Love Island: PE teacher Hugo Hammond is show’s first disabled contestant

Islander has played national cricket for England’s physical disability team

Love Island 2021 will feature the show’s first ever islander with a disability.

The ITV2 dating show returns next Monday (28 June), with a new batch of contestants heading to the Mallorcan villa in hope of coupling up and finding love.

The islanders are being revealed today (21 June), with Hugo Hammond, a secondary school PE teacher from Hampshire, among them. You can read more about the contestants as they’re announced here.

As well as working in education – something he says he “absolutely love” – Hammond has played cricket for England PD, the national physical disability team.

The 24-year-old has clubfoot, a condition in which one or both ankles are turned inwards from birth.

“I had lots of operations when I was a kid,” he explained.

“You can only really tell when I walk barefoot. I’ve got a really short achilles heel. I walk slightly on my tip toes.”

Hammond is the first islander with a disability to enter the villa (ITV)

Also among the Love Island line-up is Aaron Francis, a luxury events host who’s worked at the weddings of both Princess Eugenie and Beatrice.

Find out everything you need to know about Love Island series six here.

Love Island returns Monday 28 June at 9pm on ITV2