ITV Love Island star announces plans to run as Reform UK candidate after facing backlash while on TV show
Former Love Island star Ollie Williams has announced he will run as a Reform UK candidate in the upcoming local elections for Cornwall Council on May 1.
The 29-year-old reality TV personality will contest the Lostwithiel and Lanreath ward under Nigel Farage’s party.
Williams made the announcement on Instagram, stating that “freedom of speech and society has been eroded for far too long and it’s time to act”.
He described the move as his “first baby steps into politics” and said he was “not prepared to stand by and hope someone else sorts it out while I watch it all burn”.
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Williams appeared on the ITV dating show in 2020 but left the villa after just three days. He quit the programme claiming he still had feelings for another girl outside the show.
Williams’ appearance on Love Island sparked significant controversy after photos emerged of him posing with dead animals from hunting trips.
The images resulted in 467 Ofcom complaints and a petition signed by more than 38,000 people calling for his removal from the show.
He later denied being a trophy hunter and claimed he volunteered for a conservation programme in Mozambique that involved culling old or sick animals.
Despite the backlash, he continues to share hunting photos on Instagram, including images of deer heads and his dog next to dead animals.
“I am proud to announce I will be running in May’s local elections for @thereformpartyuk in Lostwithiel and Lanreath,” Williams began in his post
In his campaign poster, Williams brands himself as a “countryside steward and farmer” who aims to “focus on community-led projects”.
His political platform centres on what he describes as protecting “freedom of speech” and the “free way of life”.
The Reform UK candidate’s campaign materials include arguments for “freedom to believe in our history and our country” and “freedom to feel safe and free to be who we are”.
“Remember, political policies can be negotiable, but our FREEDOM is not,” his campaign literature states.
Williams urged his 41,500 Instagram followers to “Reform our country and return it to its original strength and glory”.
Williams will face incumbent Liberal Democrat councillor Colin Martin, who won the 2021 election with 42.1 percent of the vote.
Martin narrowly defeated the Conservative candidate by just 38 votes in the previous contest.
In 2023, Williams got engaged to Laura Nofer, the woman he left Love Island for after realising his feelings for her during his brief stint on the show.
The couple married in July 2024, with Williams describing it as “the best day of my life” in an Instagram post.
Nofer is described as a Cornish aristocrat, and Williams had been dating her for 18 months before appearing on Love Island.