Who is Love Island star Will Young? Meet ‘Farmer Will’, the TikTok sensation making farming cool

It might be dark and cold here in the UK, but never fear – Love Island is here to shine some much-needed sun into our lives.

The ITV2 dating show is back on our screens for its second winter series filmed in South Africa.

Among the contestants on the winter 2023 series, which is hosted by Maya Jama, are the show’s first partially sighted star, a contestant with Vitiligo, and a former body double for Emma Watson.

One of the biggest names on this series (at least to TikTok users) is Will Young. Find out more about Will below…

What is Will famous for?

Hailing from Buckinghamshire, 23-year-old TikTok star Will has racked up more than one million followers and 32 million likes on the video-sharing platform with his farming content.

Posting under the nickname “Farmer Will”, Will shares videos to social media of his day-to-day life surrounded by animals on the farm he grew up on.

What is Will looking for on Love Island?

Not much – just a woman to spend the rest of his life with. Living on a farm has made dating hard for Will and, before going on the show, he said he was looking forward to getting away and focusing on romance for once.

“I think I’m at the time of my life where I’m mature enough to go and find a wife,” he said. A love of animals isn’t a necessity, as “my mum didn’t step on the farm for the first 20 years of my mum and dad’s marriage”.

“What attracts me is energy, if the energy is there, she can do whatever she wants,” he said. “As long as she respects what I do and my busy times of the year, then that’s all I need. If she loves it, bonus! But it’s not a big issue for me.”

What did Will say he would bring to the villa?

Will said he’s a “wholesome boy” who’s lots of fun to be around.

He’s got some unexpected interests (he loves techno music and says Boris Johnson would be one of his dream dinner party guests) and likes to light a candle and meditate for 20 minutes every night.

“A girl I was seeing told me to meditate, I tried it and loved it. I stopped seeing her and carried on meditating!” he said. “It’s a nice way to self reflect, taking a minute on my day/ week. It’s really nice and sets me up for a nice sleep.”

In the villa, he’ll need all the relaxation he can get…

What is Will’s Instagram and TikTok?

You can find Will on Instagram at @farmer_will_ and on TikTok at @farmerwill_. However, you won’t see him posting as all the contestants have been asked to disable their pages while in the villa.

For the first time since the show began in 2015, ITV has asked the islanders to make their accounts “dormant” while they are on the show so that nothing can be published on their behalf, in efforts to prevent the “adverse effects of social media”.

Usually, friends or family of the islanders will run their accounts for them.