Love Island's Mitch Taylor says 'I wanted to kill myself' after he was 'cancelled' due to 'false' allegations

The 28-year-old reality star, who rose to fame on ITV dating show Love Island last year, admitted he thought about ending his life after being on the receiving end of claims he disrespected a homeless person and made homophobic comments.

The allegations, which he has always denied, were made against him by a social media influencer as he attended an event with fellow Love Islander Zachariah Noble last year.

Taylor, of Sheffield, was alleged to have “thrown money at a homeless man” who had asked the pair for money and also apparently made an “incredibly homophobic” remark before “bragging” about his and Noble's status'.

A year on from the allegations, which he was faced with in September, the TV personality spoke out on the Tom's Talks podcast about the impact they had on him: “I'll be honest, I wanted to kill myself,” he said.

Becoming emotional, he continued: “I've never spoken about it. This time last year I got cancelled for a false accusation and I don't want to sound like a bad person when I say this but I never took mental health seriously.

“It was always like it's there and I get it' but until it happened to me, I felt I was bulletproof. But around this time last year, an influencer just put a story on accusing me of something that wasn't true and one of their friends, who's a big influencer, also backed the story up.”

He went on to claim that the accusation had impacted his career as well as his mental health, as he said that his management had “turned their back on him” following the claims and that he had also “lost money” as a result.

He went on: “I had no-one. Thankfully I've got my friends and a loving family but I lost so much money. I had so much work lined up and thought I was comfortable. Everything was cancelled.”

The former gas engineer said he’ll never forget the situation. He said: “I got cancelled. I couldn't eat and couldn't sleep. My mates were dragging me out. This memory will live in me until the day I die - I was trying to throw up because of anxiety.”

He also revealed that he was on the receiving end of death threats. “People were sending photos of my house, photos of my family saying ‘i’m going to kill you for the things you've said and the things you've done’, which wasn't true. I remember thinking ‘why did I go on this TV show?'.”

Opening up further about his mental health he added: “Mentally, I have never had the dark thoughts I've had until then and it absolutely crushed me. The thoughts I had, I wanted to kill myself, seriously, I thought "I can't do it".'

He finished the interview by crediting ITV with saving him. “It was a tough time but ITV saved me. About two months later they called and said they wanted me for All Stars,” he said.

Love Island: All Stars aired in January this year and saw previous Love Island contestants who had failed at finding a lasting connection in the villa return for a second chance at love.

At the time of the allegations in September 2023, Mitch took to Instagram to address the claims in a candid video.

Speaking to the camera, he said: 'I'm making this statement because over the weekend there were a lot of accusations against me and Zach. I do want to start off by apologising to Zach because these accusations had nothing to do with him, he has just been dragged straight into them, they are solely about me.

“I do want to talk about each one individually and obviously put it to bed and give my side of the story. The first accusation is the words ‘we are the most famous people in here’ and that is actually true, I said that to Zach as a bit of banter but it has been taken the wrong way from other people and I admit it wasn't really that funny, I was just trying to have a bit of a laugh and a joke.”

He continued: “Going on to the next accusation would be me throwing money at a homeless person - that is completely false, I didn't throw money. It was a kind gesture to give a homeless person money and it has been twisted into an evil act and it isn't true I was trying to do a kind gesture.

“I will admit when I was at this event I was quite happy and loud, it is a completely different world for me this, I've gone from fitting boilers to a fancy event and it can come across unprofessional and I understand that. Whoever saw me at that event I do want to apologise to as well, I just don't know how to handle myself in these situations, it's all new to me but I am really trying to adjust to this lifestyle.”

Speaking about the homophobic accusations, Taylor said: 'This is probably the biggest accusations out of them all about being homophobic. I spoke to an influencer at the event and my words were ‘I fancied you when you were straight’.

“I can see how that can come across as homophobic, I'm really bad with my words sometimes, I was just nervous to meet this person because I am a fan. I do apologise, it's just when I'm in scenarios like that I can't really get my words out correctly and I was just trying to be as respectful to that person as I could and I kind of got it completely wrong.

He concluded: “Obviously want to end on this, I do think you deserve the truth, I have to be blatantly honest with what went down and I do apologise that the statements took so long to come across, I had to take time away from social media over the weekend.

“The amount of hate, death threats and horrible comments I've been getting I just couldn't deal with it, so I just had to take some time away. Hopefully that has cleared things up and moving forward I just want you to know I'm not homophobic, I never have been, I'm just bad with my words sometimes and I hoped you can understand.”

• If you are suffering with suicidal thoughts, you can contact The Samaritans on 116 123 for free, confidential support People with hearing problems or other communication difficulties can text 07889 036 280.