Exclusive Interview
‘Love Island’ Vet Scott van-der-Sluis Teases His ‘Perfect Match’ Journey & Dishes Villa Tea
Scott van-der-Sluis would love to be on The Traitors and show off all his reality television skills as a Traitor: “I’ve always thought I’m a pretty good liar if the situation arises.” While he waits to be granted his hooded robe, he’s staying busy with dating shows. With three seasons of Love Island under his belt, he’s now making the big move over to Netflix. Yep, Scott is featured on Season 3 of Perfect Match, alongside beloved faces like Freddie (Love Is Blind: UK), Louis (Too Hot to Handle and Battle Camp), and Sandy (The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On).
Before we lose Scott completely to the ego of starring on four different dating shows within two years, Swooon sat down to get the goss. He’s one of the only people who can actually compare the UK and US versions of Love Island, and we needed to know: Which side of the pond delivers a better smooch? He also teased some cheeky details about the new season of Perfect Match, dropping on August 1.
Where it all started for Scott
Before popping up on various iterations of Love Island, Scott was a Welsh footballer signed with Shelbourne. When he left the team to join the tanned masses in the villa, his manager Damian Duff joked that he had chosen a villa in Mallorca “full of beautiful, single women over myself, the staff and the players.” This football theme followed Scott into the villa, where his iconic opener was: “Tall, dark, handsome — a goalkeeper, so good with my hands.” Don’t lie, you just blushed. We all did.
We asked Scott whether this description still holds up, and he smiled shyly. “It does cringe you out listening back to the stuff you said,” he admits to Swooon. “You’re trying to say stuff that you think will sound good on TV, and then you actually do TV, and you’re like, ‘No, that does not sound good on TV.'”
So, what led him to abandon his lifelong dreams of football for pink neon signs, golden goblets, and recouplings?
Scott was scouted (okay, flex) on Instagram and already knew people who’d been on the show, so he decided to give it a go. “You don’t really expect to get on because you get told right at the start that there’s over 100,000 applicants and only 20 to 30 people make it onto the show. So the percentages are probably 0.3% or something like that,” he explains, while we gape at that quick maths. “I just kept getting through round after round, and suddenly they want to fly you out, and you have to make a decision. And my sister’s a massive fan of the show, so she was like, you better do this.”
Brenda Islas / Netflix
Everyone on the show claims to be there to “find love” — it’s literally in the title — but recent seasons have faced criticism for contestants’ true intentions. (Ahem, those Boohoo brand deals aren’t going to secure themselves.) Scott, to his credit, is refreshingly honest: “I knew I’d regret not going on because it was such a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he shares. “I can’t necessarily say it was for love, but I was open to the idea, and it wasn’t for fame or money or anything like that.”
Scott had a solid run that first season. He entered as a bombshell on Day 11 and shared a connection with Catherine Agbaje — until Casa Amor, of course. He was dumped from the villa on Day 52 alongside Abi Moore. Most would then go home, show off their tan, and get some introvert time on the couch. But not Scott.
Less than a month later, he was flying to Fiji for Love Island USA. He was eliminated after a week. Then it was off to Love Island Games for three whole days. That’s three Love Islands in three months. Scott currently holds the record.
He admits that his decision to appear on Love Island USA and Love Island Games was “definitely a lot more money-driven.” He says, “I don’t think there’s any way in which I could claim to go in during the final week trying to find love.”
“There are people who hate what I did, but everyone would do the same,” he continues. “It’s a cost-of-living crisis. You’ve got to go and do what you’ve got to do.” (Side note: He claims he was paid more than the other contestants on Love Island USA, which is low-key iconic.)
Haters gonna hate
During his Love Island UK season, Ofcom received over 1,000 complaints claiming Scott was being bullied in the villa, particularly around tensions with Catherine. He wants to set the record straight.
“I didn’t feel like at any time I was being bullied in there,” he explains. “I don’t feel like someone who would allow that to happen. I don’t even know if it was a matter of editing. There’s only so much you can show in that hour.”
Scott is surprisingly unfazed by the hate he receives. (This anxious girlie cannot relate.)
“The hardest part of my life was accepting that I was never going to be a Premier League player, and nothing will ever come close to that,” Scott admits. “You grow up thinking that you’re going to be a top-level professional footballer, earn hundreds of thousands a week, play in front of thousands of fans, be adored by people — and then realize, my god, I’m not quite good enough to do this at about 19 or 20. That’s harder than anything that gets thrown at me.” Oof, that hit hard.
