Chloe Burrows: ‘I went on Love Island and got a golden ticket. It’s a crazy life’

Chloe Burrows hates public speaking with a passion. “People think I’m really confident based on what they see online, but I’m the most nervous, anxious wreck.”

So, hosting a radio show as big as KISS Breakfast? Definitely out of her comfort zone.

“I have massive imposter syndrome,” says Burrows. “It’s still very surreal. Interviews with people like Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Chris Hemsworth are never going to feel normal.”

Burrows has more than three million followers across Instagram and TikTok, having found fame after reaching the Love Island final in 2021. Her life has looked very different since she left the world of corporate finance for reality TV.

“All I did was go on a show five years ago and I got a golden ticket. I’m grateful. It’s a crazy life. I think it was a mixture of luck, good management and winging it,” Burrows says.

But she doesn’t want to wing it when it comes to radio. Burrows admits that before she interviewed Margot Robbie, she had a “small nervous breakdown”. Over-preparation is her key tactic.

“That seed of doubt spirals out of control. I think: ‘Oh my god. I can’t do it.’ There’ve been many times where I’ll trip up on my words and it feels like my tongue is so fat in my mouth. I put a lot of pressure on myself. Radio is live and you don’t want to mess up. A lot of people are listening because that is the territory that comes with KISS. But I just have to keep going.”

“Everything is going to be OK. I’m not a doctor, thank god,” Burrows says, giving herself a reality check.

The early mornings have come as a shock. Burrows’ alarms are set for 3.45am, 3.55am and 3.55am and is out of the door by half past four. 

“My routine has flipped on its head. There were times when I’d still be at All Bar One at 2am. That’s gone. I’m in bed winding down by eight and probably asleep before nine,” Burrows says.

The 30-year-old grew up in Bicester, Oxfordshire, where she dreamt of being a footballer.

“I nearly went pro. Football was a big part of my life. I fell out of love with it when it got really serious and they started asking about diet. I thought: ‘I don’t care about diet. I wanna go down the park with my friends and snog boys.’

“I wanted to be part of the cool girls. It was a lot of mascara, massive belts, swanking around. I was good at school. I was actually quite smart. I always wanted to be in with the popular girl group and I didn’t stereotypically fit that. I played football and I didn’t know about makeup. I always felt like I wasn’t cool enough. Boys definitely didn’t fancy me at that age.”

Burrows remembers a teacher telling her in school that she “wasn’t going to do very well”, but she surprised even herself with her A Level results and got into the University of Liverpool.

“I had never been to Liverpool before but I rang them up and they let me in. I took a gap year to earn some money because I was skint,” she says.

“We were well enough off – we got a holiday every year – but my dad would never have bought me Paul’s Boutique bags. I thought: ‘I’m going to buy them myself.’”

“I love money. I’m a material girl,” Burrows quips, refreshingly unafraid to admit that an ambition to make money has driven her throughout life.

After university, she worked for a financial adviser and trained to become a paraplanner, a person who researches, analyses, and constructs personalised financial plans for financial advisers.

When her company was scaled back during the pandemic, they reassigned her to head up the digital marketing team, which meant she could move to London. Then Love Island called.

“We’d been in lockdown and I was itching to go out. I’d been asked to do TV shows before and fobbed it off. But for me, Love Island was an opportunity to earn more money. I didn’t expect to be on it for longer than a week, I can’t lie. When I was in there, I thought: ‘Everyone hates me, I’m gonna get booed off.’ It was insane to come second.”

Read more:

• Love Island winner Toni Laites: ‘My entire prize fund went on rent. I was living off my savings’
• Nick Mohammed: ‘Doing the school drop-off during Celebrity Traitors was crazy’
• Handcuffed: We just want to see two flabby-bottomed strangers take a really awkward shower together

Big Issue recently interviewed Toni Laites, a fellow Love Island star who said she has struggled with fame after coming out of the show.

But Burrows? “I loved it. I won’t sugarcoat it. I remember we left and we went to the airport and people were shouting our name and I was like: ‘Oh my God, this is so cool.’ The first six months were a whirlwind. That’s probably one of the best years of my whole life. Everything changed for the better. It’s almost like your feet don’t touch the ground and you don’t have a minute to soak it all in.”

