Naomi Ball lost her Love Island spot to contestant Jess Hayes – now she's heading into the villa...
Naomi was swapped out when show bosses were impressed by Jess’s antics in the show’s rehearsal, but now she’s getting her chance to impress the Love Island lads
Love Island is mixing things up once more by adding in the contestant who, before the show had even started, lost her spot in the villa to Jessica Hayes.
Jess was only ever meant to be participate in the show’s pre-series dry run, but impressed show bosses so much she was swapped into the main series. “She’s a great character,” show insiders told me at the time, adding that it was rare for a contestant to make it onto a show in this way.
Indeed, Jess has certainly made her impression on the villa. If nothing else, I’ve certainly heard the word ‘pied’ (turning someone down is probably the nicest way to define this) more times than I was ever expecting.
But that left 23-year-old Naomi Ball, an operations manager from East London, without a space in the sun-soaked Mallorcan villa. Until now. Yes, as the show continues to add new faces to the line-up, Naomi’s finally making her way into the house – and she could prove quite the firecracker on the island as she boasts she's “good at dating and getting the upper hand with guys”.
It seems she’s pretty darn popular too, after being voted one of the most in-demand girls on dating app Happn – “I don’t know why, I guess I take a good selfie" – and boasts a week of nightly dates.
Naomi says her best attribute is her eyes, adding, “I think maybe I fit the long blonde hair and blue eyes thing. Plus I have fake boobs.” (She's clearly not afraid to cut to the chase, either.)
Tom Hardy is her celebrity crush and, when it comes to men, Naomi's got some golden rules: “The first is never, ever text them first or make the first move. The second is not to sleep with them too soon. My rule outside of Love Island is a five date rule but I guess that will go out of the window!”
Here’s hoping her nan is off making a cuppa when things start getting steamy…
Love Island continues tonight at 9:00pm on ITV2
