Irish Rugby Sevens star Greg O'Shea has explained how the team's Olympic ambitions were always going to take priority over living the celebrity lifestyle.
Greg O'Shea must now wait with everyone else concerned to see if he will be selected for the Irish Sevens Olympic team heading to Tokyo later this year.
After playing a significant role in unusual circumstances last weekend to secure Ireland's spot at the Games, the Limerick native is feeling hopeful.
The 2019 winner of Love Island alongside partner Amber Gill, it was this Olympic ambition that meant O'Shea never became too enamoured by the prospect of what awaited him once the competition ended.
"Even before I ended up winning," he explained on Tuesday's OTB AM, "I was like, 'I'm always coming home.'
"We got out of the villa on the 1st of August, 2019 and I remember that I was back training on the 26th of August - first day of pre-season
"I remember saying to everyone at ITV, 'I'm back training on the 26th, I have to be home in Ireland then. Whatever I've to do between now and then, I can do.'
"It didn't go down very well."
To say the very least.
Shortly after leaving the Love Island villa, it was announced that Greg O'Shea and Amber Gill had split up - the Limerick native taking much of the flak for that.
"I knew it wasn't going to work because I was trying to get to the Olympics," he explained of his decision.
"She was over there doing her celebrity stuff [and] we called it a day [before] it got too emotional and deep.
"People weren't happy with me that I didn't follow the Love Island life, but I was happy with me and it seems to have paid off now."
Although he is by no means closing off what other avenues his association with the show may open up before him, it just won't be before the Olympics in Tokyo.
"We've put so many years into building this Sevens team," he noted, "and if I got way too big for my boots, went on the show for two weeks, won it and thought I was the big man who moves over to London and becomes a celebrity, I just wouldn't be able to live with myself.
"I wouldn't have my mates, they'd all just be like, 'he's sold out.' It just wasn't part of me. I don't know if that's an Irish thing, but I just knew it wasn't me.
"I had to come back and play my part for the team."
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