SHE made history as the first girl to enter the Love Island villa with a disability - and was lauded for her down to earth approach, natural beauty and inspiring story.
But just a year on from the show, and Patsy Field, 30, decided to undergo surgery in a bid to make herself feel ‘pretty’ again after having her confidence stripped from her while on telly.
Patsy, who has Erb's Palsy, a condition that means one of her arms is shorter than the other and has less function, jetted to Turkey alone to undergo a cat eye facelift.
When she awoke alone in her hotel room, Patsy was horrified by her appearance and couldn’t look in the mirror for days.
Revealing the results of her surgery for the first time, she tells us: “I came back around, and I was in Turkey on my own, pain, just a bit scared, thinking like, 'What have I done?' initially.
“My eyes were like two pink golf balls with just a tiny little slit out to see, and that's when I thought, oh, I've messed up here.
“I caught a glimpse of myself in the TV in the hospital room that I was in, and I, like, was scared.”
Explaining her decision behind the op, which saw her put to sleep, Patsy admits that being on telly and now being online so much has had its impact on her.
She says: “I just wanted to feel prettier in myself and I felt that this would change my face in a way. I'm happy with it, but I think also coming off the show if you want to be an influencer or you want to give it a go you're constantly taking videos and pictures of yourself.
“So I'm constantly looking at pictures and thinking all that could I look a bit old or I look a bit this and that's kind of what egged me on to do it.”
Straight-talking Patsy admits it was a ‘gifted procedure’, telling us: “I'm not sure if I would have gone ahead with it if it wasn't.
“But I have always, for years and years, had just an insecurity about my eyes. They just turn more down than they did almond-shaped, and I think having almond-shaped eyes is one thing that a lot of girls want, and it's something that I had wanted.”
Before appearing on Love Island, Patsy had threads done but says they dropped within just a day.
Since being in the villa, Patsy has been offered a number of free cosmetic procedures, before finally settling on a clinic in Turkey.
After a few days Patsy felt brave enough to leave her hotel room, but found it too hard with people staring at her.
She’s now concerned about how people online will react, telling us: “I know that people are going to have an opinion and that's fine, they're allowed to have an opinion.
“I am almost 31, like, you know, I can make my own decisions and I think I wouldn't recommend this and I won't be recommending it to any like young people who follow me or young fans of Love Island.”
Patsy burst onto our screens last summer and initially coupled up with Ayo before being picked by Munveer.
But after just a few days they were voted out by their fellow Islanders.
Despite being on screen for just 10 days, Patsy made an impact - as she discussed having Erb's Palsy.
The birth defect occurred after Patsy was delivered naturally rather than via Caesarean section.
She says that going on the show has helped her confidence grow in terms of her disability but has had a negative impact elsewhere.
“My confidence in terms of my arm I think has got better,” she explains.
“My confidence in terms of other things maybe not - because you're constantly compared to all these other girls who have been on and you know put next to them.
“So confidence in your looks can go down for some people and for me with my arm, it was such a positive reaction and not as many trolls as I thought coming off of it were on me about my arm. So my confidence I'd say has gone up in that sense.”
In general, Love Island wasn’t the fairytale experience she had been hoping for, admitting: “You have this vision in your head that it's going to be the most amazing summer of your life.
“And I definitely thought in my head, oh, they've got someone for me.
I was going to meet my perfect match in there because they must have matched me up with someone.
“And so, going on and not having that experience, not staying for that long and not finding love with someone or finding a new connection, it can be just underwhelming and a bit of a letdown.”
Patsy quit her job in office administration to the show and has since struggled with a career path.
“Navigating what to do post Love Island has been a bit of a struggle,” she says.
She’s now planning a move to Australia and is hoping to find a normal 9-5.
And her love life? Patsy says it’s been a bit of disaster since the show.
She refuses to try Raya, preferring Hinge instead, saying: “I don’t think Love Island went that well because I don't think my sort of boy is on Love Island or Raya. I need like a just a bloke from down the road who works on a building site.”
Patsy will no doubt be inundated with offers from Australian builders when she moves Down Unders and she tells us if all else fails there’s also Love Island Australia.
Whatever happens, we don’t think it will be the last we see of her.
