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You probably don't need a reminder but, just in case, Love Island is returning to screens next week. Eek! After the year we've had, we are so ready for two months of drama and cracking on. Another person who couldn't be more excited for the next series is ex-Islander Megan Barton-Hanson, who Grazia pulled aside for a chat before the start of the next instalment of the hit dating show.
Megan, undoubtedly one of the series' most enduring former stars, is already supporting one of this year's contestants on the show, Shannon Singh{
'I love that there's always the glamour model, but the fact she has an OnlyFans? I think it's so empowering,' Megan tells us. 'And I love that she's speaking so openly about it, and owning it. And already it's been like a headline on The Daily Mail. My mum sent it to me and was like, "Oh my god, I hope she's prepared" Because obviously I had such a hard time with all my glamour model and sex work stuff, so I love the fact that she's owning it.'
Sadly, there are still a lot of negative reactions - from the press and the public - to women being so open about enjoying sex. Since appearing on Love Island, Megan will have been interviewed literally hundreds of times. But she says one question she was - and still is - repeatedly, and unfairly, asked is whether she regrets having sex in the villa. Especially considering her male co-stars (including her ex-boyfriend from the show, Wes Nelson) are never asked the same thing.
'I'm just so bored of being asked,' she sighs. 'I just find it strange how it's always like the women that get asked. When I first came out of the villa, me and Wes were doing joint interviews and he never got asked once. I also have a really good relationship with Adam Collard, who was on my series, and he had sex with two girls. I've never read that he's been asked that but it's always that the key question I've been asked in interviews like, "Are you ashamed? Do you regret it? Are your family embarrassed that you've done that? Do you wish you could go back and do it differently?" It's just sexism. I feel like they're never asking any of the male contestants that.'
Now, three years since her stint in the villa, Megan is planning other career moves. She already has a podcast about all things sex and female pleasure, You Come First - pun intended - and is now starting to write about her experiences, too. But she's also in discussions to be hosting documentaries about sexism and sex work, which will hopefully be on our screens soon, if all things go to plan.
'I never thought that I was going to be like my angle, but it's just given me this opportunity to speak to people and just educate and liberate women,' she tells us. 'Like, so many women work on OnlyFans or in the sex industry, and they get slutshamed. I'm speaking openly and honestly because growing up, there was no one in the public eye that I could turn to for advice. And I think most kids get educated on sex and women's pleasure from porn. And that's such a bad representation of women's pressure.'
Who does she look up to in TV though? Well, that's an easy question for Megan to answer. 'I'm obsessed with Louis Theroux,' she says, later adding that she'll hopefully be the 'female, sexier Louis Theroux'.
'He's able to get such juicy nuggets of information without coming across as patronising. I think there's some documentaries, especially on sex work, where it can come across like [the interviewer] is patronising them and like, they kind of look down and feel sorry for the sex worker, whereas for me, it's one of the most powerful jobs you can do as a woman.'
Season 1 of Megan’s podcast, You Come First, is available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
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