Michael Owen has heaped praise on his daughter Gemma following this year’s Love Island final.
The former England player’s 19-year-old daughter, dressage rider Gemma, was one of the original Islanders this year, and spent most of her time in the villa partnered up with Luca Bish, who has proved to be one of the season’s most polarising figures.
On Monday night, the season reached its conclusion, with Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti being crowned winners ahead of runners up Gemma and Luca.
After the final aired, Michael showed his support for Gemma in a tweet, writing that she had “done us proud” on the show.
Before entering the villa, Gemma admitted her dad wasn’t exactly “buzzing” about her appearance on the dating show, but insisted: “He is very supportive in whatever I decide to do so he didn’t have a massive tantrum or anything like that. He was pretty chilled.
“He said, ‘You know how to behave. You just go and do it’.”
Throughout Gemma’s time on Love Island, her famous father has been reluctant to comment publicly on the show.
In fact, early on in the series, Michael was left visibly cringing when his fellow football pundits brought up Love Island during a live broadcast.
Introducing him as the “father of Love Island’s Gemma Owen”, presenter Jules Breach commented: “Big night for the Owens last night, Michael. How are you feeling?”
He then joked: “I came all the way to Germany to try to avoid all that back at home, and you brought it up straight away. I’m feeling alright, thank you. This has taken my mind off it, so don’t bring it back up.”