She sits down with Grazia's Afia Kufuor to talk all things Love Island...
Love Island Season 12 kept us at the edge of our seats, serving up everything from dramatic divides and tangled love triangles to tears and heartbreak. Alima Gagigo , 23, entered the villa as an OG. On screen, she seemed effortlessly cool but the reality of taking part in such a high-pressured and intense reality show is quite the opposite.
In fact, Alima was already anticipating the scrutiny before entering the villa. ‘I cared about people coming for my looks more than my personality,’ she admits. ‘I even remember speaking to a producer and saying, I can’t go in next week, I need to get my face done. I wanted to get filler, I wanted my face lifted. I was like, I need to look a certain way. But I’m so glad I didn’t, because looking back on previous casts, I genuinely do think that this has been the most natural looking set of girls.’
The pressure surrounding life in the villa isn’t solely about looks. As a Black woman, Alima was aware of the challenges, brought to light in the past by previous Islanders like Samira Mighty. ‘There’s been previous series where the Black girl was always picked last, so that was something that really played on my mind,' Alima says. ‘I genuinely thought as a Black woman, I would need to work ten times harder, on the show and after. That was something that really impacted my decision [going on to the show], whether I’d be able to deal with that or not.'
As a longtime fan of the show, I've followed the discourse around Black women’s experiences on Love Island UK - many believing the issue lies in casting. If the boys chosen to be on the show only express an interest in "blonde hair and blue eyes" then naturally, that presents problems for any Black women hoping to be picked. Black women’s experiences on Love Island have, thankfully, seen some progress in recent years. We’ve watched Black women leave boo'd up, from Indiyah Polack and Dami Hopeto Whitney Adebayo and Lochan Nowacki, as well as Shaq Muhammadand Tanya Manhenga. And in 2024, Mimi Ngulube and Josh Oyinsanwon the show.
While Alima didn't find love, she did herself - and her fans - proud in the way she navigated the complicated dating dynamics. Never faltering on the treatment she deserves, she proved time and time again her self-worth was more important than finding simply finding a boyfriend - particularly in a season where many of the men were called out for problematic behaviour.
"Nothing is worse than being disappointed by a man you lowered your standards for."
‘I would never take this disrespect on the outside, so why should I now?’ she says, noting that she's aware young girls watch the show and could be influenced by what they say. ‘If I could give advice to anyone growing up watching... do not take disrespect from any man! Self-worth above anything and never ever lower your standards. If anything add tax to them because men will do you dirty. Make sure the man you’re with is the man of your dreams. There’s nothing worse than being disappointed by a man you had to lower your standards for!’
Fans also saw Alima stand firm during villa drama. She received mixed responses for standing up for bombshell, Malisha Jordan during her feud with OG girl Meg Moore. ‘It was basically the whole villa against one person,' she explains. 'I’m a very fair person and on the outside I would have done the exact same thing. I wouldn’t go in the villa and change my morals’.
Now that the cameras have stopped, Alima hasn’t been one to rush into influencer life. ‘When I came out of the show, I got kind of got thrown in the deep end,’ she explains. ‘Some of the girls already had an idea of what they wanted to do. When I came out of the show, the first thing I did was ring my manager at Barclays’, so the option of returning to work was there. Taking a considered approach, Alima admits ‘I’ve not done content creating before, so I didn’t know if it was for me. But now, seeing what other Islanders are doing I’m like "oh, I actually quite like this". I don’t want to do what every other islander is doing. I would love to go down the modelling route and work with high end brands.’
Taking a cautious approach to her next steps, Alima's journey seems to have only just began, and if her attitude to life and men remains, she's sure to inspire tons of women along her way.
