When Olivia Attwood first entered the Love Island villa six years ago, she captivated fans with her one-liners and unfiltered banter.
Olivia’s entire journey has been followed by viewers of reality TV. She has transformed from a young single person searching for love on an ITV dating programme to a successful documentarian who stars in her own series.
Bradley Dack, a football player for Sunderland, and she have fallen in love. The couple met at a London nightclub in 2015 and started dating on and off. However, they broke up before Olivia came on Love Island in 2017. The next year, they reconnected, and they were engaged in 2019.
Olivia Marries Her Match is her most intimate and unvarnished reality show to date. As suggested by the title, Olivia, 32, and Bradley, 29, were trailed by cameras leading up to their big day and were given privileged access to the wedding.
The highs and lows of their enchanted wedding, which took place in June at the Bulgari Hotel in London’s Knightsbridge, will be seen to viewers.
Despite the fact that the day was “beautiful,” Olivia acknowledged that they did have a small argument, and it involved drinking.
‘Brad basically kind of gave me a telling off for drinking too much,’ Olivia revealed.
This was done on purpose so that viewers could see the slightly uncomfortable moment.
‘The wedding was all romantic, and like a film but then we had this little moment.
‘We could have taken that out, but I think it’s more relatable to include in our show because that’s the kind of stuff that happens.’
Olivia has always had a strong desire to make reality more authentic, and her commitment to this goal is perhaps what has allowed her to have such a prosperous professional life.
‘What I always try and stick to is to keep in bits where you feel like you don’t want to film as that’s what makes the show real.
‘If you ask them to stop filming every time you don’t look right, or you’re in a bad mood then you’re going to make a show that’s staged.
‘I’m very passionate about reality TV being as real as possible, because as a viewer, that’s what I want.’
She has established herself in a position of strength that allows her to sit at the editing table and make decisions about what will and won’t be included in the programme, much like other titans of the reality industry like the Kardashian sisters.
‘I’ve grafted for seven years to get to this point. I do have the power to say “Can we lose that?”
‘I might be watching with my hands covering my face and cringing but I’ll try not to exercise that right too often.’
Olivia also told us that she didn’t exactly like every element of getting married.
‘Can I be honest with you?’ she asked us before making a confession. Always, Olivia!
‘It’s really bad and it sounds awful but I hated planning a wedding. If it wasn’t for my wedding planner, Julie Perry, then the day wouldn’t have happened.
‘It’s a lot of budgeting, decisions, guest list oranising and having to sign things off. It is a never ending big job.
‘You have to split yourself into so many pieces. Everyone wants something from you. It’s tough and pretty stressful.
‘I prefer working and doing my own stuff, party planning is not really my thing. By the end I was so sick of talking about it.’
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She does, however, emphasise that the outcome was worth it all, and she particularly relished the procession down the aisle.
‘That was the most magical moment. I could see that all my visions had come to life, and the room smelt like roses. Seeing Bradley there waiting, looking so handsome, was amazing. It was all surreal,’ she recalled.
‘I wouldn’t change anything about the day. In hindsight I could have gotten less stressed in the run-up though.’
Luckily she finds sharing the good, bad and ugly to be a ‘privilege’.
‘It feels natural to share it all with my fan base. A lot of people have followed me since Love Island and they’ve watched me grow up. I love sharing it with them.
‘I still get imposter syndrome when I think about the interest in me. Sometimes I watch myself on telly and think “Oh God, who’d want to watch that?”’
Olivia is more than eager to be a polarising figure and encourages comments, even if you don’t agree with all of her decisions, like her reputed £50,000 wild Ibiza hen weekend and £200,000 wedding.
‘The series is going to be quite, controversial is the wrong word, but I think there’ll be moments that will lead to discussion at home,’ she explained.
‘I hope it’ll be the kind of show that people watch and then they’ll be able to dissect it in their group chats. That’s what reality TV should do – it should create great conversation.
‘I can imagine some Karens won’t agree with me, and I’m okay with that.’
Olivia has always been appreciative of her roots, unlike some renowned Love Islanders who would wish to remove themselves from the programme that made them famous in order to seek other opportunities.
‘I feel really sentimental about my Love Island experience, and all the great memories I had on the show.
‘I’m very proud of that show, and I’ll always reaffirm my connection with it. I’m not someone who ever wants to lose my connection. I’ve remained in the ITV family and they have always really believed in me,’ she proudly told us.
‘There’s been a lot of hard work on my side, and their side and together we’ve been able to make some really cool stuff and hopefully we’ll continue to do it.’
Because of this, Olivia, who placed third on Love Island with her ex-boyfriend Chris Hughes, would be delighted to return for the rumoured all-stars edition.
‘The winter series of Love Island will be replaced by a brand new All Stars series, which will feature former Islanders who are still looking for love,’ a source told MailOnline.
The insider added: ‘In terms of iconic Love Island stars who are now happily married including the likes of Olivia Attwood, producers are looking into cameo appearances so that they still involve fan favourites from the years gone by.’
‘Nothing has been confirmed to me about it but if it is true then yeah I’d absolutely love to take part,’ Olivia told us.
‘I’d love to do that.’
Olivia Marries Her Match is on tonight at 9pm on ITVBE and ITVX and continues on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week.
