03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Tragic fire breathing accident: Inside Love Island UK 2025 contestant Sophie Lee's life
The starting line-up for this year's Love Island has been revealed and taking part in this year's show is former fire performer Sophie Lee.
Lee was rumoured to be part of this year's line-up, and on Tuesday 3rd June, ITV confirmed that the 29-year-old, who is now a motivational speaker and author, would be taking part.
The contestant is hoping to find someone "fun" and "spontaneous" and will be trying to steer clear of all the red flags in the villa.
She'll make her villa debut on Monday 9th June, alongside Megan, 25, from Southampton, personal trainer, Dejon, 26, whose dad is a former pro-baller, and the other Islanders on this year's show.
We did some digging, and Sophie has had quite the life ahead of appearing on the show.
Read on for everything you need to know about her, including the tragic incident that led to her becoming the activist she is today.
Age: 29
Job: Motivational speaker and author
Lives: Manchester
Sophie Lee is a motivational speaker and author. She previously worked as a fire performer, but an accident at the age off 22 left her with severe burns to the face.
It happened in 2019 during one of Sophie's performances. The air-con in the venue was too powerful and blasted a fireball back at her, causing her face and chest to 'go up in flames'.
Sophie told Fabulous Magazine: "The air-con was too strong so when I blew the fire out it blew back to me. It set me on fire. I just remember being in so much pain, I blacked out for a little bit. It's crazy."
She continued: "It happened in front of everyone and I had to get on with it as professionally and quickly as I could. As soon as I got into the ambulance, I was in bits."
Sophie spent a month in intensive care after the incident and the scars developed into a facial deformity resulting in a tumor growing on the side of her face.
Since leaving hospital, Sophie has become a successful beauty influencer and in 2023, she won the Beauty Awards Influencer of the Year.
She modelled for countless campaigns and fashion companies, and published a book called In My Skin in 2024.
Sophie is 29-years-old.
She sure is. You can follow Sophie at @sophirelee.
As of 3rd June, she has 96k followers, but this is likely to rise once she appears on the ITV2 dating show.
Sophie regularly shares updates about her skin journey and has fully documented the accident on her social media.
Sophie is looking for "someone who is fun, spontaneous, who has a lot of jokes and who is attentive. At the moment I'm only finding ones draped in red flags and 'do not cross' signs."
She also hopes to raise awareness around body positivity in the villa, adding: "I'm the CEO of empowerment. I want women to feel beautiful and validated in themselves and feel their best self. "
Love Island starts on ITV2 on Monday 9th June at 9pm.
