'I scored on Love Island - now I'm dreaming of starring in a FA Cup giant-killing'

Over the years, Love Island producers have been renowned for adding a semi-professional footballer - or two - to their show. Since it first aired in May 2005, there have been a number of players from up and down the non-league pyramid - with some even ex-professional - enter the villa.

Farnham Town midfielder Harry Cooksley, alongside Grenada international Dejon Noah-Williams and former Derby County man Harrison Solomon, became the latest semi-pro star to appear on Love Island during the 2025 series.

The 30-year-old went on to reach the final and ended up finishing second with partner Shakira Khan, creating memories for life and grasping the eye of the nation in the process. However, despite the fame Cooksley has gained since the show ended, one of his main priorities post-Love Island was to return to football as soon as possible.

READ MORE: Love Island's Shakira Khan says divide between villa girls was fuelled by more than drama

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Speaking in an exclusive interview with Mirror Football, Cooksley said: "It's all I've known since I was knee high and it's been a huge part of my life. I think it adds, it's always added like balance to my life, it's always given me that release and the enjoyment and the competition.

"I think it was, you know, one of my main priorities coming out of Love Island was how quickly can I get fit and get back playing. The commitment is twice a week and I've got so much going on after the show but I need to be able to commit to a Wednesday night and a Saturday afternoon because, like I say, it's complete enjoyment for me.

"You just switch off, you don't think about anything else, it's the competition, being around the boys is literally my happy place, has been for all my life."

After missing the whole of pre-season and the first eight matches of the competitive campaign, Cooksley returned to action for Farnham in the FA Cup against Burgess Hill Town on Saturday, September 13. His first game back came almost six weeks since Love Island ended, a comeback not even he anticipated would happen so fast.

But Cooksley, nicknamed the 'Surrey Zidane', has settled back into life as a semi-professional footballer with ease. Since his return, the former AFC Wimbledon and Mallorca man has made six appearances and started in three of them, scoring twice and notching a couple of assists.

However, Cooksley was worried that he would let the team down and wouldn't come back the same player, after spending eight weeks in a villa and doing no form of cardio exercise in the meantime.

"I wouldn't say it's frustration, it's more a little bit like I don't want to go back and be awful," Cooksley replied, when asked if he has felt frustrated that he is a behind his team-mates from a fitness perspective.

"Like you say everyone else will have had the pre-season, they'll be football fit, they'll be sharp with the ball. I think the main thing for me was I didn't want to go back and let anyone down and I think that we've signed a lot of players in the summer who probably haven't seen me play, they haven't played with me.

"I didn't want to go back because I know I've had a good two years with Farnham, I've probably missed one game in two years and I didn't want to go back unfit and without touching the ball and these boys thinking like who is this? Why is he even in the team? We don't need him, almost like they're new to the team, they want to see me play.

"So, that was the main thing for me was I didn't want to come back and hurt the team and not be able to help the team. But I'm getting there, I mean I had two 90 minutes last week, I've scored a couple of goals, I've got a couple of assists, I'm starting to feel like myself again which is good."

Cooksley's return to fitness and form has given him an excellent chance of starting Farnham's blockbuster FA Cup fourth qualifying round tie against Sutton United on Saturday afternoon.

Surrey-based Farnham, who play in the Southern Premier League South - the seventh-tier of English football, sit 30 places below National League side Sutton in the non-league pyramid.

However, with Farnham flying and unbeaten in 14 matches at the start of the season, there is confidence among Cooksley and his teammates that a shock could well be on the cards.

Plus, with a sell-out crowd anticipated at Farnham's The Memorial Ground and the BBC showing the game live free-to-air, Cooksley admitted it is the "biggest game of his career so far".

Looking ahead to what could be an FA Cup classic, Cooksley said: "I think for me and the rest of the boys it's probably one of the biggest games of our entire careers. It's massive for the town, it's massive for the club, everyone involved in the club, so I can't wait, I can't wait."

Farnham have won three matches to reach this stage of the FA Cup. They beat Erith Town in the first qualifying round before earning victories against Burgess Hill and Dorchester Town.

