On Air Now
Robert Bruce & Shayna Marie 6:30am - 10am
Love Island's Shaughna Phillips worked in a fire safety team after the Grenfell Tower disaster
15 January 2020, 10:45 | Updated: 15 January 2020, 10:48
The 25-year-old islander said the experience was "overwhelming" but she "loved it."
Love Island hopeful Shaughna Phillips has revealed she worked in a fire safety team put together two weeks after the devastating Grenfell Tower fire.
Love Island's Yewande says she'd "think about dating" 2020 hopeful Mike after he shoots his shot
The 25-year-old, who works as a democratic services officer for London’s Lambeth council, worked to ensure all front doors in council properties were fire safe or refitted after the 2017 disaster.
"To begin with, it was overwhelming,” Shaughna told the press in South Africa ahead of the ITV2 show's launch. "But because you’re doing something good, that if I went home and there was a few more fire safe doors that had been installed, it was like, ‘good, we’re getting there’."
She added, "It was hitting the ground running as there was so much to do, so it was like a project and I loved, loved, loved it."
Shaughna, who says she currently has no allegiance to any political party, also revealed that she dreams of entering politics in the future in the hopes of helping others.
"I definitely want to get into some kind of politics," she said. "I just like helping people and I want to do as much as I can. For me, it’s not really about how much a job pays you, because it’s about helping people.
"I know that’s cliché and embarrassing, but the job I was in before my previous one was more money, but I got a better feeling out of it."
Shaughna admitted that, despite leaving her job for a chance of finding love in the Cape Town villa, she wouldn't mind returning to her job at the council.
"I had to leave because you get an allowance from ITV, so I couldn’t be on unpaid leave there and be getting money from somewhere else," explained, before revealing that her manager was ready to welcome her back at any time.
"But my manager has said the door is open if I do want to go back, but said I won’t need to. I was like, ‘listen, I need that door open, I need that in writing’," she said.
Season three contestant Camilla Thurlow, 30, also shared a passion for charitable causes like The Halo Trust and was vocal about her work in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal field.
Zara McDermott, 23, who appeared in the 2018 edition of the show, was a former government adviser who worked for the Department of Education, advising on policy.
