sanam stated, adding: “I plan to stay in social work for as long as I possibly can."