As for Sutton, who have made a torrid start to the season with just one league win in 14 matches, they enter the FA Cup at this round alongside 23 other National League big-hitters.

Reflecting on Farnham's cup run as a whole, Cooksley added: "I mean the only game I played in was the last round and that was my first start back from missing pre-season. I got 70 minutes under the belt, so I've been watching the boys, they have been churning out results and ticking them off.

"So, it's been a great run, even though we've come in later this year. Even up until this point, I think we've had some great wins along the way."

Cooksley's social media presence has increased tenfold since he entered the Love Island villa. Indeed, he now has more than 400,000 Instagram followers and boasts 6.4 million likes on TikTok.

Unsurprisingly, he has therefore noticed a change in how he is treated on the football pitch. "I think it's had an effect, yeah definitely but look I'm not going to say I'm being treated differently and this and that," he said.

"I went on Love Island, I knew exactly what it was going to be like coming out, I knew what it would be like coming back to football after being on a reality TV show.

"People definitely want to get hold of you on the pitch now but more than before to be honest. I got kicked up in the air all the time, people used to leave one on me and used to leave me on the ground, but it's definitely more than that now, I think everyone wants to be able to go and sell their mates that I kicked the lump out of Harry Cooksley, it seems to be like that every week but…"

Cooksley's life off-the-pitch has changed a lot post-Love Island. He and Shakira are still moving in the right direction after coupling up in the villa and leaving the show together. He has often been spotted up in Shakira's hometown Burnley, while she has come down south to see him as the pair continue to blossom.

Meanwhile, the Guildford-born star has a number of other responsibilities - including sponsorship work and TV opportunities - after giving up his previous day job which was being a gold trader.

"Life since the villa has been a whirlwind in the best possible way," Cooksley said. "I think it's just been... I had an idea of what it would be like if I went on and was on there for a long time and kind of had, you know, a decent amount of screen time and did alright. But it's completely 10 times to what it was, I guess, not so much prepared for.

"I don't think you can prepare for it. It's just zero to 100. There's no sort of building into every single person, everyone recognising you and everyone having an opinion on you and your relationship and everything.

"But I think I've got great people, I've got a great team, I've got great friends, I've got family around me, and they keep me honest. They keep me grounded.

"But honestly, I absolutely love it. I'm really genuinely enjoying it. It's so new to me, this life. I'm working hard and I don't feel like I've ever worked in my life. I want this to be my career.

"I take it extremely seriously with obviously coming back to football, but everything I'm doing away from football after leaving the villa, that is my career. I want there to be longevity in that. And I think if you do it right, there's no reason that it can't be my life for the rest of my life."

Cooksley's hope in the future is not to return to the gold trading industry and instead has set his sights on becoming a sports presenter while balancing life as a semi-professional footballer.

"I think that is where I want to go with my career, it's the presenting of sports," Cooksley said. "It's being involved in sports and not, you know, in terms of what a lot of people do after leaving Love Island and kind of influencing and doing this and that. That does come with it.

"But for me, sports and football is where my passion is. I don't know who I'd be or where I'd be without having football and sports growing up. So that's the field I want to stay in. I'm not looking to hang up the boots and retire within this season, the next season. I'm just taking it a season at a time.

"My main goal is to be involved in football in presenting, capacity, analysis, something along those lines and obviously keep playing until my body gives up on me."

He started his football career off as a professional at Aldershot Town and AFC Wimbledon in England before moving out to Spain for a stint at Mallorca. After returning home with Farnborough, he had a spell in Austria at FC Pinzgau Saalfelden in between moving to Farnham in 2023, where he has been ever since.

“I think for me, my football career, I always wanted to play in the Premier League, I wanted to play in the Champions League, I wanted to play for England," he finished. "I think like any boy did who was interested in their football and I never achieved that, I never got to those heights.

"But what I did achieve was an incredible life, football took me all over the world. I would never have been able to go to any of these places without the game. I'm extremely grateful for it.

"I've met so many people who I never would have met before in my life. And it's just given me opportunities that I never thought I'd get."

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