With this year’s planned new series of Love Island cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis, ITV have been airing the first series of Australia’s version of the show to fill the gap in the schedule. If you didn’t follow the show Down Under back in 2018, most of the Islanders will be new to you… except one!
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If you thought John James, who entered the show on Day 4, looked strangely familiar but you couldn’t quite pin down why, we’ve got the answer! A decade ago he appeared on the 2010 series of Big Brother! The now-scrapped reality show was then at the peak of its popularity and John James was famously in a relationship with that series’ winner, Bristolian Josie Gibson.
Josie and John James went on to have their own fly-on-the-wall reality show called ‘Josie and John James: What Happened Next’, but sadly their relationship didn’t last and they split in 2011, with Josie accusing John James of cheating. John James returned to Australia where he has apparently been working as a DJ.
John James looked quite different at the time with long bleached blonde hair – which he’s since swapped for his natural dark brown locks and a much more mature look. However, it seems he’s still pretty stuck in the past as just after his Love Island appearance in 2018 he reignited an online spat with his ex Josie.
Fellow Islander Grant kicked things off by posting ‘is this your B.B. gf ?! Lolsy’ under a video of Josie, igniting a furious argument between himself, Josie and John James. John James turned particularly nasty, threatening Josie with revenge porn after suggesting he still had explicit photos of her. Meanwhile Josie responded: ‘F**k off John! It was 8 years ago.… so sad that your ‘friends’ feel the need to comment on your extremely old relationships. Get a life you bunch of sad sacks’.