'Love Island' star Ekin-Su Culculoglu says she made out to be a 'villain' in the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house

‘Love Island’ star Ekin-Su Culculoglu has spoken out about her experience in the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house, and has said she was made to feel like a ‘villain’ and told she was “cancelled” because of her appearance on the show.

During the reality series, which aired earlier this year, the 29-year-old TV personality was accused by both her housemates and viewers of being fake and playing a role. As a result, she was met with the sound of boos which she left the CBB house, and even experienced death threats.

Speaking to ‘The Sun’, she said: “I wasn’t my best self, and I’m not proud of CBB. It was a wrong choice for me, but I can’t blame anybody but myself. I carried a lot of baggage into that show, and I projected a lot of what I was feeling outside of the house inside too. I was fake in the house because I wasn’t being myself, I was in survival mode.

“It wasn’t because I had any kind of game plan, I just wasn’t being truthful about where I was in my head, what had just happened to me, the trauma I’d been through. People see right through that, I can understand why they thought I was fake.”

Culculoglu had split with her former boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti in January 2024, just weeks before CBB launched on March 4. The pair had won ‘Love Island’ series eight in 2022, but split after 18 months together. Culculoglu released a statment at the time of the split which said: "The last 18 months have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs, just like every relationship. Davide and I both wanted to make this work as we cared deeply for each other. "Unfortunately I have recently made the decision to end our relationship and to go our separate ways."

Culculoglu, who has since accused Sanclimenti of cheating on her, now admits that it was too soon after he break-up for her to go on another TV show. In another interview with ‘The Sun’ she said: "I should never have gone into the ‘Big Brother’ house. I was angry, hurt, maybe a bit bitter, definitely insecure - ‘Big Brother’ is not where you go to heal heartache, let me tell you. I went into the show thinking that I could rebuild myself after everything that happened with Davide, but I came off worse. My guard was up.”

She went on to say that seconds before she had her exit chat with CBB hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best, her loved ones told her that she had been “cancelled” because of a bad edit of the show. She explained: “ ITV have always made me feel a part of their family, and they have reached out since to reassure me, which has been so lovely. They have always taken me under their wing. But I didn’t have long between the boos and the exit chat and before I did my interview, my loved ones had taken me aside and told me ‘producers have ruined you, you’ve been cancelled, they’ve edited you so badly’.

"Within seconds of being told this, I was sitting in front of AJ and Will for a chat. It isn’t an excuse at all but I felt so small, like a kid who was being told off. I messed up and blamed the edit off the back of my loved ones comments, but I shouldn’t have said it before watching back the show myself.”

Some viewers felt the interview by Odudu and Best, and one panellist Layton Williams, was too harsh and complained to broadcasting regulator Ofcom. Culculoglu commented further on the interview and said: “It felt like the world was against me and I really didn’t know why everyone seemed to hate me so much. I know everybody has a job to do, but I couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable during that exit chat, it felt weird. I was made to feel like a villain. It felt personal, even though it wasn’t.”

Culculoglu said that after leaving the CBB house in March she stepped away from the public eye as she received death threats and other negative comments that were too much to handle.

She said: “I didn’t leave my house for days, I didn’t want to get out of bed. I just didn’t feel anything, I was numb. “I’d be up at 3am scrolling through the numerous comments telling me to die, and eventually the death threats made me disappear. I hated myself as much as everybody else seemed to hate me.”

She added: “I messed up going on the show, I take full accountability for that. And I am aware that me speaking out puts a target on my back but I’m sick of being scared to tell the truth.

“But the one good thing to come out of CBB was the realisation and kick up the a*** I needed to get my head straight. I paid to go to a retreat in France, where I could escape, I was a bit of a wimp and ran away, because the prospect of my career coming to an end was too much to handle. I took some time just to re-evaluate and figure things out.”

ITV declined to comment and representatives for AJ Odudu, Will Best and Layton Williams have also not commented. Sanclimenti said his ex should “wash her mouth” before talking about him.