In 2005, the first series of Celebrity Love Island aired and it was an ex-Westlife bodyguard and a popular TV host who went on to win
Fran Cosgrave, the inaugural winner of Love Island, is almost unrecognisable in a recent social media snap, sporting a full beard two decades after his stint on the show.
The debut series of Celebrity Love Island graced our screens back in 2005, boasting a star-studded line-up including Atomic Kitten’s Liz McClarnon and EastEnders‘ Michael Greco.
However, it was former Westlife bodyguard Fran and telly presenter Jayne Middlemiss who clinched the title.
Before his Love Island adventure, Fran was romantically linked to Natasha Hamilton from 2001 to 2002, with whom he has a son, Josh, now 21.
Fast forward twenty years, and 47 year old Fran looks strikingly different from his time in the luxurious Fiji villa, having swapped his clean-shaven look for a thick, dark beard, reports OK!.
Fran won Love Island alongside Jayne Middlemiss(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
These days, Fran keeps a low profile, trading TV fame for a career in music. He’s currently a producer and DJ for house music trio, the Futuristic Polar Bears, which he founded.
With hit tracks like Running Wild and Damaged under his belt, and a whopping 90 million Spotify streams according to his Instagram bio, Fran has certainly made his mark in the music industry.
The group has toured extensively, lighting up nightclubs around the globe. In a chat with Jennifer Zamparelli on RTE 2FM, Fran reflected on his brush with fame.
He mused: “You can’t take it [fame] too seriously because it’s gone as quick as it comes.
“As it came towards 2009, things just started to spin out of control a bit, as it does. I was kind of finished with the whole celebrity thing.
“I started saying, ‘no’ to loads of programmes and I just wasn’t interested in it. My manager, rightly so, was like, ‘Mate why won’t you do any of these things?’ I was just like, ‘I’m not there anymore.'”
Now two decades on, Fran, 47, looks markedly different(Image: Instagram/ @francosgrave)
The ex-nightclub proprietor has left his wild nights behind, and now when he’s touring, he maintains a strict ‘no drinking, no partying’ rule.
He’s also channelled his energy into entrepreneurship, launching RUUD Coffee this year and previously introducing his own bespoke coffee blends and brand, Concrete Coffee, in 2024.
Celebrity Love Island made a comeback for its second season in 2006, featuring stars like Eternal singer and Loose Women panellist Kelle Bryan and Boyzone member Shane Lynch.
Yet, it was models Bianca Gascoigne and Calum Best who emerged victorious in the show’s final series before it was axed.
Love Island airs weekdays and Sunday nights from 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX
The star shot to fame later in life but made the most of her time in the spotlight with her unfiltered, outspoken attitude. Here are five times Kim ruffled feathers
Kim was never one to hold back, even when live on air(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The sad news has emerged today that presenter-turned-reality star Kim Woodburn has died at the age of 83. The firebrand, who shot to fame on Channel 4’s How Clean Is Your House with Aggie MacKenzie, passed away on Monday.
Kim had been married to her husband Peter for 46 years, living with her ‘soulmate’ in Nantwich, Cheshire. In a statement, her representative said: “Kim was an incredibly kind, caring, charismatic and strong person. Her husband Peter is heartbroken at the loss of his soulmate.”
From being at the heart of the most explosive row in the history of Celebrity Big Brother to taking on one of the nation’s best-known TV presenters, the star was never one to back down. We take a look back at five of Kim’s most memorable moments…
Kim and Aggie made a dream presenting duo but weren’t as compatible behind the scenes(Image: Channel 4)
Tensions with Aggie
C4’s How Clean Is Your House? made household names out of Kim and Aggie but the duo famously didn’t get on all that well during the six seasons of the show. Aggie later spilled the beans on their fallout, saying that while the “friction” between the pair had made for good television, appearing on stage together was the final straw.
“We were doing panto in Brighton,” she said. “I was so shocked and upset and angry. I lost my rag with her.” Aggie revealed the pair didn’t speak for the last two series of the show and even said: “Kim was such a big, damaging part of my life. I feel she almost destroyed me”.
Kim, on the other hand, was uncharacteristically silent on the controversy. The star simply said she “never said anything derogatory about Aggie” and was “not going to start now”.
Celebrity Big Brother storm
Security intervened to calm the star down on the reality TV show(Image: Channel 5)
Kim made a memorable appearance on C4’s Celebrity Big Brother in 2017, when she became embroiled in a heated argument with some of her fellow contestants, including ex-glamour models Nicola McLean and Bianca Gascoigne and former footballer Jamie O’Hara.
Never one to back down, the star warned them: “I’ll cross you so badly and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life!” before famously screaming at Jamie: “You’re an adulterer… you two-timed your wife and she’s got three kids!”.
Kim was removed by the show’s security to calm down the situation and spent the night in the spare room before returning the next day. She finished in a respectable third place in the contest, during the course of which she branded fellow housemates “filthy, dirty scum” and a “chicken livered bunch”.
Loose Women walk-off
Thousands of complaints were made after Kim’s Loose Women appearance(Image: TV Grab)
Another show to face Kim’s wrath was ITV’s Loose Women. She had fallen out with Coleen Nolan on Celebrity Big Brother after accusing the star and several other housemates of bullying and had been invited on the daytime show with executives hoping for a reconciliation.
Instead, Coleen told her: “You’re a horrible, self-centred, publicity-seeking witch”. Kim branded Coleen “lying trash”, raised her voice and stormed off.
There were a total of 3,000 complaints made to Ofcom accusing the show of picking on Kim. They included model Jodie Marsh, who wrote: “Having watched the Kim Woodburn interview I couldn’t not make a complaint! It was bullying, pure & simple.”
Kim vs Phillip
The star later called Phillip a “horrible” and “obnoxious” man(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The TV icon had several on-air spats with presenter Phillip Schofield, who fronted ITV daytime stalwart This Morning for 21 years. At one point, she famously branded Phil a “big phoney” during a heated interview on the show.
The reality TV contestant had taken offence when questioned about her Celebrity Big Brother appearance, insisting to Phil that watching the 45-minute TV edit of the contest was not the same as living it for 24 hours a day. “Don’t think you are going to bully me, I have been around too long,” she told him, with viewers calling their chat “car-crash TV” and the “most awkward TV interview I’ve ever witnessed on This Morning”.
When the presenter wrapped up the chat by telling Kim it had been a delight to interview her she branded him a “phoney”. Six years later, when Phillip left This Morning in disgrace after admitting to an affair with a young colleague on the show, Kim called him “an obnoxious, horrible man”, saying “I don’t know why he’s still on television”.
‘Transphobia’ row
Known for being a gay icon, Kim was accused of transphobia in 2022 when she was interviewed on GB News and asked about unisex changing rooms. Her reply of “a man’s a man, a woman’s a woman” led to accusations of transphobia.
But the outspoken star hit back on social media, insisting her words had been deliberately misinterpreted. “During the show, we never discussed trans people,” said Kim.
“I have always supported the LGTBQ+ community, as you are all aware, and I count each and every single one of you, my friends. I will always be an ally to the community and would never say a bad word about any of you.”
