Her family initially didn’t think it was her in the show because of her different name
Former Love Island contestant Andrea-Jane Bunker has revealed that the ITV decided to change her name “five minutes before” she went into the villa.
Andrea-Jane appeared on the seventh season of the dating show, and was known as AJ in the villa.
“My actual name is Andrea Jane, so people either call me Andrea, Jane or Janey. No one ever calls me AJ,” she told OK! Magazine.
“I filled out all of my forms using my full name, so my suitcase and water bottles both read Andrea Jane.
“When I was in the holding villa, the producers used my initials AJ as a codename in order to keep my identity secret.”
Her family and friends were left confused when she appeared to change her name during her time in the villa.
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“Minutes before I walked into the villa, an exec asked if it was ok if I was called AJ. I thought he was speaking about the codename and wanted to keep my real name underwraps. I didn’t realise they were actually going to change my name,” she explained.
“When I first went into the villa, my friends and family didn’t know I’d got a place on the show because I couldn’t tell them. Then when they saw my photo they thought it looked like me but that it must’ve been a different person because that wasn’t my name.
“My friends have told me it took a few minutes for them to actually realise I was on the show – even my best friend running my social media account was confused.”
Due to the fact contestants on the show are cut off from social media, Andrea-Jane had no idea what had happened until she left the show.
When she did realise the name change, she was left in tears.
“I remember coming out of the villa and turning my phone on and seeing everyone calling me AJ. I cried my eyes out as soon as I saw it,” she said.
“I had loads of messages from my friends and family too asking why I’d changed my name to appear on the show – I had to convince them that I didn’t do anything. They didn’t know whether to dispute it because they thought that’s what I wanted to be called and that I’d rebranded now that I was in the public eye.
“Now I’m stuck with the name because that’s what everyone knows me as – luckily I don’t mind it.”
Related links:
- Love Island’s Haris dumped from villa after street brawl video
- Concern grows over Love Island contestant’s wellbeing as fans call for him to be removed from show
- ITV is launching a ‘Love Island’ for the older generation
