Love Island Australia winner Tina Provis has revealed the “sad” reason she struggled to appear on Channel Nine’s hit dating show.
The 28-year-old winner of the 2021 series shared a heartbreaking post on Instagram in which she revealed that she felt unsafe on the show due to being one of the few cast members who was not white.
“Looking back on my experience on Love Island, the environment amplified an existing fear that I can barely admit to myself: I’m not as good as someone white,” she began.
Tina, who won the show with Mitch Hibberd, said she was worried about finding love on the show because she was the only Asian person among a predominantly white cast.
She shared: ‘When you’re stuck in the confines of colorful plexiglass and annoying neon signs, you wonder, “Doesn’t anyone like me because I’m Asian?”
‘I had a conversation with another POC islander, where we asked ourselves if our race made us less desirable.
‘At the end of the day, it’s a social experience and everything that happens is an amplification of real-world behavior.’
While appearing on the show was a confronting and “sad” experience for her, Tina said she agreed to do so to ensure greater diversity on Australian television.
Love Island Australia winner Tina Provis (pictured) has revealed the “sad” reason she struggled to appear on the hit Channel Nine dating show.
Tina initially found romance with AFL star Mitch, 27, while appearing on the reality series in 2021.
The couple were crowned winners of the third season of the Channel Nine show, but went their separate ways in January 2022.
In a shocking twist later that year, they both returned to the Love Island franchise as singles in season four, and sparks flew as they rekindled their romance.
However, their second attempt at romance didn’t work out and they each went their separate ways just a few months after getting back together on the show.
“After the Villa thing, we kept seeing each other for a few months. It was really tough because of the distance, between Melbourne and Sydney,” Mitch said at the time.
The 28-year-old winner of the 2021 series shared a heartbreaking post in which she revealed that she felt unsafe on the show due to being one of the few cast members who wasn’t white (pictured with her fellow cast members).
“There were a lot of challenges around that and in the end it didn’t work out. I guess it’s just not the right time, but that said, we’ve caught up recently which has been really good.
“We support each other a lot and we love each other very much. We are still friends, we still talk, but we are no longer together.”
Tina added that Mitch was the one who initiated the split because he wasn’t “emotionally available enough to be in a relationship.”
“There was never anything particularly objectionable, apart from the fact that we are the same people who separated six months ago,” he added.
Tina later confessed she was “in shock” at the time of her first breakup when speaking on Hit Network’s Hot Nights with Abbie Chatfield.
Tina initially found romance with AFL star Mitch Hibberd, 27, while appearing on the reality series in 2021 and they were later crowned winners, before splitting shortly after.
“I didn’t think three weeks ago that I would be sitting here having this conversation,” she said. “I’m surprised that things have turned out the way they have.”
She said the couple had a great relationship and friendship, but one day they woke up and realized things weren’t the same as before.
Tina’s current relationship status is unknown, while Mitch is rumoured to be dating Love Island UK winner Abi Moores.
