‘Just throw yourself in there' – Former Love Islanders Catherine Agbaje and Toby Aromoloran give advice to newest Irish contestant
Aromoloran, whose mother Victoria is from Crossmolina in Co Mayo, was the runner-up on series seven of the show and also returned to the show on All Stars.
Agbaje said she is sure Clarke, who is drawing comparisons to Maura Higgins, will get on well in the villa.
"Dubliners are friendly. I feel like she'll get on with everyone and I'm just happy to see someone from Dublin in the Villa again. I feel like you need a Dublin person,' she said.
'The thing is – can English guys deal with Irish girls?' Aromolan asked. 'We're feisty,' Agbaje replied.
She said there is an adjustment period that comes with heading into the Love Island world for the first time.
"Being from Ireland and going into the villa, you don't know what to expect. It's a whole different culture out there, a whole different set of rules, but I feel like she'll be fine. Once you go in there, you're yourself, you make friends with the girls,' she said.
"Irish girls are such girl's girls, so I feel she will be a girl's girl and be able to stand her foot.'
Aromoloran said he found the pressure of life after Love Island easier to cope with as he exited the villa in a relationship with his fellow contestant Chloe Burrows.
"I came out in a relationship, so we leaned on each other, which was a lot better than just coming out by yourself. I feel like the pressure of that is really hard, even though the pressure of the relationship is quite hard as well,' he said.
"I quite enjoyed it, to be honest. I thought it was quite fun, something different and out of the ordinary, a different situation I've never been in. I leaned into it in a way, and found it funny half the time.'
Both Agbaje and Aromoloran are yet to find love, but both said they would not do anything differently if they were heading back into the villa this year.
Reflecting on what he learned from the experience, Aromoloran said: 'I've learned, from the first time ever, I didn't know anything about love. Now, I feel like I know so much.
"I think I know a lot now. My advice would just be, throw yourself in there, try and not overthink anything. Just throw yourself into the process of finding love. Let yourself go.'
Similar sentiments were echoed by Agbaje, who advised the contestants on the upcoming series of Love Island to 'let their guard down'.
"I feel like that's important because as girls, we like to hold on to stuff and unintentionally bring it into new relationships,' she said.
"You just need to let your guard down and sometimes, you might have an idea of what you want, but truly no one knows what love is. It's until you feel it, it's a feeling.'
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