He’s a ‘lone wolf’ on and off the pitch
“I’m more like the lone wolf who will just go and do their own thing,” Scott tells Swooon. “I won’t listen to anyone, and I won’t abide by what anyone says to me. And I don’t care if anyone’s following what I’m doing. If they are, great. If they’re not, I’m happy to go against people. And that’s the way I’ve always been.”
We did point out the slight irony of being a “lone wolf” and then going on four different dating shows. But hey, even lone wolves need love (and a paycheck). Apparently, this energy comes from being a goalkeeper and spending long stretches alone on the field since the age of six. He’s even returning to the Welsh football league now for the love of the game. But transitioning back hasn’t been easy, both physically and because, well, people have seen him romancing on TV.
“A lot of the younger lads [on the team] knew who I was, but a lot of the older lads didn’t. I did play a game last Saturday, and I heard a bit of sh*t from the fans,” Scott admits. “They were giving me a little bit of banter. I love every bit of it.”
Will Scott find his Perfect Match?
Netflix shocked fans and haters alike when it dropped the lineup for Perfect Match, which is kind of the All-Stars of the Netflix dating universe. Alongside the usual faces from Too Hot to Handle, The Mole, and Love Is Blind, there were… non-Netflix stars?! Rachel Recchia and Clayton Echard from Bachelor Nation? And yes, many Love Island alums, including Scott.
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He says the biggest difference is that Perfect Match is filmed ahead of time, so he’ll be watching it live with everyone else (eeeek). He describes his time on the show as “fire, electricity, and eventful.”
According to Scott, you must watch to witness AD Smith and Ollie Sutherland’s love story, which isn’t a spoiler — they’re now engaged and expecting. But trust, there’s plenty more drama with all the energy from so many different (and lowkey horny) shows. “There are people who should be excited. There are people who should be worried. There are people who should be both,” Scott teases. “It’s going to be very fascinating to see. I genuinely think this is going to be a very, very good watch.”
After Perfect Match, Scott thinks his “dating show stint is going to be pretty much over.” Time to either pivot to another reality genre or, gasp, real life. “I’ll be turning 25, and so I’ll have to start growing up. I’m no longer in my early twenties at that point,” he sighs.
Don’t worry, we clarified how deeply offensive this is to everyone over 25 who still doesn’t have their sh*t together.
Getting down and dirty
Before too much media training kicked in, we asked Scott some rapid-fire, cheeky questions.
Best kisser?
Options: Catherine and Abby (Love Island UK), Johnnie (Love Island USA), and Courtney (Love Island Games). “Courtney,” he admits. “I’d say there was a lot of sexual tension between us.”
Most overrated couple?
“Jess and Sammy, because they won it and broke up two months after. I think even they know they shouldn’t have won our season.”
Biggest personality and biggest diva?
“Tai was the biggest diva—like, he’s having himself. Mitch was the biggest personality in terms of, he wouldn’t shut the f**k up!” Scott laughs.
Any off-screen Love Island hookups?
He admits the Love Island universe is a bit of an “incest family,” with contestants frequently hooking up at events. He swears he avoids all that in his little North Wales corner— wink wink.
Yes, Scott gets plenty of DMs, but claims: “I would never slide into anyone from reality TV’s DMs.” Guess he doesn’t need to, with Netflix matchmaking on his behalf. Also, ladies, Scott loved flirting with American girls, saying, “I very much like American girls…”
We asked if he’s the next Harry Jowsey of reality TV (Perfect Match, Too Hot to Handle, Dancing With the Stars, and more). He says he doesn’t know enough about Harry to say — Netflix, get this man a crash course — but he’d compare himself to Louis Russell, another footballer-turned-TV mainstay. “Louis has done four [shows], so we’re going band for band about who’s going to do more,” Scott says.
So, is Scott single now? He wouldn’t spill, despite our not-so-subtle probing. (He’s hot, okay!) We’ll all have to tune in to Perfect Match and find out. Scott’s planning to watch it alone so he can really focus, but we’ll try to wrangle an invite.
Perfect Match, Season 3, Episode 1-6, August 1, Netflix