She has found it more challenging recently. “A few years in, the stuff that really shocks me is that sometimes people feel entitled to know every detail of my life. I feel like social media is more intrusive now than it was five years ago when I was on the show. I struggle a lot more now than I did five years ago. It’s never nice when people are mean about you. I get paranoid.”

Burrows has received death threats online, but she tries to not let it affect her. 

“I am my harshest critic,” she says. “I don’t think people mean it when they say that to me [death threats]. Well, I hope not. I’ve never looked into it. When you’re in the eye of the storm, it is bad and it’s not a nice place to be, but it hasn’t caused me anxiety.”

It has helped to have a strong support system around her. “I have Millie [Court, who was also on Love Island and now lives with Burrows]. We’ve been through the same things. She’s younger than me but very maternal. But most of my friends are all very normal and aren’t in the industry. 

“My circle is strictly girls and gays, with the one straight token man. But his opinion is often ignored. The girls around me know when I’m having a bad day. We’ve grown up together.”

Burrows was diagnosed with ADHD after leaving Love Island, having been encouraged to get tested during a welfare check after the show.

“I was very lucky to go private. I spoke to a therapist, and it just unravelled. It was like: ‘Wow, I really was masking when I was younger,’” she says.

“Things make sense now, particularly with rejection sensitivity in past relationships. It makes sense that I am so passionate. When I go out for a drink, it’s not just one or two – I want to have the most fun in the whole world. I hyperfixate on things. I’m very passionate about my interests for six months and then it’ll get boring. It was nice to understand why I am the way I am.”

Burrows feels lucky to be out of the corporate world and have a career in entertainment. She says her childhood self wouldn’t believe the opportunities she has now. She recently worked with Barclays for the Women’s Super League with Arsenal, the team she grew up supporting. “I thought: ‘Little me wouldn’t believe I’m doing this.’ If anyone thinks I’m cool, I think she might think I’m pretty cool.”

Does she ever regret quitting football now that she sees how successful the Lionesses have been? “For sure. I wish I’d kept it up as a hobby. I quit cold turkey. I wish I could pick up a ball again. I don’t know if it’s like riding a bike. Something tells me it’s not.”

If she was able to give her younger self advice, she would say: “Number one: you don’t have to be cool. Just stick to your interests. It’s cool to have interests. Number two: don’t ever get a fringe. You will always regret that. Number three: don’t be so hard on yourself. If I had been nicer to myself, I’d be a lot different now. But it’s got me to where I am, so maybe it’s just: ‘Do whatever you want.’”

We asked Chloe Burrows for her book recommendations

Burrows loves to read. She says she read The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli for seven hours straight the day before our interview.

“I think it’s escapism. Real life is mundane. I love my life. I do. But reading really takes me away. I hate being on my phone. When I read a book, I always leave satisfied. Scrolling on your phone is like eating a massive, disgusting takeaway. I hate it,” she says.

“My screen time is bad, but I’ve made a conscious effort over last year and this year to get more hobbies and do more things. And I love reading. Everyone should read books.”

We asked Burrows for her recommendations.

Book you always recommend a friend

ACOTAR [A Court of Thorn and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas], if you’re into romantasy. But if not, then The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. It’s the best thriller. They need to adapt it. The twist will blow your mind. 

One that was recommended to you

Alchemised by SenLinYu. I got recommended that by @WhatEmmyReads on TikTok. She has the best recommendations. 

One you still remember from your school days

It’s got to be Of Mice and Men, hasn’t it? I remember Curly’s wife’s red dress. If not, it’s Harry Potter. Those two stick out. I also couldn’t even watch the film Frankenstein because I did that at A Level. It scarred me. 

The book that changed the way you see the world

ACOTAR and Throne of Glass got me into reading more. I don’t read non-fiction. I don’t read self-help. I read fairies and dragons. Picking up those books changed my whole free time. It’s so much fun. 

The classic that lives up to its reputation 

It’s not really a classic… but there’s never going to be a book series better than Throne of Glass for me. I also remember I must have been 14 and on holiday and my mum gave me Before I Go to Sleep. That book is incredible.

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