Zack Chugg Love Island 2021: Meet the University of Leeds dentist and fitness fanatic set to enter Mallorca villa

Zack Chugg 21, will be flying out to the Love Island villa in Mallorca this summer.

The second-year dental student at the University of Leeds prides himself on having embarked on a life-changing weight loss journey over the past two years.

After starting up fitness pages on social media a few months ago, the followers have "naturally poured in", according to Zack.

He regularly posts fitness, skincare and weight loss advice on his popular Instagram and TikTok accounts, and his University of Leeds dental scrubs are often featured as well.

Earlier this week, Chugg teased his thousands of followers as he posted a screenshotted message from an ITV Studios casting researcher and confirmation of his online audition for Love Island.

His post caused quite the stir as followers questioned whether he would actually be going into the villa, and messages of support began to pour in from commenters.

Zack, originally from Solihull, has now revealed to the YEP that he will be flying to the Spanish island in late June after confirmed talks with ITV executive producers and casting recruitment.

He said he thinks he was approached because the casting agents were "amazed" by what he does.

Zack said: “I released a post about men’s skincare routines and then got a direct message on Instagram from an ITV casting agent.

“I think they are really fascinated by what I do and I don’t know if they’ve met someone who does the sort of thing that I do yet.

“There are a lot of good looking models out there but I think they’re amazed by my dentistry and fitness influencing and weight loss side of things as well.

“I was quite fat before university started and after my gap year I realised I needed to get into shape and couldn’t go to uni looking like I did.”

Zack spent his gap year working as a recruitment consultant for Lord Sugar after getting an interview through his dad’s contact with former The Apprentice winner, James White.

He said it was this job that helped him grow his confidence and his weight loss gave him a further boost.

Zack added: “I’d go on nights out or meet people and they’d ask me for advice about my weight loss and then they said I really should start doing stuff on TikTok so I did and it went really well so I thought I might as well continue with it.

“Then, because I’m studying dentistry and social media is a huge part of that, I thought I could mix it with a dental page and promote myself to help me in the future when it comes to careers.

“I’m not planning on being a standard NHS dentist, I want to be one of those dentists who works on famous people or in cosmetics.”

And, luckily for us Leodensians, Zack plans to do so in Leeds - the place that he said has now become his "second home".

He said he has built a following in the city and loves his work as the events manager for Mook bar in Leeds city centre.

Zack said: “I want to stay in Leeds because I’ve built a huge network here so it’d favour me to stay here if I wanted to open up a dentistry clinic.

“I didn’t know much about Leeds before moving for university, and it was the only place I passed the exam for but now it’s my second home.

“My favourite thing is the nightlife and it’s a city that doesn’t sleep really.”

Zack is clearly making his mark on the city of Leeds. His thoughts on doing Love Island to make that mark bigger?

“I watch love island every year so for me it was amazing because when I got the message from them, my younger self was so proud," he said.

“I’d always watch it thinking imagine being the type of guy to go on there or to be in shape and get girls, and now, here I am.

“I’ve never had a relationship before and I think that was another reason why they liked me, because I’ve never been in that situation.

“It’s because I was fat then, but now my standards are higher and I can’t wait.”

Love Island is a British dating reality series filmed in Mallorca and is rumoured to be hitting TV screens at the end of June this year.